tony1066

I have a problem with one of my headlights. This evening I noticed that the dipped beam had failed on the offside light. Ok I thought, new bulb. Removed the lamp and its hatch to find the bulb loosely in place but the spring wire bulb retaining clip was missing, the bulb was not blown, but was not connecting to earth. I shook the light unit and something could be heard rattling about in the depths, I assume it’s the clip. Looking at the light unit it seems to be made in two main parts, held together by 5 plastic ‘clips’. If I prise these clips open can I separate the two halves and, hopefully find the missing clip? Is there anything that I should be aware of? I also noticed that the cast metal housing onto which the missing clip is meant to locate looks a bit distorted, is this a known issue? I’m reluctant to leave the clip ‘floating' about inside the housing, but if I can’t recover it does anyone know from where a replacement could be obtained?

linen grey ghost

This website may be of assistance to you:

http://p-car.com/diy/headlight/

Good Luck with your repair.

JRH

Good luck getting the clip out. My '97 Targa also has a seriously distorted casting where the clip attaches & hooks. It almost appears as a manufacturing defect that should have been scrapped. I safety wired the clip in place to prevent it falling out.

TMc993

Heat from the lamp tends to distort the clips over time. You can (1) buy replacement clips fairly cheaply or (2) do like I did and "tie" the existing clips in place with fine gauge copper wire. I "tied" mine down four years ago and haven't had a problem since.

Terry

techman1

Memory is foggy on this, but I seem to recall a TSB about replacing those clips...

ToreB

The halogen bulb fastener spring can be deformed by the heat from the bulb. You may use a gas torch and pliers to bend the metal parts to the correct position, but take care not to burn or destroy any parts. Porsche have a special refit clip that will fix the spring properly, you’ll need two of these, Porsche order number is 000 043 204 28.
http://www.pcarworkshop.com/images/1...1999_69019.pdf
Cheers,
Tore

coltj

In my case heat distorted the cast metal body elements into which the clip fits. I can't fit either the original or updated clip to hold the lens; had to jury-rig something as others have noted.

Good luck.

ToreB

I am sorry for my typo, both the spring and casted spring holder can deformate, and it's possible to heat the casted spring holder to bend it back into position. I did this on both my headlights. A deformed spring holder can make it difficult to fit the spring holder spare part.
Cheers,
Tore

coltj

ToreB,

How much effort did it take you to reposition the cast spring holder? How much of the light did you disassemble before you took the torch to it? I couldn't bring my self to try it, but if you had success....

Thanks.
Jeffrey

tony1066

Thanks to all for the replies and advice. I took the assembly apart by releasing the clips and recovered the clip. I have ordered one of ToreB's HID kits and will report.................

ToreB

I used a small torch with a very small flame, and no disassembly apart from removing the spring. I heated the casted spring holder and bent it with some pliers. Easy job, and the metal bent like plastic once hot enough, but not red hot. I continiously tried the pliers while heating it, and after a while it could be moved.
Cheers,
Tore

coltj

Hi ToreB,

Thank you for the reply. Good to know if was relatively easry. I'll try it.

Jeffrey

bigrig

Hi Tore,
i just ordered one of your HID kits, thank you for the rennlist discount!

Tech-Nick

Hi,

I had the same problem. It was impossible to push the retaining bracket from the repair kit over the cast metal base area because of heavy deformation. Before using the repair kit I heated the spring holder with an hot air gun (with nozzle) and / or a welding iron before slightly bending it with pliers. The old metal base has no function after using the repair kit, so you basically can't do so much damage.

By the way, my local Porsche Center gave up before when I showed them the problem. They tried to install the repair kit and advised me to buy new headlamps.

Regards,

Juergen