My son's 2010 MK 2 Fabia Sport (Fabia Sport HTP 12V) has the dreaded single  H7 bulb filament lighting on each headlamp with the shutter coming down for dipped beam. Have changed the bulbs to Night Breaker Unlimited,  they have given a slight improvement and found his projector lenses look cloudy on both sides after some 8-9 years. How easy is it on this model to get the headlamps out of the front grille and then put them on my workbench to take the nuts off inside and withdraw the lens assembly from the headlamp housing. Do they just unbolt to release them from the car bodywork or on this model with the extra plastic front faring and go faster wing on the back mean  a complete stripe down as my Haynes manual does not clearly show this model.

Can you swop these horrible things out and replace with normal reflectors on the MK 2 Sport model without to much extra wiring. This was going to be the last resort if he decides to keep it for a few years as in previous emails the lights are rubbish compared with my own cars and motorbikes. Anybody cleaned these lenses and managed to get them out quickly?

 

FlyingBrick

Do you mean the whole light lens looks cloudy? Also, are you sure its cloudy from inside the lens, not the exterior?

 

It is quite common for headlights to go cloudy over time, since they started fitting plastic lenses, rather then the old school, glass lights. I have not had this issue on my Skud but have on my Yaris and I used a headlight cleaning product, like a tube of toothpaste, to clean it up. I also used a cordless drill, will a soft buffer on, to take out the elbow work!

 

They come up quite nice and after a few goes, looked like a new set of lights, compared to how they had become. 

 

I did intend on then sealing the lens with clear acrylic lacquer but I didn't get round to doing it as I was on a deadline as the MOT was getting low and I wondered if it would cause the car to fail. 

Of course, I could also apply car wax as a preventative but that will need doing monthly, where the clear lacquer would last a year or two, if not longer.

Hi mrgf

 

Yes the actual plastic lens on each side looks cloudy and also disperses the light when the headlamp bulb is on. It really needs to come out of the headlamp glass which is clear and the rest is ok.

I know on some makes of car just one screw allows the whole headlamp assembly to come straight off the bodywork in minutes but this MK 2 Sports model looks like they have made it anything but quick and simple. As it is away at the moment I cannot have a play with the assembly until my son gets back home. Was looking for info ready to tackle the job if he is given a weekend off and can drive back from Cranwell as having driven it in the dark reminds me of going right back to the Morris Minor when dipped is used on most of his night driving along the A17 back home.

 

FlyingBrick

The actual "Globe" Part of the projector lens is actually a kind if whitefish look anyway. Similar to a spotlight bulb you get at home, if you see what I mean. I assume this is to disperse some light and prevent total dazzle to oncoming cars, which would well happen without the cloudiness.

Hi mrgf

 

Been to my local Skoda dealer in Norwich and looked at their new and second hand Fabia models.  Having looked at the projector lenses inside the headlamps they do appear to be clear and can see through to the small reflector at the back.

So it does look like his lenses are either covered with a lot of dust or general dirt over the years of being cooked in the light beam compared with the standard reflector on most cars. Only purchased his 2010 first car last November.

Just need to find out if his sport model needs to be striped right down with the front panels or does the headlamp come straight out from the front?

 

FlyingBrick