Bi-xenon headlight dismantling?
 

Hi all

Does anyone know if the bi-xenon headlights can be easily stripped down, either by removing the glass or taking the internals out the back?

I bought some led side light bulbs but they're too big to go in through the hole in the back with the reflector in place inside the light unit. Should fit fine if I can put them in from the front, or possibly if I can open up the reflector a tiny bit. I'm assuming it's doable as I think you can buy replacement internal reflectors for the bi-xenons?

They do come apart quiet easily once you know how.

http://www.audipages.com/upgrades/cl...sfacelift.html

dissassembly is the same as the standard lights above.

Thanks - perfect! Doesn't look too tricky although I've said that before and been caught out lol

Never had the light units out of the car but was considering new reflector units so will price them up before I strip them :)

Bought these LEDs but the barrel is just a little too chunky to fit through

http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/141243079984?nav=SEARCH

Adrian I followed this excellent guide, very easy really, I would of put new reflectors to if I'd known they where available. And I wish I'd opened up the sidelight holes to take cree LEDs
Cheers Dave

I'm going to give it a go - been looking at Etka and need to decide whether to order new seals for the headlight units, on the assumption the originals will fall to pieces! Did yours survive OK?

I'm sure I remember someone (possibly Sergey?) replacing the reflectors, but I can't see a part number in Etka for them, so I may have imagined it!

The hole on the back side of the headlight is big enough for the LED to go through so it's whether there's any meat to the reflector part that I can 'relieve' a little bit to allow future bulb changes via the regular route. I'm not too worried if not since the LEDs should last for years given my typical usage!

Adrian, I replaced front lenses on my FL car and also purchased second set for the future in case audi will discontinue them. Ordered and changed gaskets too. Nice DIY job.

Interesting bulb you found. I purchase LED bulbs about 4 years ago, but they had no lens in it. One failed in 3-4 months, so I threw them away and went back to OEM incandescent ones, which work perfectly, but too yellowish for my taste. Perhaps I should try these ones with the lens.

Cheers Sergey - is it inevitable that the seals are going to be broken, or am I likely to find they're intact on dismantling, in your experience?

Also wondering about the rubber gasket that goes around the outer edge of the headlight as that looks likely to be damaged from aging and/or removal process....also the rubber fitting on the wing end of the body coloured trim under the headlight.

I looked at alternatives to the stock bulbs some time ago and couldn't find anything that would get close to the colour of the xenon headlights and i wasn't keen on the exposed LED on a circuit board look since the bulbs are plainly visible. The bulbs I have fitted at the moment were supposedly special colour match jobbies (they have a blue tint to the glass) but they are just as yellow as the regular options!

These LEDs look and feel well made - I stuck one in a holder and prodded it through as far as I could and it looked infinitely better than the current bulb! Much brighter with a decent white light, as you'd expect.

Once I've got one headlight out I'm going to look at the opening in the reflector to see if I can drill/dremel it to accept the LED through the normal fitting route, in case one does fail, or if I will have to live with the potential need to strip the headlight again to access them. The 'reflector' for the sidelight looks like a bit of ally plate and isn't anodised or shiny in any way so I think is intended to just stop light scatter?

I've attached a size comparison of the bulbs

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y18...psbmcan50r.jpg

Lens-to-headlight seals are going to be a bit squashed from all the years of being under pressure. It is not vital to change them when you change lenses. You can probably reposition them a bit then you change the lens so they get squashed in different position this time. I changed mine as I wanted complete air tightness. The cost of changing the reflector damaged by moisture is much higher.

My outer surrund rubber gasket was in perfect condition, so I didn't change it. It won't get damaged when you remove the metal clamps. Metal clamps I ordered new as mine were a bit rusty. You can go to powered paint people and powder paint them. This is what I will do with the old ones which i removed.

Yep, your new LED bulbs are much bigger, so may not fit the hole.
Also, be careful with potential heat problems.
Let me know how you're getting on with them. Very interesting.

I purchased similar LED 'lens' bulbs for reversing lights a couple of years ago. They use CREE leds. They are large and work like a real torch. The fit into lenses without modifications. It created a great difference when reversing.

EDIT: Here's the link of what I actually installed, but even better models may be available this days with all the advancements in LED technology.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-PCS-1156...-/271265839796

The new bulbs go through the back of the headlight fine - they just catch on the metal forming the reflector bowl so can't be pushed fully home. My original thought was to try installing from the front - there seems no issue with overall length, but I will try it with one and see if there's too much light bleed into the rest of the headlight before I commit to using them.

Think I'll order new gaskets - they're only a tenner each from memory. Better to be safe :)

I bought a Meguiar's headlight refurb kit from Halfords to lightly clean up the lenses, plus some very fine microfibre cloths to wipe any residue off the reflectors. That's as far as I'm intending to go in terms of refurbishment as they're not in bad condition by any means.

I wish Audi sold the inner plastic cover over the bulbs - that to me seems the most likely part to be broken when dismantling them? Also the part that probably attracts the most contaminants to it from the heat generated off the bulbs

>> I wish Audi sold the inner plastic cover over the bulbs

if you mean the plastic cover behind the headlight to access bulbs, then it is available from Audi as a separate part. A8parts will have it too i'm sure. I purchased one directly from Audi 4 years ago as the lug was broken and it was cheap.