I've got a headlight out to replace the ballast, but the screws holding it to the bottom of the headlight hosting will not come out.

If you've done this job, are these coarse screws threaded right into plastic, or is it a machine screw that threads into a boss cast into the hosting?

Couldn't get a good bite a Phillips head bit, so I cut slots in the heads with a dremel for a flat bit, I put enough pressure on the tip of screwdriver to bend it and they will not budge. Weighing warming the plastic with a heat gun vs. drilling the heads off and see what's left.




.

 

I experienced the same recently. Soaked in PB and it still broke the tip of my phillips screwdriver...
I ended up drilling it out.

They're threaded into plastic.

 

try an impact screwdriver with a JIS tip

 

I've had to deal with this. They're just coarse screws going into the plastic housing, but they become fused to the tabs of the metal bracket. Penetrant and a cordless impact wouldn't make it budge.

Try a manual impact like thoiboi suggested. If that doesn't work, cut the tabs off the ballast and bracket and the screws will spin right out of the plastic. Consider applying anti-seize to the tab surfaces of the new bracket and ballast.

 

Thank you. I went straight to cutting tabs off. I'd recommend the same for anyone who's sure the ballast is bad. Guarantees no drilling and extracting and the headlight housing is unscathed from the procedure.

Going to try and match screws up with something at Ace hardware.