Pathfinder Fog Light Overhaul

[Pwnin O'Brien]

Well today's project was going to be a complete fog light overhaul. I was going to disassemble the lamps, clean the housing interior, sand/polish the glass exterior, remove the glare guard (for more light output) and aim (that's right, aim, the fog lights have an aiming screw and you can aim the lamps quite a bit) the lamps. I was planning on writing up a complete tutorial with detailed pictures and such, but I ran into a small problem.

With normal headlamps/fog lamps you simply place the entire housing into the oven (glass down on some damp towels) and bake for some time. The baking softens the silicone seal and allows you to pry the glass from the plastic housing. Well, it turns out that the pathfinder housings are impenetrable. I was not able to successfully remove the glass from the front of the unit. I changed the oven temperature from 200 to 250 to 300 to 375 (Fahrenheit). I changed the bake time from 5 minutes to 8 minutes to 12 minutes. No combination allowed removal of the glass. I was able to see the black sealant and I could see the seal breaking and the sealant was soft but I still couldn't pry off the glass.

The worst part in all is probably the fact that the headlamp housing failed before the seal. The plastic would start to bend and in some areas just crack.

If anybody has ever done this before or has some tips on how to separate the glass from the housing, PLEASE let me know. I'm not ready to give up on this.
Modified by Pwnin O'Brien at 2:36 PM 7/8/2009

[W O T]

Well your problem is the time your putting it in there for. Ive done lots of headlights and they do NOT let go with anything under 15 minutes, my friends always try to rush it, and the glue just isnt fully melted all the way through yet.

Bake them @ 225 for 25 minutes, if its an all glue seal, it will break free

[miamiheat3332]

mabye a heatgun? lol dont know much about the foglights.

[Pwnin O'Brien]

Ok, preheating oven now for 225 degrees.

I'll post my results!

[W O T]

Ya Its defientely just the time you had them in for, you gotta work at getting them apart pretty quick after you take them out of the oven, no lolligaggin lol

[Pwnin O'Brien]

No luck with 225 degrees. I even let them bake for 30 minutes. The black plastic just gets soft and the glass still doesn't even come close to separating.