My 93 Ranger has that filthy yellowish grime on the inside of the headlamps. I've cleaned the heck out of the exteriors, but really need to get inside those things and get that film off. First, how do you even remove the headlamps?? Secondly, what would be the best way to go about getting that nasty stuff off the inside of them? A friend of mine said one way he used is to put the headlamp assembly in the oven on the lowest setting until the silicone holding the lens melts, then just wash it up nice and good... glue it back up and slap that thing back in there. Any suggestions better than that?

 

The oven idea sounds interesting as long as you have good glue to put them back together.
If you want to remove the assembly, get a Haynes manual for $15 so there's no mistakes.
Just thinking of using something like a BBQ sauce brush in through the bulb opening to scrub inside???
AL.

 

It is funny how we never had these problems with the good ol sealed beams. Plus they were cheap.

 

I don't know about the insides of them but my 94 had real foggy headlights and I used Flex (Something like that...a metal polisher) on the outsides. Wow, what a difference. The insides shouldn't get dirty as they are sealed. Check the condition of the rubber gaskets where the lights plug in. It might not be on the inside but only appears to be.

 

I've got the same yellowish buildup on my '95, except only on the right headlamp, and I've been trying to figure out the same thing, because you know it looks real dumb when one headlight is brighter than the other, right?

 

there was just a discussion about this. there is a product called Meguire's Clear Glass Cleaner and Polisher at the auto parts stores. check it out

 

Thanks all, I'll try a couple of these suggestions on the outsides of the lamps, but if that doesn't cut it, then I guess I've gotta buy a Haynes and take those things apart...

 

Behind the light you will find 3 clips that just slide off,then you will have to remove the grill to get the lights out.

 

i was having same problem with my 89 ranger ,,, headlights wouldnt even show hardly 15 ft. in front of truck,,, real scary when going out in country at night because you couldnt see very far,,,cleaned the front with headlight cleaner from autozone didnt help, so took grill off and looked closley at them,, not only was inside glass dirty but the chrome/mirror what ever inside had turned to a blue color,, also previous owner/owners had drilled 3 tiny holes in front of lense, i reckon to let water out and i noticed that there was a lot of broken glass inside too, i theroried that water had got in them and busted bulbs and that was their solution,, my solution was i went to dealer and cost was to high for new ones so off to recycle yard,,, found a set in same shape but no holes drilled in them,, got them for 6 bucks a peice, brought them home and carefully warmed them up in lowest heat of oven and removed lenses,,, i cleaned inside and out side of lense with plastic polish till they was nice and clear,,, then cleaned inside where chrome should be but was blue now,,, once cleaned i went to advanced for some chrome spray paint,, you cant go cheap here get they best they have about 4 dollars a can,,, i painted the inside one coat at a time with each coat drying before doing a nother coat ,, 5 coats did the trick,,,reassemblied with epoxy glue and reinstalled,,, man what a difference it made not only can i see better but they look nice too,,, hope i gave you some help

 

The stuff I used is called Flitz (I Think). You can't buy it at most stores, it's mostly mail order. A guy is always demonstrating it at auto shows and such. It will polish just about any metal. I bought it because I want to bring my Rang'ers aluminum rims back to life and he had some rims worse than mine that turned out like new. I was told to remove the clear coat (Any ideas on how?) before polishing it. Anyway, the booklet that comes with it said try it on headlights. It does one heck of a job.

 

I ended up getting some of the Meguiar's and put a little elbow grease on the headlamps... didn't do much for the grime that I can tell is on the inside. So it looks like I'm getting a Haynes and figuring out how to take those things off. Maybe then I'll see how well the Meguiar's worked on the outside!

 

I like the idea of going to a scrap yard and looking for some from a 97ish ranger. You can also get some polishing compound and try that. worked for my old headlights, i ordered some clear ones off of ebay for pretty cheap, and that gives the truck one heck of a look.

 

Are the headlamps all the same on those years? If so, I'll definitely look into that. And I've been pricing them on eBay, but $70+ is more than I'd be willing to spend. And I especially don't want euro/altezza style headlamps!

 

Before you spend a lot of cash on plastic polish, use your rim cleaner (I use Mother's Aluminum and Mag polish). It works like a charm and you can use the rest on your rims.