Xantia mark II headlight glass

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rmunns
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Xantia mark II headlight glass

Post by rmunns »

Haynes says that the glass is bonded onto the headlamps. Is there any way of getting the glass off?

I have had to change headlights to French but I want to retain the bodies of the UK lamps, which have very much brighter 'chrome' than the high-usage french ones.
rmunns
Posts: 611
Joined: 09 Jul 2009, 22:09
Location: Southern Dordogne, France
My Cars: 2019 C5 Aircross 2litre diesel, auto.
2018 C4 Pic2 Spacetourer auto. Seems nice so far.
2019 C4 Cactus manual. Didn't like it, lots of niggling points. sold.
2011 C4 Picasso excl. - shaping up to be a disaster, bought June 2019. P/X'd
2009 Citroen C5 X7 exclusive, auto, LHD, 207500km (129000miles) now sold
Citroen Xsara Picasso excl. 2004 2.0 Hdi, RHD, 64000miles. (sold)
Citroen C3 Picasso excl. 2016. sold.
Two Xantias, one petrol, one diesel. sold.

In the past: Renault 16 (in about 1977, for a year). With front pass. seat out transported full bathroom suite from Cambridge to Derby!)
Renault 4TL (in 2011, for a year)
x 9

Post by rmunns »

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KP
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Post by KP »

Only way really would be to heat them up with warmer and warmer water until the bonding stuff is in a state where is is soft enough to pull away from the body.

I have a spare set of series 2 lamps if you want to buy them to practice on :) Located in doncaster btw :)
andmcit
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Post by andmcit »

The lenses unlip and are a doddle to swap! The rubber seal isn't sticky and
relies on the silver clamp clips to hold a seal on the headlight glass.

Removal of the light unit will take longer than swapping over the glasses
which unfortunately you can't change in situ - the clamps run all round the
lens. Tops, an hour the pair removed and swapped lenses!

Drivers Side Headlight Lens, eBay

Andrew
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Post by xantia_v6 »

andmcit wrote:The lenses unlip and are a doddle to swap!
True of the Mk1, but not the Mk2 lights. BTW, the lens in that ebay auction is the early pattern Mk1, not to be touched. :wink:
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Post by andmcit »

Good call, I stand corrected! I've not had the dubious pleasure of playing about with my s2 light units and hadn't forseen Citroen changing the sealing method. Yes, the auction was listed to illustrate the method of attaching not as a solution. There are a good few cheap s2 units now when they were hard to find and expensive the past few years!

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Post by citronut »

its not just the patern on the glass which makes it a right or LHD unit, as the oriantation of the bulb is also a factor, and i dont belive you can allter this on a XANTIA head lamp unit


regards malcolm
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Post by xantia_v6 »

citronut wrote:its not just the patern on the glass which makes it a right or LHD unit, as the oriantation of the bulb is also a factor,
That is true of (almost) every headlight with a single dipping bulb, but is not generally true of headlights (as used on the Xantia) which use separate bulbs for high and low beams. The reason is that with a single bulb, you have to have the low beam filament in a different vertical plane in order to get the kick to the left on low beam, but with separate bulbs and lenses, you can do this with the lens alone.

Having said that, I don't _know_ if LHD and RHD Xantia headlights use the same reflector.
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reblack68
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Post by reblack68 »

The real problem would be finding something to stick the lenses back on reliably.
Richard

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citronut
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Post by citronut »

xantia_V6 wrote
"That is true of (almost) every headlight with a single dipping bulb, but is not generally true of headlights (as used on the Xantia) which use separate bulbs for high and low beams. The reason is that with a single bulb, you have to have the low beam filament in a different vertical plane in order to get the kick to the left on low beam, but with separate bulbs and lenses, you can do this with the lens alone. "

of coures, i had forgot that point,

reblack68 wrote
"The real problem would be finding something to stick the lenses back on reliably"

thats no problem at all just use silicon rubber,
stuck loads of GS/A and CX head lamp lenses back on with it,

and i think they are a lot heavyer than XANT lenses

regards malcolm
rmunns
Posts: 611
Joined: 09 Jul 2009, 22:09
Location: Southern Dordogne, France
My Cars: 2019 C5 Aircross 2litre diesel, auto.
2018 C4 Pic2 Spacetourer auto. Seems nice so far.
2019 C4 Cactus manual. Didn't like it, lots of niggling points. sold.
2011 C4 Picasso excl. - shaping up to be a disaster, bought June 2019. P/X'd
2009 Citroen C5 X7 exclusive, auto, LHD, 207500km (129000miles) now sold
Citroen Xsara Picasso excl. 2004 2.0 Hdi, RHD, 64000miles. (sold)
Citroen C3 Picasso excl. 2016. sold.
Two Xantias, one petrol, one diesel. sold.

In the past: Renault 16 (in about 1977, for a year). With front pass. seat out transported full bathroom suite from Cambridge to Derby!)
Renault 4TL (in 2011, for a year)
x 9

Post by rmunns »

Thanks to you all. Someday I'll try to do this change. I thought maybe hot water might do the trick.

It is certainly the case that LHD headlights have different glass patterns to those on RHD units. The plastic bits (including reflectors) are identical.

BTW now I'm through that problem, can anyone say how best to adjust the beams with the lights in situ? My dipped beams are too high (somebody had been twiddling the adjusters on the s/h units I fitted. MoT allowed but only because I promised to adjust (!). But I can't see any way to do this in situ.
citronut
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Post by citronut »

the MOT tester should not have allowed you to go off with a new certificate on a promise, what they should have done was adjusted them whilst on there beam tester,

i would go back and ask them to set them up

regards malcolm
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Post by dnsey »

I wonder if the stuff sold to dissolve silicone sealant would work on the lens fixing compound? It's available from builders' merchants and the like if you wanted to try it.
rmunns
Posts: 611
Joined: 09 Jul 2009, 22:09
Location: Southern Dordogne, France
My Cars: 2019 C5 Aircross 2litre diesel, auto.
2018 C4 Pic2 Spacetourer auto. Seems nice so far.
2019 C4 Cactus manual. Didn't like it, lots of niggling points. sold.
2011 C4 Picasso excl. - shaping up to be a disaster, bought June 2019. P/X'd
2009 Citroen C5 X7 exclusive, auto, LHD, 207500km (129000miles) now sold
Citroen Xsara Picasso excl. 2004 2.0 Hdi, RHD, 64000miles. (sold)
Citroen C3 Picasso excl. 2016. sold.
Two Xantias, one petrol, one diesel. sold.

In the past: Renault 16 (in about 1977, for a year). With front pass. seat out transported full bathroom suite from Cambridge to Derby!)
Renault 4TL (in 2011, for a year)
x 9

Post by rmunns »

Citronut............... I live in France, MoT's here are equally strict but with some degree of common sense.

With your 'MoT' certificate you have a list of 'defects' , either compulsory-to-be-fixed or advisory-to-be-fixed. Woe betide you if you are stopped on the road and the police find you haven't done what the MoT centre advised you to do.

But the 'advisory' defects are left up to you to fix, with no obligation to take the car back to the MoT station to check it's been done.
citronut
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Post by citronut »

ok
but over here the police cant enforce anything on an advisory sheet that im aware of,

it is only failiures that have to be rectifyed before they will issue an new MOT,

the advisorys can astill need fixing at the next MOT a year later, but if they have not deterierated any/much more they could still only be added to another advisory sheet again,

also head light aim is a failiure over here not just advised

regards malcolm
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