As a lot of us probably have experienced, the headlights can peel and get really dirty inside if they're not well sealed.

Have anyone cleaned their insides? How do you open them and how do you avoid to further damage the chrome inside?

I figured a thread like this could be generally useful.

 

Not sure if this helps but on my old '95 I removed the lights from the car and added a couple drops of dishsoap, followed by filling them 1/2 way with warm water.....then slosh-slosh-slosh. Rinse, repeat.

Five minutes for each lamp and they positiely glistened like new , inside and out :-)

Cheers
DD

 

Check this out. I believe the consensus is : Don't touch the chrome plating, it comes off.https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...uestion-61809/
RJ________________
97 XK8 86K mi

 

Doug: Thanks, that sounds like a good way to do it, did you re-seal the lens in any way? And did you remove the whole assembly or just the lens?

 

If the black plastic is showing under the chrome, all the cleaning in the world is not going to help.

The lens/reflector is a separate assembly from the electrical assembly of the headlight. One you remove the three mounting bolts and unplug the whole headlight assembly, you pry open the half a dozen or so plastic tabs and the two parts separate.

The lens and reflector can be replaced with new for about $200. If you go the chrome paint budget route, you will need to break a seal in the lens/reflector assembly to remove the lens to get access to the reflector, and then use RTV to seal it up again after painting.

 

The 'chrome' reflector is a vapor deposited aluminum film that will wipe off if touched by anything. You could clean them and tell everyone that you upgraded to the black '03 style.

 

Got a good pic of the black headlights? Maybe that's the way to go.

 

On my old X300 (old school 4 headlight system) the lens and housing are one piece. I just pop 'em off their mounts with screwdriver. Modern Jags probably have something a lot more sophisticated.

Cheers
DD