Advice on Used Litronics
 

I bought a set of used litronics that I knew were not in very good shape. My plan is to refurbish them if possible and install them on my 2000 Boxster.

The passenger-side headlight appears to be in decent shape. I'm planning to use the Sylvania headlight restoration kit on it to take the discoloration off the outside of the lens and just clean it up. I'll check to be sure it works before I expend the elbow grease. Here are some pictures:

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1415247611.jpg

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1415247714.jpg

You can see the oxidation at the top of the lens here:

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1415247863.jpg


The driver-side headlight is a little rougher. The lens needs more restoration than the passenger lens:

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1415248034.jpg

The more significant problem is that the back side is broken and many of the internal components are rattling around loose. The litronic bulb (D2S) is broken and the reflector behind it just slides around:

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1415248157.jpg

Does anyone have experience with repairing the internal components of a litronic headlight? Can you suggest how to fix this? For example, should I consider heating the unit and removing the lens so that I can work inside the bucket? Can I use the bucket from a non-litronic lens and fit the litronic components inside.

Would it be better for me to find another driver-side lens and just use the components in this one for spares?

If anyone has a litronic with a broke lens to sell and everything else is intact, I'd be interested.

That headlight will most likely need to come apart for repair (would be much easier, anyway).
There's a seller on ebay that always has parts bundles for Lits. http://www.ebay.com/itm/271552593304
They always have a lot of parts. Just be sure you get the correct parts as there are at least 2 types of Lits that I'm aware of.

I recommend Meguiars Plast-X with a foam polisher to remove mild discoloration. It's an easy, one-step solution.
Scratches or heavy oxidation will require wet sanding, polish and new UV coat for future protection.

When I had my old set polished by a pro, he buffed and buffed but the yellowing / foggy look was 'in' the plastic, or on the inside. My car was from the desert region outside LA and took heat and sandblasting while driving. They came out very smooth, but nothing like new units. Not close. Since the headlights really do make the look up front, spend cash there. Well worth it.

Is there a difference in the clear lenses on the standard lights verses the litronics? If not, why not pull the lense from the old style and place ir on the litronics? That is - if the litronic lense cnnot be polished.

I thought about that. The process for opening the headlight:

How to open sealed headlights, Porsche 996 986 - YouTube

appears to be a little risky. Too much force at the wrong time might result in a broken cover.

I would also like to "de-amber" as a side benefit of the litronic upgrade. Using a cover from the old-style lens wouldn't benefit me in that regard. I think that I will try polishing first. If that doesn't work I'll look at other options.

The polishing process seems to work well. The person in this video used the Turtle Wax kit on an old-style headlight.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93EilTta1OY

Consumer Reports indicated that the Sylvania system was better, so that is what I plan to use.

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/headlight-restoration-kits/buying-guide.htm

I tested the passenger side light tonight. It worked except for the turn signal. I suspect that the bulb is burnt out or broken. It was nice to see that I didn't have to replace the D2S litronic bulb. There appear to be some inexpensive generic xenon bulbs, but the brand name units are expensive. The light from the litronic bulb is noticeably whiter and brighter than that from the halogen.

I did find a driver's side assembly at a salvage yard. It does not include the control unit, but I can take that off of my broken light.

Kevin - huge thanks to fella member Charles (Particlewave) for putting up this Youtube vid for us.

RE the broken cover comment. Believe me, those headlights are bullet proof. You have to ask yourself... highways & highways & highways and they still look good after 10~15 years. That polycarbonate material Porsche is using is something I've never seen before (I think you guys in the states also make jet fighter canopy out of that same stuff).

Pry mate, you can bend them, twist them, throw them in the wall as hard as you want and they'll live another life I promise. Until today I've never heard of anyone braking a lens. The lip under is what you need to take care of... it may crack or bend a little but who cares... it won't interfere with remounting the lens perfectly back on the headlight housing - it will hide itself in the silicon you'll use to re-seal the thing.

Hope this was inspirational! Best of luck with the rest, you appear to be on the good track mate

Thanks for the words of encouragement. I assumed that anything that looks like a big piece of glass will be fragile. Using excessive force during automotive work is usually something I do with extreme caution.

Right now, it looks like I have enough parts from the three lights I mentioned in my previous posts (two that I own and one that is on its way from the salvage yard) to make two good lights.

I still need to find a set of clear corners, but for now my total cost for upgrading to litronics and "de-ambering" is reasonable.

The lenses aren't glass. Plastic has a bend and forgiveness to it. I only opened one set of lights. What found interesting in the process and light design was that you pry up on the top of the lens, - the headlight bucket area - but when you get down towards the turn signal and fog light - you really need to slide the lens forward. It is detailed in Particlewaves video.

