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n/a - broken plastic on headlamp assembly - jonnyjjbean

I have a broken headlamp assembly after a minor prang - it's the little part that sticks out and secures the headlight unit to the car via a small screw - see here (top right): https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/static.bisonparts.co.uk/products/medium/24228-1.jpg

Is there any way to repair this without taking it to a garage for a new replacement part + fitting? The little plastic arm tis just cracked in two so the headlamp unit rattles around a little.

n/a - broken plastic on headlamp assembly - elekie&a/c doctor
If you have the broken part , then it’s possible to use something like araldite to reattach it to the light . If not , then you may be able to fabricate a metal strip to secure the lamp . Worst case would be a new or s/ hand lamp unit.
n/a - broken plastic on headlamp assembly - sammy1

Most body shops can plastic weld something like this. Try and find a small independent guy

n/a - broken plastic on headlamp assembly - Andrew-T

Most body shops can plastic weld something like this. Try and find a small independent guy

Indeed. My local bodyshop did just that for me a few years ago, to save the huge cost of an OEM replacement after a write-off repair. In fact superglue would probably do it.

Edited by Andrew-T on 24/01/2020 at 17:34

n/a - broken plastic on headlamp assembly - Richard Huddleston

Superglue and baking powder makes an excellent adhesive/filler. Baking powder first then superglue (Poundland).

n/a - broken plastic on headlamp assembly - Richard Huddleston

Sorry bicarbonate of soda not baking powder.

n/a - broken plastic on headlamp assembly - Engineer Andy

In a similar vein, can lights' plastic lenses be changed out if they get cracked/broken? I have one of these as a fron fog lamp on my gen-1 Mazda3, but AFAIK all I can source are a whole assembly at ~£150 (dealership only) or the plastic housing only (including lens but sasns lamp and electronics) for between £30 and £55 pn Ebay, but the latter is not a Mazda part and the providers never get back to me when asking questions.

Besides the fact that fitting it seems to be as time-consuming for both, requiring the front bumper to be removed.

n/a - broken plastic on headlamp assembly - gordonbennet

Engineer Andy i offer this tale of woe.

A while ago we had a mk 1 Outlander, the car never endeared itself despite its amazing handling and roadholding even if it was ugly as sin, even running on LPG (importers conversion) it drank far more fuel than the measly performance justified, worse then the Forester but at least that gives genuine sports car performance for the fuel used.

The mk 1 had serious issues with headlight lenses crazing no amount of polishing could fix, these became apparent even as warranty was expiring but Mitsi failed entirely to offer any sort of help to affected owners, and new headlights were £350 a side, none to be found used as they all do that sir.

Now then, aftermarket light units, i never did find left dip aftermarket so in desperation bought right hand dip and blanked the lenses off where needed, to be fair the light pattern was pretty good certainly better than OE, but that was the only thing going for them, they fitted literally where they touched and were made of the most horrible plastic known to man, absolute junk, due to mishape i couldn't even consider grafting the new lenses onto the old light units if i carefully cut and plastiwelded the things, all in all an exercise i shall never repeat.

I'd be extremely wary of anything to do with lights being offered for sale on that site.