I was looking for a thread that tells you if the fog lights on a 2004 Wrangler can be separated from the lens. It looks like there is a rubber seal but I did not want to pry too hard to get to the inside of the lens to clean it. There is a hazy film on the inside. Doesn't appear to be a sealed beam. I drive in very dark mountain areas on poor roads and the lights help with seeing what is on the sides of the road rather than just straight ahead. Cannot find anything by typing in cleaning the lens.
Yes, it can be done. The lens is held onto the reflector with an RTV type compound. Just carefully use an X-Acto or similar to gently cut it free. There's a writeup somewhere on it - cleaning the haze off the inside really helps.
Good to know. I have the knife to do that and the RTV to reseal. If it makes enough difference I won't have to replace those right away. I'm also planning to install a tow bar and eventually a small winch to the stock bumper if possible. I don't plan to try the Rubicon. Just mild off road stuff but a lot of that will be in the Sierra and you can get into trouble there too and need a tree to hook onto to get back on the road. So the lights might eventually be in the way and changing out.
I'd try not to touch the mirrored surface at all. I pulled mine apart and was very happy with how clean the glass was, wiped the reflector and the silver was gone.
I'm sure you can clean them to some extent but be extremely careful of dark brown spots, that can be below the silver and not dirt on top.
I have a set of end caps for the stock bumper coming and when I get them I'm going to pull off the milk jugs, which will give me easier access to the fog lights. One of mine has a cataract so I'll be doing like you - separating the lens from the reflector housing. If all goes well I'm going to change the bulbs to amber as well but as of now I have no idea what I'm going to use to get the haze off the lens. As Zorba said there's a thread on here somewhere but I can't find it right now. Let me know how you make out.
Will do. Likely be doing this today. Also working on sorting out the radio speaker problem and just found I have an upgrade system so posting on that next.
Milk Jugs. Now that is funny.
Milk Jugs. Now that is funny.
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One of them cleaned up nicely with simple glass cleaner, but the other one wasn't so easy. A combination of Citrus paint stripper and phosphoric acid got the job done, neither the glass cleaner nor pure vinegar touched the deposits. In any event, both lenses are much cleaner than they were before. Re-assembled with 3M automotive weatherstripping adhesive.
Cleaned one light and waited on the other to see what the difference looked like at night. Some difference but not a lot, probably because these are not very bright to begin with. Separating the lens from the reflector was a bit difficult with only two hands. After initially trimming the sealant I saw the only entry spot to begin prying is near the heat/vapor drain at the bottom of the lamp. Then holding the lamp while prying up with a small screwdriver and working with the knife while holding the lamp down proved challenging but finally got it. After I do the other one I will try them out on a dark side road with no other light around.
That's how I did mine - tiny screwdriver and walked an exacto around the thing. Were you able to get the haze off?
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