[Aevintiri]

So a big issue that has been really bugging me was the dirt and leaf in my driver side headlight. Didn't ever realize it until taking it off, that the previous owner but have tried to take it off and broke a bunch of mounting and cracked the housing. I took everything apart and repaired t over the last day and a half.

If you have an F30 and I'm saying that because that's what I have; the lights are sealed with permaseal which sucks because you have to bake at higher than normal temps and deform the plastic along the bottom and corners of the housing to break the seal. There are some guides out there on YouTube but none are very helpful. You have to not only get the deal along the top but also the rear and bottom of the lens. I used a medium sized flat head to get under it. After the 3 hour time to remove the lens from he housing, I used a razor blade and cleaned up all the permaseal from everything and cleaned the whole headlight and internals. Then used butyl tape from menards to reseal. After the resealing, I also applied JB Weld dark gray epoxy around the seal to make sure the seal would be 100% sealed for good and also repaired the cracked housing and mounting points with epoxy also. The epixy also gave it a more uniform finish so it doesn't look sloppy.

I started with 240F @ 20 mins and it was not hot enough for permaseal. So I ended up doing 275F @ 7 mins. and that worked better for me. Had to reheat roughly 6-7 times to get the entire seal broken. To reseal, I ran two cycles of the 275 @ 7 mins to soften the butyl and reform the plastic housing. Then I applied the epoxy and started reassembled the lights. I will let you know how everything holds up after I do a wash on it but I have no doubts that nothing is getting back in the headlight. Here is a bunch of pics.

[Aevintiri]

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[Domotron]

very good guide thank you sir !

[atam1980]

Originally Posted by Kyle_Figueroa

So a big issue that has been really bugging me was the dirt and leaf in my driver side headlight. Didn't ever realize it until taking it off, that the previous owner but have tried to take it off and broke a bunch of mounting and cracked the housing. I took everything apart and repaired t over the last day and a half.

If you have an F30 and I'm saying that because that's what I have; the lights are sealed with permaseal which sucks because you have to bake at higher than normal temps and deform the plastic along the bottom and corners of the housing to break the seal. There are some guides out there on YouTube but none are very helpful. You have to not only get the deal along the top but also the rear and bottom of the lens. I used a medium sized flat head to get under it. After the 3 hour time to remove the lens from he housing, I used a razor blade and cleaned up all the permaseal from everything and cleaned the whole headlight and internals. Then used butyl tape from menards to reseal. After the resealing, I also applied JB Weld dark gray epoxy around the seal to make sure the seal would be 100% sealed for good and also repaired the cracked housing and mounting points with epoxy also. The epixy also gave it a more uniform finish so it doesn't look sloppy.

I started with 240F @ 20 mins and it was not hot enough for permaseal. So I ended up doing 275F @ 7 mins. and that worked better for me. Had to reheat roughly 6-7 times to get the entire seal broken. To reseal, I ran two cycles of the 275 @ 7 mins to soften the butyl and reform the plastic housing. Then I applied the epoxy and started reassembled the lights. I will let you know how everything holds up after I do a wash on it but I have no doubts that nothing is getting back in the headlight. Here is a bunch of pics.

Taking the lens off the F30 headlights is a huge pain in the ass.

You actually only need the heat to pry apart the tabs. The permaseal itself is heat resistant, so when you heat the headlight, you're really just softening the plastic around it to allow some flex to break the bond.

The permaseal can be broken with a hook and pick tool. Just stab it between the housing and the lens and hook it in. When you see the tip of the hook through the lens, you know you have it locked and anchored in. Some guys in this forum hand pulled it around, but i found that to be near impossible. So I gently hammered it along the perimeter instead. It took me about 25-30 minutes for this step. It would be quicker but there are some contours that take longer to break. Heat will help soften the plastic around the permaseal and keep it from cracking, but if you're careful you don't really need it.

Good work on the headlight cleaning, btw, it looks great.

[Aevintiri]

Originally Posted by atam1980

Taking the lens off the F30 headlights is a huge pain in the ass.

You actually only need the heat to pry apart the tabs. The permaseal itself is heat resistant, so when you heat the headlight, you're really just softening the plastic around it to allow some flex to break the bond.

The permaseal can be broken with a hook and pick tool. Just stab it between the housing and the lens and hook it in. When you see the tip of the hook through the lens, you know you have it locked and anchored in. Some guys in this forum hand pulled it around, but i found that to be near impossible. So I gently hammered it along the perimeter instead. It took me about 25-30 minutes for this step. It would be quicker but there are some contours that take longer to break. Heat will help soften the plastic around the permaseal and keep it from cracking, but if you're careful you don't really need it.

Good work on the headlight cleaning, btw, it looks great.

Yeah permaseal is a beast to be reckoned with. Half way through I was getting so frustrated I almost through the headlight and just bought a new one lol. The only hook and pick tool I could find locally wasn't strong enough. There are some pro tools that shops use on YouTube but I couldn't find them anywhere for sale. I'm just glad it's all done. Thanks though, that dirt was bugging the crap out of me, even though it's such a small detail lol.

[Aevintiri]

Originally Posted by Domotron

very good guide thank you sir !

Thank you!

[atam1980]

Originally Posted by Kyle_Figueroa

Yeah permaseal is a beast to be reckoned with. Half way through I was getting so frustrated I almost through the headlight and just bought a new one lol. The only hook and pick tool I could find locally wasn't strong enough. There are some pro tools that shops use on YouTube but I couldn't find them anywhere for sale. I'm just glad it's all done. Thanks though, that dirt was bugging the crap out of me, even though it's such a small detail lol.

The tool only needs to be strong if you're using the pull method like the other guys did, which sucked big time. I tried that and nearly stabbed myself several times when the hook slipped out. I just bought a cheapo set from amazon. The way I did it with the mallet you're using the rounded part of the hook as a chisel to plow through the permaseal. It's a great feeling when the thing comes apart.

[Aevintiri]

Originally Posted by atam1980

The tool only needs to be strong if you're using the pull method like the other guys did, which sucked big time. I tried that and nearly stabbed myself several times when the hook slipped out. I just bought a cheapo set from amazon. The way I did it with the mallet you're using the rounded part of the hook as a chisel to plow through the permaseal. It's a great feeling when the thing comes apart.

Wish I would have knew that lol