UrS4/S6 Headlight
Lens Removal and Cleaning Procedure
NOTE: This is not as good
as the real Euro headlight replacement (See FAQ for full discussion). However,
there is some improvement noted by those that have made just the lens switch.
If you want Euro S4 lenses, they are available at PUMA (1-800-333-PUMA) or PG
Performance (1-888-806-7978). Ask them about S6 lenses, for some reason, they
may be difficult to get a hold of. NOTE:
"Buyer Beware", "may not
be legal for on-road use", "check state or provincial
regulations", "spring ahead/fall back", etc.).
The existing glass DOT lenses are attached to the black plastic housings via 8 metal clips, three on the top, three on the bottom and one on each side. Two of the top clips and one of the bottom clips are epoxy bonded to the housing and the glass at the Hella factory Presumably there are really good reasons for this. I (Dave) can't think of any other than profit and government interference freedom of expression, etc. The following procedure details the removal of the headlight assemblies from the car, removal of the clips and glass lenses, cleaning of the lenses, replacement of the lenses and reinstallation of the assemblies back into the car. It does not detail how to re-aim the headlights if this is needed. This procedure took me (Dave) about 2 hours the first time (one hour per side). And that was without all the (debatable) help (?) this procedure contains. (I did have considerable hints from Mike Johnson beforehand). I (Dave) recently, switched back to DOT lenses (temporarily) and to do both sides, it took only 1 hour total (see practice does make perfect!!). We (Dave and Mike) suggest that you read through the procedure at least once before starting. Then close your eyes and visualize all the steps, one by one, step by step, over and over....HEY! WAKE UP! (You nodded off there for a bit). Good, now you're ready to start.
Step 1: Park the car in a safe place. Do not choose the side of a freeway to do this procedure. Nor should you attempt this at night or in the wet. A nice garage or driveway on a sunny, dry, Saturday morning with a double latte (or beverage of your choice) would be great. Is the engine running? Turn it off. We're doing headlights here not engine tune-ups. Turn the Audi Bose on if you want background noise (and lets not get started with the stereo issue).
Step 2: Find your tools. You don't need many. A medium-sized Phillips screwdriver and side-cutter pliers are enough to get the headlights out of the car. To remove the clips you will need small and medium flat-bladed screw drivers. To find the clips after they spring away behind your work bench you will need a bunch of stuff too long to list here but suffice it to say, a small, well-trained, retriever/terrier will come in handy. For company, if not to find the clips.
Step 3: Pop the hood open. You've done this before (I know you have).
Step 4: Locate Headlights. These are the clear glass thingies at the front (pointy) end of the car. You may have seen them before. Find them again. Good. We're off to a good start. So far, so good. Now comes the fun part. Well, at least, the first challenging part.
Step 5: Removal
of the lower headlight washer trim strip: You are going to remove the bottom trim
strip underneath the headlight. Yes, that's right. The body-colored strip
through which the headlight washer passes (pushes? pulls? strains?...). First remove the X-headed screw at the
center-of-the-car end of the strip (away from the side marker end). This screw
is counter- sunk (different than the top screws). Save it. Don't lose it. Okay,
now pull the body-colored cover off of the headlight washer. No tools are
needed. Just broken finger nails. The cover is attached to the washer by three
little "clips" - one at the top and two at the bottom. It is best to
pull the cover off from the top. If you want to go crazy, pull the headlight
washer out. Its spring loaded. It won't break. Pull it out. See, I told you it
came out. Now, use a small flat-bladed screwdriver to push the center plastic
clip up to release it. (Or just pull the cover off with your finger nails).
