The Toyota Landcruiser Owners Club

[DatBlokeDere]

The lenses on my 2007 120 series headlights are totally sun damaged and 'fogged'.   Is it possible to replace the lenses only? I only see complete headlight units for sale.  Anyway, the headlights are very dim by modern standards, is there a recommended upgrade ?  


Thanks

[Google]

[andy]

They can be polished to look like new, but not sure how long they last afterwards. but seeing where you are it might be worth looking at e bay Australia or importing from Japan.
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[DatBlokeDere]

[TONYCY11]

After being brought back to look clear by polishing with headlight lense polish or mothers mag cleaner or similar , you need to spray one coat of non yellowing clear lacquer like the one rustoiliem sell to keep them looking clear for a few years , and adding wax or sealant on top of the clear coat will keep them clear for even longer , I know by experience Living in Cyprus with VERY strong sun 350 days of the year yellowing headlamps are common , after doing mine with headlamp cleaner polish and used the anti UV  clear non yellowing lacquer and then every 6 months I wipe a coat of carplan no.1 super gloss as I do the whole car twice a year only stuff that can do whole of my 120 in 25 minutes my headlamps lense look crystal clear . Yes the old style halogen h4 bulbs are *beep* , I have LED Ironwalls h4 in mine and give a massive improvement as well as the 6000k white light looking as good as any top of the  range makes of car , Ironwall led bulbs have a beam patten  the same as standard bulbs with a cut off point as not to beam onto oncoming cars but are much stronger so you have adjust the lights one digit lower , and they last a average of 50 thousand hours so it is fit and forget , cost just £17 on e bay , they come from China to take about a month to deliver well to Cyprus they do could be quicker  to the UK , having had mine for a few years now I could not go back to the rubbish standard bulbs .

[DatBlokeDere]

[Tractionman]

Great info again Tony,
There was a discussion going on elsewhere, and Karl and I have both had this problem for a while.
Polishing only lasts for a short while with the proper gear, BUT, we have not used your method, which sounds like a very good idea.
As usual your ideas are tried and tested, so we know what works. 👌👍

As per that discussion elsewhere, another 120 mate pointed us to aliexpress, where they have loads of stuff for 120's and other tbings.
They actually do replacement lenses, which are classed as glass, but look like plastic to me ?
They also do a cheap replacement headlight unit amongst their many led options.
They are China based, but the other mate said take no notice of delivery times, they come quicker.
We will soon know as Karl and I have a couple of dash mats on their way, ordered last week.

Yep, standard bulbs are like glow worms in jam jars.😀

Where did you get your anti if clear lacquer, as I did mine with wax after using Turtle Wax headlight polish, and it dudnt seem to last any longer, and did you use power or hand polishing ? Cheers, John.

[TONYCY11]

I got my headlight cleaner from a big household department store called Jumbos that is Island wide having them in every town here , it is a company called CAR CARE MAGIC  it cost me1 euro now gone up to 1.50 for a small bottle , recon you can do a dozen headlamps per bottle  the same maker also do dashboard and vinyl protector that smells nice 200ml for 1 euro and tyre and rubber protector 500ml now 2.50 euro that used to be 2 euro , thats inflation for you . For the headlights I just rubbed it circular with a microfiber cloth until the lense felt smooth as it had a slightly rough feel to it before ,  you can put it on a pad and use a cordless drill , the rustolium lacquer I got on e bay it cost about £5 from a UK company . Then the next day I put a coat of colinite insulator 845 liquid wax then 4 hours later I sprayed a coat of car plan no 1 super gloss of which I do the whole car best stuff I have ever used and I have tried many a wax and sealants in my time , for the money £6 when its on offer at wilkinsons or asda for a 500ml bottle , my kids bring me a bottle over when ever they come over got 7 bottles in my workshop can do 4 lc120s with one bottle . The headlamps are a sealed unit so dont know how they can be changed without damaging them .

[Tractionman]

Thanks Tony.
What happened to Lidl then, have you bought up all the UK stock ? 😂😂

Yep, correct headlights are sealedunits and that was my question.
The answer was, put the units in a warm oven, until the adhesive sealer is tacky, then just gently prise them apart.
Knowing my luck they would end up like melted wellies on a bonfire ! 😂😂
The problem then is having got them apart, 're sealing them.
There must be a method, otherwise replacements wouldn't be available, but Aliexpress cheapest standard headlights for a 120 make the
buggering about and cost of replacements not worthwhile.

John

[TONYCY11]

🤣🤣 knowing my luck , probably happen to me too or when you put them back in the oven to restick they end up looking duller than before . On another subject as my 120 has 89,624 miles instead of waiting for the dash light to light up the timing belt light I changed the timing belt and idler pulley and tensioner , I did it like Ant on forby4diesel what he calls the hard way as it saves time draining the coolant and removing the fan etc , the UK spec 120s have less room than the Aussi 120s coz of the water heater pump , I removed the front bash plate to make it easy to turn the crank pully to TDC to line up the cam and injection pump marks and to remove the mid and lower timing belt cover bolts coz with my big hands I found hard to do it from above like Ant did on a 150 and a hilux , one thing I did not like to do like Ant was to get the belt on the top sprocket the way he did , it felt like it could damage the belt , so I turned the top cam sprocket bolt 19mm 1/2 a tooth forward passed TDC and the belt went straight on without any stress on the belt with both lines on the belt lining up with the cam and injection pump timing marks then just turned back the cam sprocket back to its TDC position , without working from under the car aswell as above in no way would I have been able to do job without dropping the coolant and removing the fan a rad hose .  I used that oldstyle lever torque wrench to set the tensioner bolts to 10 footpounds and the idler to 26 footpounds , as non of my other micrometer or didgital  torque wrench would fit in such a tight space  .

[Tractionman]

👍👍😀

[TONYCY11]

Sorry I made a mistake the LED bulbs are called IRONWALLS   H4  led  not ironwal.

[Juddian]

In the other place i had a thread running about this subject, and had resigned mesen to fitting new complete lamps.

However as often, TonyCY11 you gave me another think, if Tony's can survive the sun where he lives then surely mine can too.

I'd previously polished the lenses with metal polish, but it probably isn't abrasive enough to do the job fully, so bought the 3M headluight renovation kit for use with electric drill.
Yes there is a vast improvement and was worth the cost, there is undoubtedly some crazing deep in the lenses directly in front of the beam which is probably caused by heat from the bulbs but overall they look better than at any time over the last 5/6 years we've had the vehicle, you can only see the crazing with the lights on, otherwise the lenses are now not preventing light output as they were increasingly before.

Have used a class sealer and couple of coats of Bilt Hamber's wax polish, and have got some of the CarPlan stuff you recommended on order Tony.

[TONYCY11]

Well done Juddian , the carplan no 1 supergloss is amazing stuff , it leave no residues and is used for all over the car exterior including glass , plastic and paintwork , I can do the whole of my 120 in less than half an hour , it states it lasts for up to a year but I use it every six months to keep it topped up to protect the car from the very strong sun we have here .

[DatBlokeDere]

[TONYCY11]

There is no left or right bulb apon fitting , so I guess its the lens fitting its self that sets the lefthand or righthand drive and the bulbs play no part in that I would have thought but I could be wrong . A thing to note though is  items from the USA usually have a high postcharge and maybe tax charges with admin charges on top ,  while from China goods is free such charges and is free post of very low post charge .