Odd Cleaning Issue

[Manic]

So, bit of an oddball situation. I was recently testing some fancy new LED switchbacks in my turn signals, and one of them decided to not be one piece anymore.



Current theory is that something in the LED's circuit board got rattled too hard and shorted. It continued to overheat until it must have caught fire a little bit and melted at the base. It blew two fuses on the way out, tail-turn and hazard-blinker. It even charred the socket quite a bit so I had to pick up a new one.

I've got a new bulb in, another LED (I know, right?) but these have more of a proven track record so fingers crossed. Anyway, my main problem now is that the turn signal housing/lens has some charring and burnt glue residue in it now. I guess you could say I have naturally smoked turns now.

I managed to clean up a bit of the residue with some rubbing alcohol and a toothbrush, but it's still pretty clear that a party went on in there. I'd really rather not have to remove my front bumper, bake open the lens (I think it's been cooked enough), and clean it that way. Anyone have any ideas to clean it out a little better? I was thinking maybe a wire brush with some goo gone.

[FX86]

did you somehow manage to get the old bulb out of that housing?

[Manic]

I'll take some real nice studio box photos of the charco- ahem, components. @continuecrushing and I managed to fish out the separated half of the bulb with one of these dealies:



Not gonna lie, if not for the fact that it damaged my car, it's mighty impressive that this LED managed to get hot enough to not just melt but actually catch fire. Then again, I didn't witness the fire, so maybe it just smoked a lot.

They were pretty cool while they worked though:

[wbradley]

Perhaps if you can try blowing some compressed air inside. On second thought,the best stuff for washing clear plastic is Scrubbing Bubbles. I use it to clean the ramps on all my pinball machines. Then you will need the toothbrush and compressed air shot.

[Manic]

I'll give that a shot!

[RFB]

Methyl Hydrate - used as gas line antifreeze. Its used to remove water stains in car lights.
Make sure you get it with no other additives.

[continuecrushing]

also, for search reference:

When the two fuses blew, it replicated symptoms of a blown BIU.

We were freaking out for a short while until we found the other fuse that was blown.

[Manic]

Originally Posted by RFB

Methyl Hydrate - used as gas line antifreeze. Its used to remove water stains in car lights.
Make sure you get it with no other additives.

Never heard of that before. I'll check it out tomorrow after a much needed car wash.

[D5teph]

Originally Posted by Manic

So, bit of an oddball situation. I was recently testing some fancy new LED switchbacks in my turn signals, and one of them decided to not be one piece anymore.



Current theory is that something in the LED's circuit board got rattled too hard and shorted. It continued to overheat until it must have caught fire a little bit and melted at the base. It blew two fuses on the way out, tail-turn and hazard-blinker. It even charred the socket quite a bit so I had to pick up a new one.

I've got a new bulb in, another LED (I know, right?) but these have more of a proven track record so fingers crossed. Anyway, my main problem now is that the turn signal housing/lens has some charring and burnt glue residue in it now. I guess you could say I have naturally smoked turns now.

I managed to clean up a bit of the residue with some rubbing alcohol and a toothbrush, but it's still pretty clear that a party went on in there. I'd really rather not have to remove my front bumper, bake open the lens (I think it's been cooked enough), and clean it that way. Anyone have any ideas to clean it out a little better? I was thinking maybe a wire brush with some goo gone.

Similar issue happened to me except they were the DRL LEDs I got. I ended up having to replace the whole Right headlight since I couldn't pull that melted bulb out. Also, the right headlight eventually turned yellow so watch out for that turn signal turning into a hazy yellow color. Goodluck hopefully you can clean up that mess!

[Manic]

Originally Posted by D5teph

Similar issue happened to me except they were the DRL LEDs I got. I ended up having to replace the whole Right headlight since I couldn't pull that melted bulb out. Also, the right headlight eventually turned yellow so watch out for that turn signal turning into a hazy yellow color. Goodluck hopefully you can clean up that mess!

Yeesh, that sucks for your headlight. I've gotta say though, that clampy thing we used was a life saver. We tried a magnet at first assuming that the thing was magnetic, no dice.

I tried the Methyl Hydrate/Methanol/Wood Alcohol/something-the-home-depot-guy-didn't-want-to-help-me-find-because-he-probably-thought-I-was-making-drugs-or-something, and it actually helped a bit. There's still some residue on the lens portion itself, might have to spray again and get one of those wire brushes with sponges on the end to reach. Nearly got my finger stuck in housing trying to use shop paper towels to scrub off the staining.

[Manic]

Originally Posted by continuecrushing

also, for search reference:

When the two fuses blew, it replicated symptoms of a blown BIU.

We were freaking out for a short while until we found the other fuse that was blown.

After great panic, we found that the "TAIL" (tail lights, turn signals, parking lights) fuse under the steering column and the "HAZ" (hazard lights, blinkers) fuse in the engine bay were the culprits. Luckily there were spares so I didn't have to drive at night in stealth mode.