Hi guys,
I have a 2004 Mitsubishi Outlander and both of the headlight covers have begun to crack. Most of the cracks aren’t very large, but the passenger side has one large enough that moisture has entered the assembly. I understand that if this isn’t fixed soon that the moisture can make everything worse (replacing the bulb and some of the wiring). I’ve heard quotes on these covers as high as $500 each and working on a student’s budget, that just won’t do. I was wondering if there is a way to repair (either myself or someone skilled) these covers rather than having to completely replace them? Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated!!
Now you know why I hate those designer headlights. Write or call your congressman and tell them you want to go back to sealed beams to help reduce the number of people driving around with headlights that are not doing their job.There’s no real way to fix them. You could try buttering a layer of epoxy on the surfaces to stabilize them, but the results will be a real “crap shoot”.
On occasion when I’ve had to replace a compoent of his sort I’ve found the best prices to be through the VIP “crash catalog”. You might even get lucky with the boneyards.
Good luck.
Yeah, go to a salvage yard. You should be able to pick up a whole headlight assembly pretty cheap - -this is better than just replacing the cover, as you won’t have to make sure it’s properly sealed.
I had seen somewhere else that there was a way to drill a hole at the corner of the light, leave it with a dehumidifier for a few days to remove the moisture, and inject some sort of plastic resin into the crack to fix it. This seems a bit iffy, but does anyone know of services that do this sort of thing? I’m going to look at all of the local salvage yards, but I might be hard-pressed to find decent ones (I’ve read elsewhere that this is common for this year of vehicle…I’m guessing cheaply-made components)
If you go that route, may as well take the driver’s side unit too, just in case. You’ll probably get away with maybe $100 for both, depending on the yard.
http://www.partshotlines.com/
http://www.junkyardlocator.com/