Has anyone else encountered this before? I was driving down a mountain after going climbing and was travelling on a relatively rough and rutted gravel logging road, lots of large bumps, was going really slow and crawling over a lot of it in special terrain setting, no big jolts or anything in the car it was as smooth as could be just a lot of up and down.. I heard a random beep from the parking assist sensor, paid no mind to it as I thought I was just near some brush or something off to the side of the road.. Anyway, I make it down the mountain and back into civilization and stop for gas... To my surprise, the entire passenger side headlamp assembly is GONE, completely gone.. I had no idea the light could possibly just fall out.. I haven't taken the headlight on that side out in several weeks and I have been on rough roads since then with no issue... I feel like something must have failed but I can't see anything physically damaged.. Has anyone else had a case of the disappearing headlight??

 

Never encountered a headlight falling out before, but I have replaced a light bulb on my CS. The locking mechanism that holds the headlight in is pretty simple, and the light could easily fall out if it wasn't fully locked in. It was actually quite difficult to determine the point at which it is properly locked in the first time I did mine, until I properly understood how the mechanism worked. Anyway, I think it was probably not locked properly in place as it is unlikely to fall out if it was.

 

I locked it until it clicked loudly and wouldn't turn any further, same as the other side and like I have always done when I've had them out. Im 95% sure it was locked properly considering its been a while since I had it out and have been on rougher roads and done a lot of spirited driving.. I wonder if its possible for the locking mechanism to fail.. Just seems odd that if it wasn't locked in properly that it would take over a month for it to come out. I guess anything is possible.


Is it possible to take the bracket/locking mechanism out to see if it has failed in some way?

 

When I was doing things with lights on the CTT, I noticed that even though I heard a click, sometimes the mechanism was not actually locked.
I thought of just same scenario - driving down a bumpy road and having a light fall out.
So I started testing after clicking in the light. Inserted assembly, made sure the click is heard (couple of them), then with fingers try to pull out the light, just to make sure it is all secured. Sorry to hear you lost it though.

 

Wellllll I went back and found it, but its pretty beat up and doesn't exactly work anymore.. So may as well be lost Ive got a replacement on the way, Ill be sure to double check it when it arrives.. Im going to use this broken one to experiment with removing the lens to paint the housing.. I don't care if this one gets mangled any more since the lens is shattered anyway.. Trying to be positive.

 

Good spirit. No need to dwell on things you cannot change. Moving on is best thing to do.

If you experiment with removing the glass let us know how successful you were sealing it back up.
Thanks.

 

I can see this happening. When i first changed the corner lights in mines i had problems with the headlight seating correctly. Heard the click but it didn't lock in properly. It took a couple of tries but i finally got it to lock in place.

 

This reminds me of a post I read in the 997 forums about a dealer that got hit up by some headlight thieves. Apparently they took some plungers and made out with over a dozen brand new 997 headlights! Amazes me how easy they pop out!

 

Lol. Points to them for originality, and shame on whomever designed the mechanism.

 

I ended up having to replace the bracket where the headlight slides in after I got my replacement light. Turning the bolt to lock it in place didn't actually do anything, it never clicked or got tight, it just spun freely while making a scraping sound. The silver arm that pulls/pushes the headlight wouldn't turn when turning the bolt. I have no idea what failed in that, or how, but seems like that may have been the root cause of my issue.

 

I think the gears are plastic and can be stripped if forced.