Edit: Not that I am trying to second guess your decision to polish the lenses. Just trying to add more information about the lenses.

I hate to be a downer on this, but I managed to slightly crack the surface of one of my lenses. And took chips of the unreplaceable paint off the serrated edge surface. If I was to do it again, I'd send the assembly to Charles to take apart.

Right now, I don't have the option of swapping a very clear non-amber lens onto the litronic since I don't have one.

I may polish the drivers-side lens that I have before I tackle the passenger side. The driver's side light that I have coming from the salvage yard looks pretty good. Here are some pictures that they sent me:

Attachment 18935

Attachment 18933

Attachment 18932

Attachment 18934

Attachment 18931

If the polishing process doesn't work well on the driver's side lens that I don't need, I'll probably decide to live with the discoloration on the passenger-side lens.

My driver's side headlight arrived yesterday. Unfortunately, the wiring inside is a mess. You can see all of the electrical tape wrapped around the wiring. There is a lot of missing insulation and broken wires. I negotiated a price reduction with the salvage yard that sold it to me.

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1416017003.jpg

Fortunately, the wiring in my broken driver's side litronic is in good shape:

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1416017064.jpg

I'm planning to transplant my good wiring from the broken headlight into the unbroken headlight with the bad wiring. It all looks pretty straightforward except for the wiring for the foglight and the turn signal. The turn signal looks particularly difficult since the wire runs the length of the headlight assembly and it will be difficult to get in there.

Does anybody have a suggestion for doing this? For example, could I gain access by removing the clear plastic cover? Or should I cut a small hole in the bucket near the connector for the turn signal.

I would remove the lens and do it. It's really not too difficult ;)

http://i875.photobucket.com/albums/a...91F054FD74.jpg

Thanks - The more I look at it, the more I'm inclined to agree.

What do you use to glue it back together?

What a great project! I would remove the lenses to access and refurbish, take your time and take a ton of pics along the way so you know where everything goes. I'm sure it will all pay off in the end.

Permatex Black Silicone Adhesive Sealant.
It can be found at places like AutoZone for around $10.


http://i875.photobucket.com/albums/a...42BBBB6745.jpg


Side note: iphone sucks since ios8. Took me 6 tries to copy and paste that image link :(

I think that is going to be the key. I was planning to work on it tonight, but I was tired from working all day. I have some vacation days that I need to take before the middle of January, so I may just take a day off and work on it. I find that fatigue leads to mistakes so I might as well start fresh.

I'll probably watch particleweave's disassembly video 10 times and then start heating up some headlights.

Right now, my total spend on the project is relatively low, so I think I owe the project some sweat equity.

I had a busy weekend and I only had a few hours on Sunday afternoon to work on the lights. I used the Sylvania restoration kit on the good working headlight. It did a great job taking off the oxidation on the outside of the lens.

Before:
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1416274035.jpg

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1416274524.jpg

After:

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1416274075.jpg

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1416274120.jpg

I think that I may do it again in a year or two. I thought I had sanded very thoroughly, but I think there were some areas where I did not remove all of the factory coating on the headlight and I can see some imperfections in those areas. It is particularly noticeable near the turn signal. However, from about 5 feet it looks like new.

I plan to bake and open the broken headlights on Saturday. I want to set aside about 4 hours of time so I'm not rushed. If it takes less time, that's fine but I plan to be methodical and take a lot of pictures.

I used particleweave's instructions to open the headlights. It was actually as easy as he said it was. I have transferred the good wiring harness from the broken headlight to the good headlight with the bad wiring harness.

I have to go and clean up the yard right now, but I'll complete the report and post some pictures tonight or tomorrow.

If anyone else is faced with this task, opening the headlight is clearly the best option.

I ran into a few issues, so my project still isn't complete. One of the headlight ballasts (the one from the broken headlight) had water in it. I opened it up and rinsed it with distilled water and then dried it out. However, it wouldn't work so I bought a replacement on ebay for $40. That arrived yesterday and it worked fine.

Also, when I tested the lights, none of the parking light bulbs worked. The litronic headlights use a different bulb (H6W) then the non-litronics and I couldn't find them in a couple of local auto parts stores that I checked. So, I ordered a pair from Rockauto and they are scheduled to arrive tomorrow.

Finally, I decided to change to clear corner trim. The least expensive available are on ebay, but they ship from Latvia. So, it will be mid December before they arrive.

Today, I'm going to spend more time polishing the headlights. I'll install them with amber corners tomorrow night.

I'm also going to look for the harness and control unit that allow the litronics to rotate up when the high beams go on. If anyone has the following parts laying around, please let me know.

