Cleaning off Factory Headlamp seal stuff

[slick]

Ok, I know RTV dries to be pretty hard. This stuff is sticky at room temperature. It's been sitting in the open air for about 1 month now, me hoping that it would dry, so I could just pull it off. Didn't happen.

 

So... what do I use to get this crap off? Right now, it's making it a humongous pain for me because of my projector retrofit(I have to keep putting the headlamps together and taking them apart). With the excessive amount of sealant on there, it's making it hard to make sure I'm lining up the tabs correctly, and then it's even more fun to pull it apart.

 

Help!

 

Thanks,

 

Chris

[slick]

Alright, so a list of stuff that doesn't work so far:

 

Goo Gone

Rubbing Alcohol(figured it might dry it up, but it didn't)

Silicone Lubricant

 

I guess I'm gonna go to my garage and see if I have anything in there.

[FordBoy]

gas?

[slick]

Wheel cleaner doesn't work either LOL.

[slick]

Alright, so I heated up the oven to 450*F and stuck the lense in there for a few minutes. Pulled it out, and it's definately MUCH easier to pull off. I scraped it with a crappy screwdriver I had laying around.

 

After it was all said and done, I turned on my burner(gas stove) and stuck the screwdriver over the fire for a minute. The shit on the screwdriver wiped right off soo easily.

 

Soo... it looks like the key thing would be to use a heat gun, get it really hot, then wipe it off. I'll steal the one from work.

[mra32]

Brakleen?

Gasket Remover?

Razor Blade?

 

Damn, you got to it before me, whatevs

[slick]

Razor blade will just get gummed up really quick. Same with a gasket scraper.

 

I think I might have some brake cleaner in my garage still. But... I'm really gonna doubt that it will do anything. I'll give it a shot though.

[slick]

Simple green = no.

[slick]

I think I'm gonna run to the parts store and try to find some tar cleaner.

[GP1138]

Laquer thinner?

[sunny_8]

What I did to replace the bulbs in the head lights, was take a blow torch to the old light, heat it up...mind the fumes....then it comes right off.

 

Then I cleaned off the old sealent, took some fine grit sand paper and the rest came off.

 

Whats the reason your lights keep messing up ?

 

I just put in Luminics Ultra Whites....

 

~s

[slick]

No, they aren't messing up, I'm retrofitting a set of HID projectors, which requires me to take them apart and put them back together to check fitment.

 

Anyways, I did the heat method. I ended up slightly burning the inner black trim piece(not suprised), so after I got all the crap off, I sanded it down. It's ready for paint.

 

I'm gonna modify the housing a bit more for the projector to fit just a bit better. Right now, it fits and it would work, but I want it to be near flawless come time to put it all together.

[mra32]

By gasket remover i mean the spray on stuff that eats gaskets. I know you already got it cleaned up, but aircraft remover might work too. Just dont get it on your skin. It will slowly start burning until it feels like theres a fire on your skin. no lie. try not to breathe it in either

[slick]

I thought of aircraft stripper because I have some, but I didn't want to attempt with with such objects.