The headlights in my '93 Dodge Spirit have been letting moisture in for some time now. I unplug the bulb assembly, stick a small paper towel inside the housing, and carefully use a small rod or screwdriver to clean the interior of the housing as best I can. But there's still dirt (and moisture) inside both light assemblies.
Is there a way to actually open the housings themselves, so I can do a better job of cleaning the inside? Buying new assemblies isn't an option, due to their cost and the fact that I'll be selling the vehicle in a couple of months. The dirt and moisture is affecting the performance of the headlights.
Mr Stern will (hopefully) give you instructions on how to clean them, and if I recall correctly it doesn't involve dis-assembling them.
I can tell you that the dealer will sell you vents that you can install into the assemblies that will work wonders at keeping them moisture free. They'll probably be special order, and the last pair I bought cost about 6 bucks (Canadian) each. All you need to install them is a drill and a 1/4 inch bit.
I have the part number around somewhere, let me know if you'd like me to dig it out for you.
It is likely that the reflectors' shiny stuff is by this time so degraded that they will not clean up properly, but you can try. You will need to remove the headlamps from the vehicle to clean them properly. I recommend you unbolt the headlamp brackets from the radiator support panel and remove the lamps with brackets, rather than trying to remove the lens/reflector units from the brackets (which will require re-aiming the headlamps).
Not without destroying them, no. Here's how you do the job:
Remove the lamp assemblies from the car. Leave the bulbs in place for now. Use hot soapy water and a bristle brush to scrub the grease and dirt from the outsides of the assemblies. Then, remove the bulbs. Place two or three drops of transparent liquid dish detergent in each lamp. (e.g. regular green Palmolive, regular blue Dawn, regular yellow Joy or Ajax, etc...pick something you can see through and that does not contain any kind of hand lotion.) Fill each lamp about 3/4 full of hot water. Distilled is best. Cover the bulb hole (you can easily do this by just reinstalling the bulb) and vigorously shake/slosh/swirl the lamp to agitate the hot soapy water. Do this over a sink, and while your plastic lamps are less fragile than glass items, you should still hold on with both hands so the lamp doesn't slip from your grip, fall and break.
Then, remove the bulb, turn the lamp bulb-hole-down, and swirl the lamp to cause the water to drain from it in a circular fashion. Rinse the lamp repeatedly with hot distilled water until all traces of soapsuds are gone.
To dry the lamps, place them in your clean kitchen oven, lens down, and close the oven door. Turn the oven to Bake/350 for 3 minutes, then turn the oven off and leave the door closed. In about an hour, your lamps should be thoroughly dry. If your oven is gas instead of electric, find an alternate hot/dry location (heat register?) to dry them with.
The correct solution to this problem is to replace the lamps with
1994-design units (the only ones now available) which are equipped with vents and drains. There used to be a service kit available, now probably NLA, which consisted of vent caps for retrofitment. The zero-cost way to cut down on moisture accumulation in these headlamps is to cut a 1/4" section out of the bulb's O-ring. Install the bulb with the cut at the bottom.
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