Control unit: 00004490038
Small plugs 2 needed 99965256822
Wiring harness: 99661298800

I guess mid December isn't too long to wait, but some medium tint film on the amber corner trims will darken them up and hide the orange nicely.

When I arrived home from work tonight, my H6W bulbs were waiting for me. I put the lights together and tested them. All bulbs are working, so I consider this project a functional success.

Now I'm ready to work some more on the cosmetic side. I'm not sure whether it shows in these photos, but I still need to do some polishing before I install them. There are a lot of light surface scratches and pits. I had previously done the passenger side, but the result was not as good as I wanted.

Together:
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1417487029.jpg

Passenger's side close up:
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1417487063.jpg

Driver's side close up:
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1417487090.jpg

Once I finish the polishing, I'll just need to wait until the Latvians deliver my clear corners. If I get impatient, I'll try Particleweave's suggestion and use some smoke tint film.

Project Complete
 

Well, the Latvians came through and my clear corners arrived yesterday-several days ahead of schedule. Here are some pictures of the results:

Off the car with flash
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1418180810.jpg

Off the car without flash
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1418180870.jpg

On the car with flash
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1418180927.jpg

On the car without flash
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1418180984.jpg

The flash photos make the amber appear more prominent than it is. In the words of Ed China on Wheeler Dealers - I'm chuffed at the results.

Here are some conclusions that I reached regarding restoring the headlight covers:

1. The instructional videos that the kit makers put on Youtube imply that a few minutes of sanding is all that is needed. In my experience, quite a bit of sanding was necessary. I eventually decided to use a quarter-sheet finishing sander and started with 320 grit. I progressed through 600, 1000 and 2000. Then I used a 3000 grit finishing disk in the 3M kit and then polished with the 3M compound.

2. The headlight covers are tough. Don't be afraid to open them or sand them.

3. The Sylvania UV coating gives a nice shine to the finished product and is reputed to be very durable.

Thanks to everyone who provided suggestions and encouragement.

Also, how much do you think a pair halogen headlights with amber are worth? They are in good shape except that the passenger side has some internal discoloration.

I haven't read the entire thread so sorry if someone has already said this, but take them to a paint shop and have them wet sanded and clear coated. This is the only permanent solution. with a simple rub on polish they will return to the way they were before in as little as a week or two.

Amazing results Kevin, pays off pretty good... brand spanking NEW lights!

Nice

ps. you could have save you the 320grit. Those will go as deep as 0.1mm... that is a hell of a job if you have to pick up with a #600. That is possibly why it took you a tad longer than advertised. But that doesn't matter today does it - they're beautiful regardless :)

I did my 'mild-scratched' headlights once and started at #600 and up to wet 2000 then buffing wheel/compound (2.5~3hrs per headlight total). I got the surface really hot while buffing. Came out better than new lol

well done again mate

I considered having them clear coated and there is actually a Youtube video showing this done. However, I couldn't find much information on durability or whether it caused a long-term problem with the headlight material. So I decided to go with the Sylvania UV protectant. Consumer Reports tested it and found it durable. Time will tell. If if doesn't work out, I'll try clear coat the next time.

Nine8Six - thanks for all your feedback and encouragement. It made me believe this was possible. Do you think I should sand off the amber on my current headlights before I put them up for sale? I've seen a few threads on this and it looks like a fairly straightforward process.

It is getting dark around 5:00 pm here in the northern hemisphere. The litronics look better on the car and provide much more light. A real win-win situation.

;)Kevin,
I hate to be the one who has to say it, but i think they came out like crap. Please send them to me for proper disposal. I will even pay for shipping.;)

I think that with the current amber you could probably get $200 on eBay pretty easily but if you could get that amber off they might be worth more to someone here that wanted to do the retrofit. A new set of Halos with clear is around $700 on eBay so you could probably sell a used pair with no amber for $350 maybe?

Sure using television marketing techniques my ad would read

Free Litronics
Shipping and Handling - $1000 - No local pick up available

These were made in Germany and you know the Germans make good stuff.

Wow, thanks for all the info guys. I'm going to have to catch up on all this.

So Kevin...3 1/2 years later, I have to ask.
How long did the lenses continue to look as good as they did when you first finished working on them? Regarding sanding, polishing, etc, would you recommend doing anything differently at this point?

The driver's side has held up well with a small amount of yellowing in the UV coating. As you can see in the attached photo, the passenger side has yellowed significantly. I think I would use the process I followed previously with the exception of the final step. The UV coating seems to have been the weak link. I plan to remove the UV coating from both lights and replace it with something stronger. In this thread: http://986forum.com/forums/boxster-general-discussions/65455-headlight-restore.html Jakeru recommends the product I plan to use. I need to purchase a respirator since it appears to be hazardous if you inhale it.

