Been going through the new-to-me 240- cleaning the engine compartment and waxing the painted areas in there, shampoo the carpeting, and similar tasks. Looking about I noticed that the headlights seemed loose. Upon further inspection I found that the sealant that holds the lens to the reflector had dried and had lost its seal. So today I pulled the headlights out and it was an easy task to pull the lenses off the reflectors (it shouldn't have been). Took my time and scraped out all the old sealant, washed the inside of the lenses with some dishwashing detergent, rinsed thoroughly, then blew them dry with compressed air. Carefully and gently cleaned the reflectors and then re-sealed them back together with clear silicone. They look nearly new now.
The lesson is that if you have a 240 or similar car of that age with the plastic headlight assemblies you may want to check this on your car. Allowing dirt and moisture in there is not a good thing.
For replacing the lenses, try this: Use a Dremel with a small circular saw blade or a hot knife, and cut the lens off, all the way around, about 1" above where it joins the reflector. Cut down through the 4 corners of what is left, but always take care not to damage the reflector. Then remove each of the 4 sides of what is left, one at a time. This will greatly lessen the chance of damaging the reflector. For broken parts (like mounting tabs and such) try some of the 'new' two part epoxy made for plastic. The stuff really does work, even in high stress areas.
__ __ Randy & \ \/ /alerie's \__/olvos '90 245 Estate - '93 965 Estate "Shelby" & "Kate"