Need help on repairing headlight

[Norbreck21a]

Guys, need your assistance in repairing a headlight unit. I've just pruchased a set of mint Black GTI style headlights from a member of the forum, they left him in perfect condition (I trust him), when they arrived, UPS had obviously ignored the "fragile" warnings over the box and thrown them around.  

Although the box was undamaged externally, when I opened the package to check the lights, I noticed that the drivers side one was rattling. Upon closer examination it appears that one of the internal fixings that suspends the dipped beam headlight has snapped off. There are 3 of these "suspensions"points. Two at the top of the dipped beam unit (left and right) , and one at the bottom connected to the height adjustment motor. It's one of the upper fixings that's sheared off (see image below - circled in red). It appears that the piece has sheared off from the main inner lamp housing, so currently the lens just flops around inside the housing.



Now let's get one thing straight - In no way what so ever do I disbeleive the seller as he is a well respected member of this forum and is as gutted as I am, so I centainly don't blame him   I'm going to keep the sellers name out of this to avoid any embarrasment on his part.

I've contacted UPS, however they have said that unless there was damage to the outer wrappings (which there wasn't), then it would be their word against the sellers, so I don't think I'm going to have any joy there. So, before I have to look into purchasing another drivers headlamp unit, I'm looking to see if this one can be repaired.

I managed to separate the white plastic snap joint from the metal ball and remove it from the headlight. That has revealed the part which has broken (see below).



I’m going to have an attempt to glue it, but I’m a little unsure as to what to use. I’m afraid that if I use superglue, that the heat generated when the headlights are on, may cause the glue to fog the interior of the lens. The question is, does anyone have any ideas as to what to use to give it a try, or do you think it’s not worth the effort?

Any help and advice gratefully appreciated.

Cheers

Andrew

[markfive]

What a PITA. I had something similar happen, not a sign of damage to the box and yet one of the headlights had become disconnected - in my case it had just popped off the mount so no big deal. That was UPS as well, within the UK.
I've also sent two sets internationally without any problems at all - go figure

Seems marking a package as "Fragile" means "Break it gently"  

Might be worth trying the high temp silicon sealant they use to bond glass to oven doors? IIRC that sticks plastics as well and won't have the issues that superglue has.

[Norbreck21a]

Thanks for the reply Mark. I'll have a look into that.

Anyone else have any ideas ?

Andrew