Awhile ago I got in a minor fender bender and ruined my driver's side headlamp. So, I ordered a used unmodded oem one off ebay but the cutoff looks much different than the old original one. It almost appears sloped instead of stepped like the 04's have. One interesting thing is the cutoff is much more blue compared to my old one that's more yellowish.

I was wondering if there is a way I can swap the projector from my broken headlamp or at least swap the cutoff shield?

It's not that big of a deal but I'm anal when it comes to things like that. So, I'm constantly noticing it.

 

instead of the projector, perhaps the bulb isnt seated correctly.
just a thought

 

I had thought about that, but it's been raining here for the past few days. So, I haven't had a chance to check it out. I was also going to try the original Philips bulbs that came from the factory, and see if that makes a difference.

 

to clarify; if the bulb is seated correctly and the headlight housing is installed correctly, you can swap projectors.....
but that involves opening both headlights to do so. headlights are sealed with i think a butyl rubber. some one correct me if i'm wrong....
but to open them, you need to heat this rubber to soften it, so that you can pull apart the covers to reveal the projector

 

you replied too fast!!! lol

double check your work when it gets dry!


also, another thought....
make sure the fender bender didnt damage the head light mounting points! if this area is bent, no matter how hard you try, you wont get it perfect!

 

I have to take both of them apart anyway the old one I blacked out about 9 years ago is starting to get a bit of condensation in it, and the new one I blacked out is got a lot of condensation. I think I'm going to get some TRS Morimoto retrorubber butyl glue. I used RTV sealant before but from what I've been reading the butyl is much better.

 

happy new year.
may 2016 bring your headlight analness to an ease.

 

Thanks, and a happy 2016 to you as well.

I actually went out in the drizzle last night and ripped my bumper off and reseating the bulb, and now it's much better. What a way to spend my new year's.

 

you can swap projectors,its 4 screws.

 

I still may swap the projector after I reopen the headlamp to reseal it, but I'll see how ambitious I feel.

 

I think with some different years, it went from a stepped to slope cutoff. Glad justin was able to help you figure out it was the bulb.


Stick to butyl rubber to fix it up, the first time i did retrofits, I used RTV and it sucked... went to butyl rubber and never looked back! TRS is my vendor of choice for all things retrofitting too! Good luck OP!

 

i tried out morimotos retro butyl and it melted out of the channel and dripped on my projector and onto the oven

went back to regular butyl i can get locally

 

Oh no, that sucks to hear!! I bought a roll of their regular butyl rubber a few years back before they came out with their "RetroRubber" (which I want to put out there is pretty effing lame name )


I recently got a block of their industrial grade butyl rubber during Black Friday.. I couldn't pass on it, it was only $5

 

i wonder why i didn't see it, i bought my retrobutyl around the black friday sale also.

it was frustrating working with the retrobutyl.

followed instructions at 265 for 7 minutes.
after the timer was up i opened the oven to remove it and notice the bead melted out of the top channel onto the projector (lucky nothing got on the lens) and the bottom channel melted straight down into the oven.

to prevent it from melting i turned the heat down to 200 and for only 4 minutes it looked like it was sagging out of the channel so i took it out and pressed together the front lens. that didn't work out, i had major gaps everywhere and i pushed as hard as i could. guess the glue wasn't soft enough to push together the halves fully, but then again i didn't want to heat it up more as it'll drip out of the channel so i just lived with the gaps and went over the seam with regular butyl.

drove around for 20 minutes in humid wet and cold weather and one started condensation real bad.

resealed both with regular butyl and everything is perfect (asides from my $30 i wasted for their butyl)

 

I'd definitely reach out to them regarding it! Andrew, Matt and them would like to know that they are selling inferior products and slapping their name on it.

I just looked in my invoice and it was a large brick of koito butyl rubber


so JDM

 

I believe someone on HIDPlanet mentioned nissan's butyl rubber being amazing and cheap and available locally.

The 04 & 05 TL uses a different projector and ballast than the 2006+ headlamps.

Also the stanley projectors from factory housings are pretty awesome.

 

I picked up some 3M "Windo-Weld" butyl ribbon sealer. I hope that'll do the job. When you resealed yours with the "regular" butyl what brand did you use, was it in a squeezable tube?

