Bulb cracked - now to remove headlight lense

[davej_anderson]

Hi
One of bulbs in the headlight went and when I went to remove the socket the bulb shattered leaving glass in the headlight unit

Does anyone know if I can remove the lense easilly to clean the glass out without removing the headlight?
Or do I need to remove the headlight which looks like a big job to take off the bumper? Once out, again, can I remove the lense and replace easilly or is it a case of a knitting needle with doublesided tape to try to clear it all out?

Help

 

[Staz]

Taking the lens off would be a lot easier by taking the headlight out anyway from what I have read mate.

Personally I would much rather take the headlight out and disconnect the height adjustment linkage to make room to clear it all out than to take the lens off.

 

[davej_anderson]

I've got xenons so is it possible to remove the xenon unit from the headlight assembly? I will have a look at that as that will open the space up.

Otherwise I think you're right, its a light out job which having read up some stuff, is bumper off.

As I've got the black optics grill coming next week I can do both jobs, especially as that requires some manouvering with the bumper. Will be a little daunting to take the bumper off and hope it fits back perfectly!

Main prob is that I need the car tomorrow so I reckon I will have to use some stiff wire and doublesided tape to get as much out as possible until next weekend.

 

[JST_A3]

Why not try a vacuum cleaner with a small diameter flexible hose? You should be able to feed this in via the hole for the headlight bulb. If it works, it's a lot easier than removing the headlight......

 

[Staz]

Not sure about striping the light unit out of the casing to be honest but basically from the back you can disconnect the linkage for the levelling motor and push forward to show a small gap. You should be able to shake the bits out through it or perhaps get something sticky in as you say!

Yeah it's bumper off to take the lights out but it's not that bad a job. Here's a thread about it: http://www.audi-sport.net/vb/showthread.php?t=44050

EDIT:

Why not try a vacuum cleaner with a small diameter flexible hose? You should be able to feed this in via the hole for the headlight bulb. If it works, it's a lot easier than removing the headlight......

It's worth a shot!

(I clicked the wrong button above BTW)