You need to use real UV resistant automotive clear coat, not some off the shelf product. ;)

So you don't think anything out of a spray can is a good option? Not even the (somewhat highly touted) Spray Max products? (https://www.spraymax.com/en-us/products/product/clear-coats-and-spot-blender/headlight-restoration-kit-1/)

Supposedly the clear coat in the Sylvania kit is guaranteed "for life." Sounds like that assurance is not worth the paper it's printed on, eh? :troll:

I’ve had great success with SprayMax Headlight Primer and 2 stage catalyst finish coat for headlights:

http://986forum.com/forums/boxster-general-discussions/70941-whats-generally-accepted-best-headlight-clear-coat.html

It’s highly toxic, so be sure you have the correct respirator and you are working in a properly ventilated space.

You may have heard good things about this, or had good luck with that, but nothing will be as good as real automotive clear coat sprayed on by a pro. Period. ;)

Maybe so, but the SprayMax 1k primer/2k catalyst clearcoat solution is light years beyond what you can typically buy off the shelf in a store. I’m a year in with my refinished 986 headlights and they still look like new.

X2. I sprayed my headlights with a clear automotive paint when I was painting some other parts and they still look like brand new two years later. The front of my car gets a daily dose of Texas sun every day too. The spray can stuff doesn't have a hardner in it and they''ll go dull after some time. Not as quick as polishing, but eventually.

Yeah, we can probably agree on that. Some of us are just looking for the best of the almost-as-good-as-professional approach. I read in some post somewhere (I can't seem to find it anymore) the idea about prepping the headlight, then taking it into a body shop and having them do a quick spray at the end of spraying another vehicle. That actually seemed like a pretty good idea, and one that probably wouldn't be that costly.

My question, though, is the prepping. The whole reason I'm messing with this at all is that I replaced the passenger side headlamp last September following a fender-bender (a monumentally stupid moment on my part--I THOUGHT the guy in front of me at a busy intersection had committed to go...he hadn't) in which the light was damaged. Now the passenger-side lamp is brand new (no scratches, no yellowing) and the driver side one (which had looked pretty decent to me previously) now looks horrible. Relatively speaking. I don't think there's any way I'm going to get the one looking anything like the other at this point. Even if you sand the hell out of them, do you ever really get all that yellowing out? (The older one has virtually no scratches or cloudiness--it's just yellowed with time.) I think this is all the more true in that I think some of the yellowing is of components on the inside and, despite all your helpful instructions and video, Charles, I'm not sure I want to tackle opening this thing up for purely cosmetic reasons.

Woody, I had pressed the body shop guy to let me obtain a gently-used headlamp from you (remember us talking? I was afraid that with the cost of these lights they were gonna end up totalling the car?) He was not flexible on the issue. I hadn't really thought about this angle: not only could I get a second-hand light cheaper from you, but the car actually would have cosmetically tooked better with two headlamps that had seen a few years in the sun instead of having an old one side-by-side with a new.


I'm not sure that's true. Correct me if I'm wrong, OCG, but isn't that what that circular red thing is for, the one on the top of the 2k clearcoat? You pull it off, affix it onto the little rod at the bottom of the can, and whack it, to open up a smaller canister inside, releasing a hardener?


Anyway, my question remains as before. My "bad" light is about as yellowed as your passenger-side one, Kevin. Even with aggressive sanding, I don't think it's realistic to think it'll ever look even close to the driver-side one. Maybe I should pick up a used one and sell the hardly-used new one for good money ;)

Ok, one more time - the SprayMax Headlight System clear coat is a two stage catalyst paint (2k), it does have a separate hardener that is released into the paint at application time by puncturing the hardener container that is within the clear coat can. It has a pot life of a hour or so.. Additionally, the SprayMax system requires use of two different products, a 1k primer paint and the 2k catalyst paint. They are bundled together by shrink wrap and cannot be purchased separately.

The SprayMax system cannot be purchased just anywhere. I found mine at an auto paint shop through one of the online stores like EBay or Walmart Online.

I don’t care one way or the other if anyone uses this system, I just want people who come here looking for information to have all the info possible. There are details of using this product in the link I posted earlier in this thread.

Write back in 5 years and let us know if it holds up.
You still have to worry about finish quality (runs, orange peel and dust/hair contaminants).

Better to just pay a pro $50 to spray them when they're doing a car or something.
Spraymax runs $30-$40 by itself and you still have to worry about contaminants and finish quality. ;)
Automotive clear coat is proven and will look like glass for years.

Having worked with hundreds of headlights over the years, I have to say that a pro is the best route if you can get it done for less than $100.
It's just not worth the headache. :)