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[Dejad]

The inside of my headlight and spot lights are all foggy and cruddy looking. I tried a cotton ball on a small wooden dowel but with the standoff type reflector/shield thing in there, it's kinda hard to get to most of it. It was semi-successful at best. It looks like a thin film of something I would compare to smoke stain. Anyone got any tricks to cleaning these things out? My buddies "08 ultra CVO has the same thing. I thought about some grease cutting dish soap/water and then blown it out lightly with compressed air to avoid water spots...

[hoganth]

Remove lights from housing, remove bulbs, pour in 1 oz. Isopropyl Alcohol, swish around for about 30 seconds, dump out any remaining alcohol, blow out with compressed air until all alcohol evaporated.
Lights will look new and stay that way for long time

 

[T-Hawk]

Remove lights from housing, remove bulbs, pour in 1 oz. Isopropyl Alcohol, swish around for about 30 seconds, dump out any remaining alcohol, blow out with compressed air until all alcohol evaporated.
Lights will look new and stay that way for long time

 

Sounds easy right?   Just don't do like I did, and get impatient while thinking I had completely dried out the alcohol.  It takes longer than you would expect, but it does the trick if you take your time to ensure that its actually dry inside.

I used my Air Blaster Dryer, which eventually blows warmish air through a filter as opposed to my Air Compressor.  Even though I drain the Air Compressor's tank after every use, there's still some moisture inside the air tank that transfers back into the housing.

Good Luck,
T-Hawk

[CVODON]

I have found sitting them in the sun for awhile works. I also had trouble with moisture remaining from compressor and I never thought about the master blaster.

[Dejad]

Ok, I'll try the alcohol this evening. Thanks guys.

[joejoebobo]

I know this is an old thread... I tried poring alcohol in as suggested above and it gave my reflective backing within the headlamp a horrible white film. Did anyone else get this?

[T-Hawk]

Sorry to hear what happened with your experience... mine are still dry and shiny.

And, it seems since I did it the first time... I haven't had to repeat the process.

[J.D.]

Cut clean pieces of an old white t-shirt.  Throw them in with the solvent.  Plug the lamp hole with a rag.  Agitate for awhile and remove.  Blow remaining solvent dry with filtered air.  Cut some strips of a terry cloth and insert.  Shake these around pretty good for a good while.  They'll pickup any residue.

[joejoebobo]

All good T-Hawk... I think I just over did it and left the alcohol in there a little too long. I read up on the effects of cleaning plastics with alcohol and the chances on leaving the white film behind. it only showed up while blowing out the housing with the air compressor and then got much worse once it completely dried.

It took almost all day, but I was able to clear everything out and looking brand new again. I added equal parts Simple Green and water in the housing and taped the holes so there were no air bubbles and placed it in a bowl filled with water so none of the solution would leak. I left it to sit on the counter for half the day and shook it up for a bit before ringing it out... dissolved all the haze and left it shiny again - thank God.

If I were to do it again, I think it would have been better (in my case) to add equal parts vinegar and water then rinse it out. Or just use very little alcohol and blow it out rather quickly.

[Bobman]

Used small pieces of microfiber rags, cut to size plastic dryer strap, duck tape and F-11. Tape the microfiber to the end of the dryer strap. Spray a small amount F-11 to the microfiber. Access in the back of the light and work the dryer strap around all the edges. Of course had to remove the faring so you could access the back of the light. Guaranteed unbelievable results.