Octavia mk3 III headlamp repair (Genuine repair brackets)

[chris4500uk]

Hi, Firstly just a bit of background, my car was hit at some point while it wasn't in use, I'm guessing a shopping car park, but anyway, it resulted in damage to the front drivers side lamp cluster. It turns out that the 3 clips that hold the lamp in place had snapped, which apparently is supposed to happen to prevent further damage to the lamp.

 

After trying to fix them using glue (lost the bottom one completely) I gave up, it worked for a year it then failed again. To cut a long story short it turns out Skoda actually sell repair clips that fit each of the 3 brackets that hold the front headlamps. The headlamp actually has fittings for these from the factory so it's obviously a design feature even though the dealership never mentioned this when quoting £550 for the new lamp! (Vrs model)

 

Lets get down to business. 

 

Parts needed: Please double check with the dealer as I can't be responsible for wrongly ordered or incorrect parts.

 

UK Driver side (Right hand side looking forward in the car)

5E0998226

5E0998226A

5E0998226B

N10701201 2 pcs. for each bracket (6 total for one lamp)

 

Passenger side needs:

5E0998225

5E0998225A

5E0998225B

N10701201 2 pcs. for each bracket (6 total for one lamp)

 

You will also need an adjustable wrench or around a 22mm spanner to remove the old centres from the old brackets

You will need a Torx bit set if you don't have one already, but you should, or how else did you remove the bumper? The torx on the lamp is bigger than the bumper screws but I can't remember the size, sorry.

 

First I recommend following the guide by xpower to remove the front bumper, although this can be half removed by leaving the annoying bolts in the opposite side as well as the wheel arch screws. This saves a bit of time as the bumper can be pulled away allowing the lamp to be removed without the whole bumper coming off. Guide here - Credit is also needed for a guide I originally found here

 

I forgot to take a photo showing actually how to remove the lamp, but if you are following this guide then most likely you have 3 obviously snapped brackets or a lamp that is flopping about. You can see the 3 brackets here:

 

Here are the 3 repair brackets from Skoda, you will also need to remove the 3 centres of the old brackets which will become obvious later:

 

We need to trim some of the left over original bracket from the lamp so the new repair one can sit flush, as shown here:

 

 

All done:

 

Next is a fun part, using the old centre of the old bracket you need to make new thread in the new hole of the repair bracket that mounts to the body, I ended up installing the bracket in the car and using the screw to hold it centre while I tightened it down in the repair bracket, although I'm sure there is a much better way of doing this!

 

Now you can mount the new bracket with 2x of the new screws:

 

On to the next one, it's the same story, you need to remove any excess (I used a sharp blade) then install the new bracket, take care not to damage the new screw holders above and below the cutting area:

 

I actually snapped this repair bracket when installing the old centre, so please be careful, however it didn't seem to weaken the joint and compared to what I had this was miles away.

 

Last one! The top one is actually quite easy, in my case I didn't need to trim, but to fill the hole that was left from the "impact" sorry about the horrible instant glue but I had ran out of black RTV.

 

Bonus pictures of the new brackets installed, give yourself a pat on the back for saving over £500

[VRS TDi CR estate]

Hi there, I have the same issue with my wife's Fabia Vrs. Someone reversed and caught the front bumper. However, on further inspection it had broken 2 of the 3 brackets from the headlamp. I purchased new ones at a massive cost of £6.76 from Skoda. They went on fine, but they are not threaded and obviously the adjusters are. How did you manage to get a thread into the new brackets? Surely the plastic thread on the adjusters is not strong enough to make a new thread in the brackets.

[chris4500uk]

3 hours ago, VRS TDi CR estate said:

Hi there, I have the same issue with my wife's Fabia Vrs. Someone reversed and caught the front bumper. However, on further inspection it had broken 2 of the 3 brackets from the headlamp. I purchased new ones at a massive cost of £6.76 from Skoda. They went on fine, but they are not threaded and obviously the adjusters are. How did you manage to get a thread into the new brackets? Surely the plastic thread on the adjusters is not strong enough to make a new thread in the brackets.

 

To be honest this was the hardest part for me and I ended up snapping the front side bracket. I did use the adjuster to "cut" the thread, but it was a nightmare to start it and it looked like it cross threaded before it ended up flat. You can see how I did the rear one above, this worked okay, but the side one I used a vice along with a wrench to tighten it down. This put too much stress on the bracket.

 

I wonder how Skoda do it? Maybe they have a proper tap and die set

[VRS TDi CR estate]

I also managed to snap 2 today before visiting a friend who builds engines. He spent ages and cut a thread in which allowed me to get the adjuster in. Thanks for the info. Maybe it’s only the body shop who have the knowledge/ tools as you said. Thanks for the reply.

[3rdoctavia]

Hi all,

I'm just reviving this thread to see if anyone knows if there are available from skoda dealers or are they only available these days as copy ones from eBay?

I had a bump and realised my headlight is loose so need to sort it before my MOT.

Thanks

[CKTighe]

Hi, I've just bought some genuine brackets on eBay. I couldn't find a seller that supplied the brackets with the self tapping screws, I've had to order those online separately - Torx self tapping 4.2 x 16 from BoltBase.

[3rdoctavia]

On 23/12/2023 at 15:32, CKTighe said:

Hi, I've just bought some genuine brackets on eBay. I couldn't find a seller that supplied the brackets with the self tapping screws, I've had to order those online separately - Torx self tapping 4.2 x 16 from BoltBase.

Thanks mate. Do you have a link to the eBay site you used ? And what was the quality like ?

Thanks 

[CKTighe]

The link is for the right hand side headlight repair kit. But it's out of stock currently.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/256245946067?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=owxUDzwwQsC&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=kwfukfw7QHq&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=EMAIL

[CKTighe]

 

Spoiler

 

 

I've just completed the job, many thanks for the instruction.

 

Before screwing the plastic insert into the troublesome front side bracket, I used a heat gun to warm up and "soften" the plastic where the insert screws into. It wound in very easy and didn't break.

[3rdoctavia]

That's good to know. I need a left hand side , I presume you had to.tke the bumper off to get to the light unit ?

[CKTighe]

Yes, I partially took of the bumper from one side.

For those hard to reach bumper bolts x 2, I found it easier to access by removing the inner wheel arch cover.

[3rdoctavia]

OK, I'm going to have to get this sorted before my MOT in spring. Thanks for your help but I might be back with more questions !👍

[3rdoctavia]

After a search of various websites I thought I'd see if my local Skoda Dealer parts desk could get them. It was all pretty easy with next day delivery to the parts desk and cost me £26.86 for all three brackets and 6 screws.

So I was pleased with the ease of getting hold of them, and the price wasn't much more than ebay which was a suprise.

Now all I need is a warm dry day to get the job done .

I'll keep you posted 🙂.

Cheers

 

Edited 11 January by 3rdoctavia
typos

[3rdoctavia]

Well today was the day I removed the headlight unit but what.an absolute faff to get the bumper off , even just on one side. Why oh why did skoda think those two bolts on the inner wing where a good idea. Them alone took 45mins ! Simply clever ... not.

When I got the headlight unit out all three brackets had snapped with the bottom one tearing a hole in the bottom of the light unit. So after a lot of plastic welding and a bit of epoxy I'm now able to fit the repair brackets.

I'll post some photos tomorrow when I'm putting it all back together.  What a faff .