This week appears to be "suck all of Ken's money away" week for my Volvo. After I screwed up and let the brake pads wear all the way through resulting in scored rotors, then breaking my master cylinder, and then FCP Groton making a mistake and sending me the wrong one (they're still great, though! mistakes happen), I noticed yet another problem with my brick.

Apparently the lens of both my headlamps had become unglued. Yes, the clear plastic front lens on both sides had come loose. I decided to take both the lamps out today and attempt to repair them using epoxy, rubber cement, or perhaps just plain old caulk.

The passenger side lamp assembly came out without a problem. Rather than taking JUST the lamp out, I removed the entire assembly. Trust me, it's easier to do it that way than it is to pick and pry (and risk breaking them) at the plastic clips for the reflector lamp only.

Then I moved onto the driver's side. The two bolts on the fender came out with ease, yay. Then two inside bolts near the auxiliary fan were seized up badly. When I turned them, it caused the inside portion of the nut's 'cage' (it prevents the nut from rotating) to deform, resulting in the nut rotatingw ith the seized bolt, resulting in me accomplishing absolutely nothing except damaging the assembly. Same problem with the bottom nut and bolt. Great. After applying tons of PB, cursing several times (this is becoming a favorite pasttime of mine), and thinking of new and creative ways to wedge in a vise grip, I was finally able to remove the assembly.

I'm looking at the thing now and I'm hoping that it can be reused. I'm really not in the mood to spend another $80 on FCP Groton for an assembly that is good other than the slipping nuts. I'll figure out a way to remount them.

Anyway, since the front plastic lenses fell off, I figured this would be an excellent time to give everything a thorough cleaning. I cleaned the plastic lenses with a soft sponge and some dishwashing detergent. I started doing the same with the reflector until I realized that some of the shiny silver WAS RUBBING OFF. What the hell?? Apparently that stuff is sprayed on! So now, on my passenger side reflector, there is a patch where some black is showing instead of silver. GRR. A new headlamp for that would cost $105 from FCP!

I went to Ebay and the cheapest I could find was $100 each USED for the mounting bracket and headlamp. Not a bad price, but still, money, I don't want to spend. I'm going to wing it and see if everything still works acceptably with the slightly deformed cage/nuts and the black spot.

In any case, lesson learned: the shiny stuff on the inside of the headlamp RUBS OFF EASILY, ESPECIALLY WITH AGE.

edit: here are pictures


See the reformed cage for the nut? Now the nut can twist/spin freely.


See the patch of black on the bottom of the lamp? Yeah, that's permanent now.
--
Ken
1990 Volvo 740 base sedan (B230F)
My Volvo 'Project'