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Here's a quick summary of the foglight R&R I did this morning. Pretty easy and straightforward. By far the biggest obstacle of the whole process is the bloody plastic clip thing that loosely connects the assembly to a little metal rim on the front.
*Tools Needed*
10mm Wrench
10mm Socket and Ratchet (not absolutely necessary, but helpful)
1) Remove black plastic "grill" piece just inboard of the foglight on the front of the car. It pops right in/out, and helps a lot with access.
2) Remove 10mm nut at the upper inboard front corner of the foglight. Be careful, as it may be rusted (mine was)
3) Remove two 10mm bolts on underside of bodywork. Note there's also an 8mm screw slightly inboard. Don't remove that one. It's for the bodywork. You don't need to lift the car to do this on an SE, but it would make the job easier if it's convenient. Otherwise just crawl around and watch your nose.
4) The only thing now holding the assembly in is the godforsaken plastic clip thingee. I struggled for about 20min wondering what the hell was holding the assembly in place, before the clip thing finally let go. Be gentle but firm and pull the foglight assembly toward the rear of the car, perhaps gently twisting it about the vertical axis, and the clip should come loose from the little metal rim on the car's body that it's holding on to. You'll see how it works once you get the assembly out, but beforehand it's a mystery.
5) Lower the assembly out of the car (there's a huge hole), and disconnect the electrical connector. The only thing you'll have to maneuver through is the little slot that the upper stud (attached to the assembly) slides in. Be careful not to break that fitting on the car side. There's a flat rubber divider wall type thing that you may have to nudge out of the way.
6) Reinstall the new assembly. I'd start with attaching the plastic clip thingee to the new foglight, then hassling with getting it attached to the metal rim in the car once you have the assembly loosely in place. This will be by far the hardest part of putting the new light in. It's probably not all that important to attach the plastic clip thing, but I went to the effort to do it anyhow. It provides some level of redundancy in holding the assembly in place....maybe reduces vibration.
*MOST IMPORTANT STEP*
Now that you've bought your new and expensive foglight, do something to protect it from getting broken again. Buy Stongard, or the equivalent (search the BB for more info). It'll cost 1/3 the price of your new foglight to protect both your foglights and your headlights from future rock damage. You can also get a Stongard "clear bra" type thing that will keep the rocks from messing up the paint on your hood, mirrors, bumper, and body kit. No I don't work for Stongard. But I don't want to buy any more $130 foglights, and I don't even want to know what a headlight assembly costs.
I have the Stongard ordered and hopefully will get it installed next week. In the meantime, I took a 1/2" thick piece of styrofoam and made some custom covers for the foglights to protect them from the rocks. Murphy's Law would suggest that you do the same!
Cheers!
'Roo
'01 9-3SE
'89 900S
posted by 128.42.176...
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