Re: You have the unit off and see something broken? If not, keep in mind the locking makes a snap noise.

Well sometimes things don't go as planned. A simple bulb change has turned into something more. When re-installing the headlight assembly I think the connector had shifted a bit and I compensated by shoving it in harder. When I tried to tighten the locking rod I heard a crack and now I need to replace the mount. It looks like it is fastened at three points but for the life of me I cannot figure out how to loosen them to remove the mount. Anyone know the trick here? Or will have to hang my head in shame and take it to Uli the local P-car fixer?

Chris - '01 Boxster - Seal Grey / Black / Black ; '87 944 Turbo (track beast) ; '86 944 - needs a new home!

Oh yeah - it's definitely broken. The plastic that holds the retaining rod has broken as well as a part of the outside guide. I found this helpful link but I still haven't managed to figure out how to loosen the mounts to remove the old one.

[www.pelicanparts.com]

It looks like you take a #15 torx and turn the torx screw clockwise (looking at it from the top or above) and that will loosen up the knob below the sheet metal so that the "sandwich" is less tight (i.e., the sleeved washer will have room to move away from the sheet metal onto which it is squeezed right now). You can do that on all three and you should be able to then remove and replace the plastic mount.

Regards, Maurice.

ensure the headlight fits inside the fender opening correctly.

When replacing a fender the instructions are to remove -- do not bother any adjustments -- the mounting plate and move it to the new fender.

Since you are replacing a damaged plate with a new one, consider duplicating the new plate's adjustment settings using the old plate's adjustment settings.

I went through, 2nd hand, a bit of trouble with this when I had a car in the body shop and its fender, headlight, and plate were all replaced. When I got the car back the new headlight did not fit in the fender opening correctly and I had to send the car back to the body shop to get this (among a number of other things) corrected.

As we were inspecting the car at the dealer, and in talking to a Porsche tech about this and exploring having him do the work he said it can be a real fiddly job to get the fit right and then of course ensure the headlight's aim is correct too.

Thanks for the replies. I managed to get the old plate off ok by loosening the 19mm brass nuts on the top of the plate (after an overnight soak in PB blaster). The good news is that I didn't have to affect the adjustment of the mounts at all. When I get the new plate I should just be able to drop it onto the old mounts and tighten the top nuts and hopefully avoid the fiddly adjustments.

Chris - '01 Boxster - Seal Grey / Black / Black ; '87 944 Turbo (track beast) ; '86 944 - needs a new home!