Don't lose this cover. It has a part number but since it is body colored, you
don't want to know what the cost of it is. Or how long it will take to come
from some warehouse near
Step 6: Removal of the Headlights. There are two wiring plugs attached to the back of the black headlight assembly, towards the center of the car (away from fender side). The plugs have wire spring clips to help hold them in place. Note the orientation of these plugs as this will decrease the number of trials you will need to reinstall them in about an hour from now. Now, push the spring clips in and gently pull the plugs out, one at a time. The lead wires to these plugs may be attached to a metal wire clip (bale) via a tie-strap. Cut the tie strap carefully (don't cut any wires) with the side cutter pliers. If you screw this up and cut some of the wires, don't come crying to me. Okay? Good. Now, push the plugs out of the way. Remove the two screws at the top of the headlights. They are the black screws with the "X"-head sticking out of the body-colored radiator support, directly above the headlights. Note where these screws are located. This will help to prevent the need for headlight aiming after you've replaced them near the end of this procedure.. Do not throw the screws away. These are not the same as the so-called "stretch" bolts used to hold the head on the engine. These screws can be reused. The head bolts can't (but you knew that, right?). Now, peer into the dark cavity under the headlight. There are two X-head screws in there. A small flashlight may help. Loosen the screws. By design, they are semi-"captured". You DO NOT repeat DO NOT want these screws to fall out because the next time you may see them will be your next oil change (caught on the plastic belly pan) or they will just be gone (but not forgotten). When they are loose (and not lost), pull the headlight assembly out. (I kept my fingers on the lower screws so they didn't fall out). The side-marker /turn-signals will come with the headlights. Don't pull too far. Just enough so you can see the fender side of the headlight assembly. You should see a grey plastic bit sticking out of the black plastic. Push the grey plastic bit down with your fingers to unlock the side-marker and then slide the side marker towards you and off of the headlight assembly. Take a look at how two grey plastic "spears" slot into the side of the headlight and how a third actually was slotted into the fender. This is an example of simple, elegant, engineering. Its like Shaker furniture or Japanese post and beam, pegged construction. No metal fasteners are needed to hold the side marker in. And it is actually designed so you can take the side-marker off the car, independent from headlight. Have you contemplated the hours of dedicated engineering time and AutoCAD hours were needed to come up with this? Just think about how much work it is to engineer the really tough bits - like the AAN engine and the ECU. Are tears in your eyes? Good. Now get over it. We've still got work to do. Take the headlight assembly into your shop or the house. If its dirty (the headlight assembly, I don't care about your house), you may want to clean it off a bit before the significant other (or your mother) catches you. Find a nice flat work area. Cover it if need be. You will need some good light and, oh yeah, get the kiddies out the way and get the retriever (dog). The clips may give you some grief and we don't want the kiddies to teach you any new words.
Step 7: External gasket removal: This is pretty much a no-brainer (I got you this far didn't I?). The external gasket is to help seal off the engine compartment and keep the air going to where it is good and prevent it from going where it would just add noise and aerodynamic drag. There are a few little bumps (bosses) on the gasket that fit in corresponding holes on the plastic headlight housing. Note the top outside corner - there's two of them on the corner. This will be the tough part during the reinstallation. Use a small flat blade screwdriver to push the rubber bumps out of their little homes they've come to love and cherish. Be gentle, this is their first time outside since the factory. Pull the gasket gently away from the headlight assembly. There is absolutely no reason to rip or cut anything. Be patient. Respect your elders. Use sunscreen. Above all else, trust me on this. The gasket will come out. In one piece. No excuses. Now I'll turn it over to Master Clip-remover Mike (Johnson):
Step 8: Removal of the Infamous (DOT-approved) clips: Dave, it was quite easy. I (Mike) used a small slotted screw driver, and lifted from the light housing, not lens side. The clips will shoot off if you don't have your hand over them. Kind of like "disappearing C-clips" idea. ("Jesus" clips as we say at work) (NOTE: this is not intended to offend anyone - if it does, Sorry). Be careful there is a gasket that seats between the glass lens and the plastic housing, I had to peel this very slowly back as to not damage the gasket. At one spot I had to get a razor blade to break the seal off the glass. (Dave didn't have any problems) (well, actually Dave does have his problems but that's not important now). Set the lens aside, somewhere where it won't fall and break and make an otherwise grown man cry. Once you've resurrected your lost clips (perhaps with the aid of the small retriever trained to smell traces of your blood that are on the missing clips) (BE CAREFUL!), you will want to get the epoxy off them and the glass lens. To clean the epoxy off the clips, I (Mike) used the same screw driver and a small hammer and small wire cutter to clip out most of the epoxy on the clip. There was maybe three or so clips that had the epoxy on them, per lens (Two on top, one of the bottom). The epoxy pops out of the clips quite well. ( this is with the clips on the bench not on the light housing or lens). To get the epoxy off the lens, use a utility knife and shave away from you. Blood spilling is not necessary and its actually very inconvenient since you can't drive yourself to the Emergency Room without headlights. BE CAREFUL!
