I'd like to provide this step-by-step guide, complete with illustrations, of what happens when you get too involved and distracted by working on your Volvo to do what you actually wanted to do.

My dad and I planned to use this past evening to install a 740 turbo "eggcrate" grille in my 240, as per these instructions. We got distracted, though.

Everything started out well and good. Here I am, eagerly getting ready to try to fit the grille, to see what works (only now do I realize how stupid I look in this picture):



There's the 740 grille on the left, and my original 1989 240 GL one in the car, with the detachable (see my profile) 100K mile badge.

We take the old grille out, hold the new one in place, and try to decipher the instructions. We've got a vague idea of what we need to hold it into place, and my dad walks away to find some more bolts and things.

While noting the condensation within both headlgihts covers, I carelessly pull on the plastic passenger-side cover, only to discover it's quite loose. Pulling a little harder nearly dislodges the cover, and I think, "Oops." I have to drive to work tomorrow, and I don't want to lose the cover on the road.

So, I ask my dad if we have silicone sealant to reattach the cover. He says we do, and I ask him if would stick *tonight.* He again says it will, so I ask him to go get it, and I decide it's time to take the covers off, dry them, clean them, and reseal them. This picture shows what happens next:



If you've never seen your car without the plastic covers on, well, that's what it looks like. The light "mirrors" aren't too shiny, but I knew not to touch them. I've heard how people have tried to wipe or buff them and discovered that it removes the shiny silver covering.

I take the lenses inside, where I make note of the pieces of *moss* (not just mold, but like full-fledged tree moss--I assume it grew in there) and other fungi before washing it all down the sink. I scrub the covers well with a dish brush and regular kitchen soap.

Once everything is clean, I dry the covers off with paper towels and my dad blow dries them. We take everything back outside to put the covers back on.

I make reinstallation a little easier by removing the turn signal lenses, which slightly overhang the headlight covers. I initially just pulled until the covers came out. I'm glad I didn't break any of the numerous plastic pieces present in these headlight assemblies.

It's not easy to get silicone sealant in there. The tops and inside areas were accessible, but there was no easy way to get the caulking gun to the outside sides and bottoms. I alternated between putting the sealant on my finger and on a stick and smearing it in there. I know I didn't get a complete seal around the whole cover, but I did the best I could without getting sealant everywhere. I'm hoping that it will be good enough to keep most condensation out, but if not, I guess I'll just have to try again.

Here's the end result:



You can see the eggcrate grille, totally neglected, resting against the front driver's side tire. It's also now too dark to work outside.

As far as I can tell, those covers are the originals--one had a code of "26 10 88" and the other had "18 11 88," so I assume those indicate when they were made. I would guess they sat on the shelf somewhere for a while, as my car wasn't sold from the dealership until August of 1989, but perhaps the car was built in late '88 or early '89, so maybe it's not so bad.

I got everything back in, and I think the covers look a little cleaner, a little less yellow. If I notice a major change when driving at night, then I'll do another post about it, but my lenses already seemed to be in pretty good condition, compared to some 240s I've seen. There's not much one can expect from 15-year-old plastic, anyhow.

But back to the original idea, if I had never gotten down working on the front end of my car, or never read those posts about cleaning the covers, I would have stayed focused on getting the grille installed. I might still have yellow, cloudy headlights, but I would have the most unique Volvo I've seen driving around!

No matter, at least the distraction was to a good end. I'd rather get distracted doing something beneficial for my car than to forget about it totally and end up neglecting everything!
--
'89 244 GL -- 105,300 miles (see profile for info on car)