Honda CR-V Headlight Replacement with Aftermarket Headlights

We all see cars on the road with fogged and crappy looking headlights right? But headlights are insanely expensive (at least from the dealer they are). And so, many people just drive around with their high beams in an attempt to have light cut through the milk carton like somewhat opaque plastic covering their headlight bulbs.

This is what mine looked like.

My car is a 2008, so I figured it was time to get some new headlights. I found an aftermarket set on Amazon for around $133 after tax. I didn't even price them from Honda, considering they quoted me just under $600 for a single CV shaft -- that's just the part, not installed.

I was teaching my youngest son about how to approach working on something that you've never taken apart before. I let him know that there is no better blowout diagram than just looking at the replacement part.

That's also where I found out that I'd have to remove the entire bumper cover, because one of the screws that secures the light, is right below the light and under the bumper cover. What I didn't know was that there is a bracket that's mounted to the bottom of the light assembly. It was not visible without the bumper cover removed.

If you would like to see a video on how to remove the bumper cover and headlights this is probably the best one I've seen. I didn't listen to the audio, I just forwarded through it to find out if there was anything weird that I was unaware of. Oh, and the two screws for the bumper cover that are at the bottom left and right side both broke off inside the speed-nuts. My car has never been driven up north, it's just never had the bumper cover removed. I don't know why they used fine-thread screws for something that's going to get wet frequently. Usually they would use something with course threads so it can rust, but still be worked loose. The other screws are course thread, the ones around the fender well and such.

Here's my car with the bumper cover removed.

Here it is from the other side with the headlight assembly removed.

Here is the new headlight assembly vs the original.

Here you can see where the headlight with the dust boot removed showing where the bulb would be inserted.

The bulb retainer clip from the aftermarket light was poorly made. It was as if they fashioned it from a paper clip. It was seriously weak. Like the bulb might rattle with it fastened.

Here's what the original bulb retainer clip looks like. It was made out of stainless steel. I swapped the aftermarket clip for the original one. I also had to replace the latch part that it the clip locks into opposite the hinged side. Both the clip and the latch part are held on by screws, so you can remove them relatively easily. You just have to be careful not to lose the screws. They can fall into the headlight assembly.

I also ended up using the original bulb dust covers as well. The originals are made of a higher quality rubber. The aftermarket ones were made of butyl rubber, like a rubber mallet. You know the black rubber mallets that smell strangely like barbeque sauce when they're new. I don't think that's the best kind of rubber to be using around super hot halogen bulbs.

After I moved all the parts over, I got the headlights in, and installed the bumper cover, and was good to go! Or so I thought. If you view the full-size picture, you can see that there is fog on the lower left side of the driver's headlight.

These kinds of headlight assemblies have air vents in them so that they will be able to equalize internal pressure with atmosphere. The halogen lights cause the air pressure within the assemblies to fluctuate (because of heat). Without vents the lights will fog up on the inside. When it's warm outside, or you've been driving the car, the lights are on whether daytime running lights or headlights, light assemblies heat up. When it's cooler outside, and the humidity is higher, the assemblies cool off and draw humid air in.

I looked at the old headlights to find the location of the vents. They're up at the top by the side marker lights, facing toward the rear of the car. You can see the little dust cap to the right of the side marker bulb opening.

I removed the dust caps to see what the assembly looks like when they're removed.

Here's the two parts that make up the vent cap.

Here's the little tube that extrudes from the headlight assembly (on the new headlights). THERE WAS NO HOLE IN THEM! I poked a toothpick into the tube and it just bottoms out equal to the length of the tube. :-|

Looking at the old headlight assembly you can see light through the little vent hole with the cap removed.

I was a bit panicked, because with the headlight assemblies installed already, there was no good way to drill a hole into the new assemblies. However, one of my Christmas presents (from my wife) saved me! It's similar to a Dremel tool, only it has a chuck like a miniature drill. It also came with (3) drill bits, and a flexible attachment. I used the largest drill bit that was somewhere between 1/8" and 3/16" right about the size of the hole in the original headlight.

Once I drilled the holes, I installed the dust caps, and let it sit for a while with the dust boots off for the headlight bulbs, leaving the headlight assembly open to air for a while in the sun. No more fog on the inside of the lens, and no more fog after driving the car multiple times over a series of days. The temperature has been below freezing with 100% humidity outside, frost all over the car. Still no issues.

Aftermarket parts like these are definitely sub par. Also, never throw away your old parts before you've moved over necessary parts from the old parts to the new ones. I would have never even thought that the vents wouldn't have been installed, much less that the vent holes weren't even drilled.

It's all good now though, and I should be set for another 5-10 years or so.

Note: If you're having trouble with a headlight on one of your vehicles -- and don't want to remove the entire assembly to install another vent, they actually sell vent kits on Amazon.

Hope this helps someone.

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