I believe 07 they went to a sloped cutoff, if I remember correctly. I also used RTV on mine the first time too and it actually lasted a good 8 years or so on the old one, but now that one is even getting a bit of condensation in it.

Yeah, the 06+ headlamps use a smaller ballast and it's also orientated 90° different than the 04 & 05's.


Unfortunately, my car just got a a new problem today. It appears one of my Brembo's is in need of rebuilding. When I hit the brakes not even that hard it wants to dart to the left. Can't decide if I should get some rebuilt ones or just rebuild them myself. I've already replaced all the seals so the pistons can't be that much harder.

 

To be honest, I always go to NAPA and ask them for butyl.
I am not 100% sure if they give me 3M windo weld or their own brand stuff as there is no label or box when I buy it, just a roll with no markings.
I've been using their stuff for almost a dozen set of headlights.

When I'm in my (small) hometown, the NAPA shop requires a special order which takes days to come in so I just go to the Auto Glass shop. They hook me up with butyl they get from "CRL", pretty much the same thing.

I've done my headlights a few times, each with different butyl.
Nissan Butyl, NAPA butyl, CRL butyl, and Morimoto RetroButyl.

I must admit - nothing holds the headlights together as strong as the Morimoto Butyl.
When I opened my headlights with the morimoto Butyl, I had to put up the same battle as I did when I first opened my headlights (with the OEM seal). I use the same temperature, but a little less time (for fear that the butyl will drip inside the headlight), but still - the consistency, and the stickyness and everything was exact same as OEM.
The headlights comes apart with cheese "strings" you have to slice through, just like OEM.

With the lets say "regular" butyl, I've been able to separate the lens from the headlight almost TOO easily. It literally comes right off with almost no force. There is no cheese string action you have to cut through. The bead you made to fill the headlight channel stays in a bead.
there is no real bond between the two halves, the "regular" butyl is merely just an insulator, whereas the morimoto and OEM stuff really bite in and adhere strongly to the two material.

it is evident too when the Morimoto butyl cools, it is HARD, like OEM.
regular butyl will ALWAYS stay sticky no matter what temperature.

If there was some way I could bake my headlights facing up towards the sky so that the morimoto butyl does not melt/drip out of the channel, I would definitely use it.

The NAPA stuff works, that's it. But it's nothing like an OEM bond.

 

When you went over the gaps to fill the seams that dripped out of the channels did you just take a piece of the roll of butyl and press it in? Because, apparently they make butyl rubber caulk and I was wondering if that may fill any gaps I hopefully don't get.

 

To fill the gaps that were caused by the morimoto stuff dripping, i just used more morimoto butyl and cut it to length and pressed it in together.

After I did that and the headlights were together (as much as i could push together), I had condensation, got mad and sad, then I opened the headlights again and cleared the channel and used regular butyl.

Any gaps in the seam (after the headlights are pressed together) I go over with black RTV sealant. Butyl caulk would seem like a better idea, but I haven't had problems with black RTV around the seam.

I will post pictures tomorrow

 

Thanks for the advice. I really only want to do this once especially after doing my replacement headlamp with the RTV sealant that ended up breaking open because it was so hard to squeeze out of the narrow tube. So, my hands were completely covered in black RTV.

 

Black RTV on the hands suck big time, but even worse is melted butyl on the hands.

My permatex black RTV tube ended up with a hole in the tube also, after rolling it up like toothpaste to get it to come out
It got on carpet which I'll never get to come out.

 

i'd prefer melted RTV over melted butyl.. that crap is a pain to get out ... I had some half finished headlights in my cabinets and have been finding butyl on almost everything it touches...

not sure why my 4 foot level has butyl rubber on it either


be patient with it OP, retrofitting headlights DEFINITELY isn't for the faint of heart. I wouldn't do break the OEM seal willy nilly, like GP says, it will be NEVER be the same again. But while you're in there, maybe swap out the lens for a ZKW or ZKW-r for an extra sharp cutoff

 

I blacked out my headlamps back in 06 right after I got the car, but that time I used high temp black RTV. This time on the replacement I thought I'd try the adhesive sealant, which didn't seem to go over too well.

I've thought about getting some ZKW-r lenses, but I read you have to do a lot of shimming and adjusting to get the sharpest cutoff.