Hello,
I tried to remove the passenger side headlamp body from a 240 that I am junking. My daughter needs it for her 245. The lens came off easily but the body is not so apparent. I see the two screws that are used for adjusting the beam. They were stuck so I WD40'd them. I saw the 10mm nuts but the one just turned and turned without coming out. Will the body come out if I unscrew the adjusting screws?
Thanks
Jerry

This job is less than 3% fun. There are three mounting bolts that hold the headlamp assembly on. You can only see the nuts in the engine compartment. The head of the bolt is recessed in soft plastic in the headlamp itself. The bolt/nut combos rust easily, so the head of the bolt winds up spinning in the plastic rather easily when you turn the nuts. Really, your only solution for guaranteed successful removal is to dremel out the mounting bolts.

Or you cold roll the dice: If I remember right, there are some clevis-like pins that hold the headlamp onto the two adjusters and the third mounting plate... with a coat hanger through the various holes in the chassis, you may be able to yank those off and then tug off the headlamp from the mounting frame. This worked for me.

Remember not to touch the shiny reflector's surface with your fingers, tools, or drops of sweat.

Good luck!
-Ryan
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Athens, Ohio
1990 245 DL 133k M47, Cibié E-codes, Now with working wipers!
1991 745 GL 290k (Girlfriend-mobile)
Buckeye Volvo Club

Ryan has the deal on this. I can only add a few points.

I did it with a no-name Dremel. Use fiber-reinforced cutoff wheels made by Dremel. Other non-reinforced cutoff wheels won't last. Allow time for cutting off the nuts; it's not a quick job. If you wear glasses use old ones or goggles; my new ones got all scratched up by flying junk. Good thing the store wanted to stand behind their warranty.

In my case the plastic frame was OK to use again even though the screw heads were spinning in the recess. I suspect yours will be OK too. Replace screws and nuts with new stainless ones. I found stainess metric replacements in a hardware store.

One side of the car has three bolts + nuts, the other side has four. Can't remember which.

I'd stay away from messing with the clevis pins. At least one has a shim or bushing down inside the hole; if it gets away the headlight will be loose in its mount. Wanna know how I learned that?


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Sven: '89 245 NA, 951 ECU, open-front airbox, E-fan, 205/65-15's, IPD sways, E-Codes, amber front corner reflectors, quad horns, tach, small clock. Wifemobile '89 245 NA stock. 90 244 NA spare, runs.

Thank you.
Excellent procedure. I will give it a go. My daughter thanks you too

Jerry

Thanks for the closure on the clevis pin method. I pulled my old headlamps out for good, so I never bothered to see how/if they went back together again. :-)

-Ryan
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Athens, Ohio
1990 245 DL 133k M47, Cibié E-codes, Now with working wipers!
1991 745 GL 290k (Girlfriend-mobile)
Buckeye Volvo Club

Excellent procedure. I will give it a go. My daughter thanks you

Jerry

Driver's side has three bolts, passenger side has 4.

The uppermost and innermost nut/bolt was the least rusted on my car, and could actually be coaxed out without a dremmel. PB Blaster helped.

On the other nuts, just dremmel until the nut comes loose.

For me, I found that grinding out the center of the bolt was quicker than cutting the nut, and eventually, you will grind out enough of the bolt & nut so that you have a very small nut, and then you can finger loosen it.

Fathers day was spent installing e-codes - Yay!

Eye protection is a must, and since I'm still blowing Swedish iron filings out of my nose, so a mask might not be a bad idea either.

And be careful with the dremmel - you don't want to cut anything other than the nut/bolt!