Step 9: Cleaning Things: Lenses and Reflectors: Cleaning the outer glass lens is easy. Use whatever you normally clean glass with. But whatever it is - keep it the heck away from the "chrome" reflector - it will likely eat the reflector material and, again, we don't want to see you cry (or hear about it later). Leave the lens some place safe to dry out before you replace it (or store it if you are changing to Euro lenses).
Addendum instructions: Once you have removed the outer glass, there is a reflector frame. This is simply held in place by three fork like prongs. The prongs are located: one each, top and bottom inner aspect; and one on the side, outer aspect. Each fork fits over a round peg. Simply pull this away from the housing. Now to remove the reflector from the outer casing. First remove all three bulbs. Don't touch the glass! The reflector is held in place by each of the three adjustment points. There are two in the upper corners and one lower, outer corner. These are clipped on to the reflector by a small black clip near the back of the reflector. Follow the adjustment point to the back of the reflector. Good lighting or a flashlight will help. All three are black on my car, but "Hans und Klaus" used a white one on my donor lens so I could take a picture. In the picture the clip is partially disengaged and the adjustment screw has been removed. Use a flat blade screw driver to un-clip and pull the reflector away. The ground wire to the fog will still be attached, but it shouldn't interfere too much. The engineering brought tears to my eyes. The clips are designed so you can disassemble without changing the alignment. This is where Kirby's directions went wrong. The low beam lens is now accessible directly. Richard Browne Frank Amoroso suggested using only a clean towel and maybe water to clean the reflector. Mike did this. Dave used Kleenex Ultras and water. Don't use anything that will leave any scratches. Test an area that is "chrome" but not actually part of the reflector. Be VERY gentle. The rewards are good. Mike thought just cleaning the reflectors gave him 20% more light. Dave thought "More" but doesn't have a calibrated eye-ball to guess how much more. If you took the bulbs out, don't actually touch the glass portion of the bulbs. If you do touch the glass portion of these bulbs or any new ones (don't use higher wattage - they will melt the housing or fry the connectors), use alcohol to clean the bulbs, otherwise the bulbs will break from the extra heat caused by the oil on your skin that you left behind, i.e. your finger prints, (for those in the witness protection program or are world terrorists, even without actual finger prints, you will still leave oil - clean it off!)
Step 10: REASSEMBLY. In classic DIY manual fashion, reassembly is the opposite of assembly. Except, here you get to install a Euro Hella lens if you want and there are few pointers to remember. The Euro lens pattern is different It's like having large spot lights on with high beams. Also the level gage is not clear, it has fluting on it, but you can see it from the top so it not a problem. Either way, when reinstalling the old (or new) lens, make sure the inside of the lens is clean. Blow (and I mean BLOW) dust out of the reflector assembly. Seat the lens on the gasket. Add the clips by locking them into the groove on the glass lens and then pushing the clip over the black plastic edge. Repeat until all 8 clips are in place. Add/reinstall any bulbs you may have removed or are going to replace. Mike put 65w bulbs in with "no problem" (Remember that the wiring and plastic headlight assembly have their limits. BE CAREFUL. Make your own decisions.. Dave went with Phillips Narva (superwhite) stock wattage bulbs and is happy (well, as happy as he ever can be). Reinstall the outer gasket. It can be a B*tch but it is easier if you start at the corner with the two bosses ("tits") 90 degrees apart. Slide one in and then wriggle the other in. Tools should not be needed. Patience is. Some lubricant may help. No, not that kind! Dish soap will work fine. Continue around the headlight until the gasket is back where it started (and you can hear it say "There's no place like home, Toto". Okay now you can go back to the car. With the headlight assembly. What were you thinking? Okay, find all those screws you said you wouldn't lose. Got them? Good. The only ones you need right now are the two at the bottom of the assembly (they're longer than the two for the radiator support). If you are feeling brave you can load them into their holes on the assembly. Or if you are cautious and brave, leave them out for now. Get the headlight assembly close enough to the side marker that the two can see each other and renew old friendships. Slide the "spears" of the side markers into the slots of the headlight assembly until the clip goes "Click". No "click". Then there is a problem. Take them apart and try again until you get the "click". Now gently move the assembly into the headlight cavity. You have to get the little spear on the side marker into the slot in the fender. Get the "spear" started and then rotate the assembly into the cavity. Using a magnetic screwdriver and a flashlight, reinstall the two lower screws. If one drops, you may be able to retrieve it by pulling the assembly out (again) and groping around until all your knuckles are bleeding. Otherwise, you may have to go to your local "Screws 'R Us" franchise. Have fun. Better to not drop the screw. Once the bottom screws are both in, you are home free. All you have to do is reinstall the top screws, reattach the two plugs to the back of the headlight assembly and test the lights (turn the ignition on, etc.), and reinstall the lower trim strip (remember that little slot under the side marker) and the headlight washer cover. REPEAT for other side. You're an expert now.
