Ok im gonna clean the headlight out using the oven method thanks to all the help posed here, but i have a question. I always understood that you needed to seal the headlights back real good and use a lot of sealent, but someone mentioned that you could just use the old sealent. How do they do that? It looks so much cleaner, but wouldnt that raise the risk of leaking? I want a clean look, but not at the sacrifice of my headlights. Any help would be great.

 

do both, get something like a paint can opener to help you open up the headlights cleanly after heating them in the oven. After you get the reflector out, stick the two pieces of the headlight back in the oven to reheat the original sealant, then take them out and stick it back together. After its cooled and settled, go around the seam with some clear silicone sealant. This comes out very clean

 

if your lights fog up....do u have to buy new ones?

 

no you dont, the condensation just burns off, its fine

i cleared out mine and did i a poor job on the right one, not bad, but just a little bit sloppy and it fogs.

doesnt hurt anyting as far as i know

 

you dont have to change them, but it looks bad for awhile and u really should do it again if u dont want to have that, just putting silicone on certain spots doesnt look So thats why i want to do a good job on it the first time, What type of silicone should I use?

 

When you close the healdights back up, you have to heat it back up in the oven to soften the original sealant, then while still warm, press the outer lens back into place. I just added the extra sealant to provide an extra barrier, but if you dont seal up the original seal well, it is going to leak, and get condensation back in.

 

i hear that silicone sealant can also dry up and crack, producing a weak point...however, the original stuff stays pliable and nonshrinking. another thing, once you have applied the silicone, i don't think you can easily open them back up again. you can buy the same gray colored sealant from the local honda dealer...it's called hondabond. i would imagine if this stuff works from the factory, using it again would be a good gamble. you can hit up blingbling_girl...she made sure she had some hondabond handy when she cleared her lights a couple of weeks ago (just not sure if she ended up using it or not).

 

jus make sure that you have TWO guys workin on it. when you open up the head light, one guy pulls the casing apart, while the other releases the clips AND cuts along the sealant so it doesnt stretch (you will kno wut i'm talkin about when u pull it open). then do the clearing and stuff...and remember to put the screws back on the housing!!! (i forgot twice....) then push the two sides back together as much as you can, try to get all the clips to fit back in. then when you think u've done as much as u could, stick it back in the oven for like 3-4 minutes. take it out, then push down on the headlight as hard as you can, with one guy on each end, and hold it there and let the sealant dry. if you do this right, there should b pretty much no gaps, or a couple that are 1 or 2 mm wide (compare to stock, cuz stock originally had some gaps) then you're all set! ray n i have done about 8 headlights with this method, and none of them have leaked.

 

I did both in the oven 200* for 12 min. I removed all the seal from my passenger side light and re-siliconed it, the I did the drivers side with just the factory seal. I think the trick isn't how much sealant you use, I used about half a tube, but the pressure you keep on it while they are drying. I put the lights under the side of my couch overnight with a few other things to add weight. I let them both sit with all that weight on them for about 11 hours. So far my car has been washed, in rain storms, and through high humidity weather, and knock on wood no leaks yet. As for using those beefed up paper clip things to hold them tight, wouldn't work for me, they just kept shooting right off, especially if silicone touches them, I even tried 3 different sizes. And rubber bands aren't strong enough to hold a tight seal. Also there are about 5 different sets of directions on here on how to take the bumper off and the headlight out and none of them were right, just if you look really good you can just figure out what has to come out. Also once you have done one the other is real easy, just getting started can be frustrating. Just have patience and think about what is easiest for you. I suggest keeping just the factory sealant, just bake it open it by cutting the seal when it is warm (don't stretch it too much) open it up take out the screwed in chrome piece out, pop the reflector out put it all back together pop it back in the oven for about 8min and just use a lot of pressure to squeeze it back together, and keep some type of constant force on them for at least 10 hrs, when its all done it looks sweet and feels good to have done it yourself. Also be careful not to touch the chrome or the headlight casing, I got a little smear (about the size of a pinkie nail) on the lens, I'm guessing no one will notice it since I have shown a lot of people and no one has yet, but I know it is there and I am not opening it back up, knowing me I would just make it worse. Anyway good luck to anyone doing it it isn't that bad to do, some of these guys make it sound like opening a soda, but it isn't that easy, but it isn't too difficult either, I know almost nothing about sealing or anything else involved and I did it.

 

i guess if you really wanted to play it safe u can hold it down for 10 hours...but for all the headlights that we have done, we hold em down for a max of like 15 minutes. and none of them have leaked.