Valdez - Headlight DIY

[D2Beetle]

Well I noticed that my wires on the passenger headlight were cracking and had exposed wire, so I decided to cover them with heat shrink and I also included how to remove the headlight bucket.

DISCLAIMER: The author(s) assume that you (the reader) are reasonably capable with the automotive tools necessary to get the job accomplished, which means that you understand that a hack saw or cutting torch are not the right tools and are smart enough to know not to try to blame or post ranting about anyone else if something goes horribly wrong. AGREED?

These instructions were developed using the following NB - 1998 2.0 liter 5 speed

As always, just remember to offer a simple thank you and credit to the original author (D2Beetle) when you tell all of your NB friends!!

ITEMS NEEDED: An automotive manual; I have the eBahn Bentley DVD and the 1998/1999 Bentley Manual (C-1999).

PROJECT COST: $ 0.00 Unless you break something.

SPECIAL TOOLS: None needed.

TIME NEEDED: 30 minutes, +/- 15 minutes for your DIY skills.

SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS: None

CAUTIONS: It is not necessary to disconnect the the battery for this project; however if this is a step in a larger project you might want to. Be careful with all plastic, it will be brittle. If something does not move look for the screw(s) or clip(s) that you missed?

So let’s begin...

Step One: Unlock/Release the headlight, [HDL DIY 001] Press in on the lock (yellow circle) and lift up on the lever. DO NOT PRY up on the lever or use to much force or you will break it. If your headlights have never been taken out the lever may not want to move; so try an up/down movement to work it loose. The drivers side [HDL DIY 002] will be the most difficult as the battery and the fuse cover is in the way.

The green circles are the headlight pointing adjustments; the top one moves the light up/down and the bottom one moves the light left/right.

When the lever is all the up the headlight will pop out [HDL DIY 003]. Simply pull forward gently and disconnect the wire harness; for got to take a pic of that, sorry. If you have never removed your headlight it may not want to come out willingly as the alignment may be off and some wiggling may be needed.

[D2Beetle]

Step Two: Headlight Bucket Removal. [HDL DIY 004 and 005] Remove bolts 1, 2, and 3 and this is the same for the drivers side bucket. Bolt number one has a nut on the opposite side and you will have to pull back or remove the inner wheel liner [HDL DIY 006] to get to it. Do not remove/loosen bolts 4, 5 and 6 that comes later.

The bucket is pull out through the engine bay [HDL DIY 007 and 008]. [HDL DIY 009] Shows you what it looks like with the headlight and bucket removed. Looks like my coolant level is OK.

[D2Beetle]

Step Three: Remove the Lock-n-Slide Lever. [HDL DIY 010] Remove bolts 1, 2, 3 and on the reverse slide you will see three somethings, [HDL DIY 012 and 013] push them in the direction of the arrow. The Lock-n-Slide lever will come out.

The lock-n-slide lever can be taken apart; simply pull it out from the lever end. Be gentle you do not want to break it. Clean all parts and put it back together.

[D2Beetle]

Step Four: Removing the drivers side bucket. This step is more difficult and you have two options; pull the bucket out through the headlight hole or remove the battery and pull it out through the engine bay.

Remove the same three bolts as described in Step Three. For this step I chose to remove the bucket through the headlight hole; which IMO is the harder to do. Take care here the bucket has rough edges and you can scrape off you paint! You must rotate the bucket as shown in [HDL DIY 014] and compress/squeeze the bucket inward and pull out. Be gentle or you might crack the lock-n-slide lever.

Now the original headlight on '98 models had a locking strap (yellow rectangle) held on by a rivet; to my knowledge only the '98 model year had this strap. I drilled the rivet (green circle) out and removed the strap.

I was also surprised :wow:to see two grounding wires under the headlight. If your NB has this grounding point, you might want to clean the contact surface.

[D2Beetle]

Step Five: Disassemble Headlight. This the passenger side headlight [HDL DIY 018 and 024] and if you look closely you can see where it looks like something spilled and/or ran down the lens. I have no idea what happened, but something etched into the lens. I noticed this sometime ago, just do not know how or actually when it happened.

The headlight lens is held on by four plastic clips [HDL DIY 019 and 020]; these clips must be pried up slightly and the lens pushed forward. Be careful when prying the clips up or you will break them. Once you have the headlight apart, clean all surfaces and put it back together; be sure and do not forget to put the rubber gasket [HDL DIY 023] back in or it will fill with water when it rains.

I used Windex and Newspaper to clean all surfaces and polishing compound on the lens for the etching; worked OK, but the etching was deeper than I anticipated, so I am going to have to try something else.

[D2Beetle]

Step Six: Fixing the cracked wires. My digital camera does not have macro capability, but I was surprised how well it did work. The yellow wire is cracked [HDL DIY 027] in several place, which is common as wiring gets older. The sheathing gets dried out, cracks and falls off, which then causes shorts (odd electrical behavior), burns out bulbs, blows fuses, etc...

So I will be covering it with heat shrink, which you can get a Radio Shack, for just a few dollars. You need to pry open the holding clamp (green circle) [HDL DIY 027] and cut the existing connector off at the point noted in pic [HDL DIY 028]. Heat shrink comes in various sizes so be sure that you use a size that is slightly larger than the wire. It has to be "just right", or it will not work.

Cut a length of heat shrink that covers all of the cracked sections. Twist the copper end of the wire to prevent fraying and fold it back [HDL DIY 029] onto the heat shrink. Recrimp the connector onto the wire as shown in pic [HDL DIY 030]. Take a cigarette lighter or candle and heat up the heat shrink and watch it shrink to the wire. DO NOT BURN the heat shrink or you will be replacing the wire.

Pic [HDL DIY 031] shows you what the connector should look like when you are finished.

[D2Beetle]

Now I did get when I was doing this DIY and I realized that I got screwed by the insurance company and/or repair shop that fixed my NB in 2004. An older gentlemen turned left and pulled out in front of me at Wal-Mart; I hit him in the passenger rear tire and he took the passenger side nose of the car off.

When I went to take the drivers side headlight apart I realized I could not as the repair shop had riveted it back together instead of getting me a new headlight. There was only one clip (last pic) still intact and the casing was cracked (yellow rectangle), down half of one side and the bottom clip is where they put the rivets (green circle) in.

[Fl_bug]

Awesome Writeup!!!!! One thing to add would be when reinstalling headlights, make sure you, or whoever reads this, line up the rails on the headlights with the tracks on the retainer. Its 3, one on the left, the right, and the bottom side.

Tracks pictured (not circled) here:





Rails pictured here-ish. There are 3, but these are two. 1 between the two yellow stickers and one longer one at the bottom.

[D2Beetle]

Thanks, I'll update the pics to note the rails and guide posts.