Step 11: Enjoy your improved lighting.
Step 12: If still not happy, seek professional counseling and/or save pennies for true Euro lights. Happy Trails. And get your headlight aim checked sometime soon.
Mike Johnson and Dave Forgie
-------Addendum for Headlight FAQ with particular relevance to the '95 S6 --------------
Dave Forgie and Mike Johnson have a FAQ at the S-car site
that was particularly helpful to my removing and disassembling my 1995 S6
headlights. Thanks Dave and Mike. The following is intended to document some
supplementary information that may only be directly relevant to the urS6. Step
2/Step 8: I found that the infamous clips were held on by a particularly
tenacious epoxy. Attempting to pop the clips from the back caused them to
easily loosen from the plastic headlight case, but further prying would break
the lip of the glass lens. I had to remove the epoxy from the glass first. This
was done using a die grinder with a small sanding disk, but other more tedious
approaches should work. Step 7: These headlights also have a wire bail holding
down the rubber gasket on one side. It is easy to remove using an o-ring
removal tool or equivalent. Step 9: I found that the principal cause of haze
was not on the inside of the outer window, a.k.a. lens, but on the lenses used
for the low-beam and the fog light. These were dirty on both sides.
Unfortunately, at the level of disassembly of the FAQ, only the outside
surfaces can be fully cleaned. However, further disassembly is practical. First
remove the silvered plastic trim piece. This surrounds the inner parts, and is
held in by three springy plastic extensions to cylindrical parts on the
housing. Just pull out gently. Next remove the lamps. Inspection of the
assembly from the front will reveal that it is retained at three corners (the
fourth corner has a floating gauge). The lower retainer is disconnected by
rotating a knob, visible at the back, in the direction indicated (mechanical
help may be needed, they are very tight). Once turned, that corner will float.
The shaft is disconnected by reaching in and pushing it out of its retainer.
The two upper retainers are the r-l and u-d adjustments. Measure something to
know how to reset them to their approximate alignment points, and just wind
them out. Once all retainers are disconnected, the lighting assembly will be
free of the housing. At this point, further disassembly will disrupt the
relative alignment of the different sources, unless critical measurements are
made of all the ellipsoids' spacing versus some reference. I didn't disassemble
further. Access to the entirety of the inside of both lenses is available at
this level of disassembly. Adequate access to the reflectors is also available.
I used denatured alcohol on the lenses, and water on the reflectors. The
reflector coatings are not mil-spec, so don't try the alconox,
ethyl alcohol, acetone sequence. Alcohol alone seems to haze it slightly. I
used an air gun to remove all lint from the assembly. Lens tissue would be best
if available. As ever, reassembly is the reverse process. Wipe the lamps with
alcohol before installation. Upon testing, the low-beam light output was found
to be considerably brighter and whiter, but more output would still be
desirable. High-beam output was found to be quite good, and deemed adequate for
maximum practical night-time (moose-trolling) road speeds in NH,