baking headlights - is it safe??

is it safe to use your home oven to bake the headlights in?

i know a lot of people do it for the BHLM so many people will say "yea, it's safe!"

but is it? doesn't that release some kind of chemicals from the plastic that will linger in the over and be baked into your food?

i know this is weird, and i'm not the paranoid type. but i'd rather not put my family at risk.

like i know you're not supposed to use your home oven to cure painted parts.

somebody set me straight.

 

subbed...i also need to know cause my DRL Lenses are melted.does anybody know if you can buy just the lenses?

 

High heat and plastics releases dioxin. Dioxin are carcinogens and highly toxic to the cells of our bodies.


I would recommend cleaning your oven after heating any headlights. The fumes along are very bad so try to minimize exposure to that as well.

 

OP... i agree 100%. Putting anything plastic with sealent in the oven where you cook food can't be a good thing. It's pretty much common sense.

 

Personally, I would not put anything plastic in my oven. Especially not the one I cook my food in...

 

great, just when I was about to do my BHLM you have to bring this shit up...thanks now I'm all paranoid about it too and now probably won't get to see pretty blacked out headlights on my truck...

 

Heat gun is your friend.

 

You aren't going to do a BHLM with a heat gun....lol.


OP fwiw clean your oven out. You'll be fine. I'm no scientist but I'm still alive and healthy and I've done half a dozen already. Oven cleaner is far more harmful.

 

Use the heat gun to open up the headlights. It's not difficult but does take a bit longer. I still use my oven when I'm doing retrofits but only when the Mrs. isn't around...

 

aint that the truth of it....and just set the kids up downstairs with a movie

 

Now I am no chemist or doc but I did talk to a few in my family before I did this mod. Both said same thing. It’s not a good thing to do but if you are going to do it use the self-cleaner on the oven when finished. Because most ovens will get up to 800 to 900 degree F. And that is well enough to kill anything in the oven. Also said when that is done and cool. Reheat oven and bake something like cookies or something you are not going to eat and then throw it away.

Also both had same comments... there have been plenty of stupid people out there that put Tupperware in the oven and duhhh it melts. OR they do the same thing in the microwave. Now do those people run out and buy new ovens or microwaves. No they don’t. They clean it up and use it again.

I used mine and have been fine.

Don't hold me to anything like I said I aint no Doc or Chemist.

 

I can't imagine how long it must take you with a heat gun. Not to mention the uneven heating, risking melting them.

 

The heatguns I have at work get pretty damn hot, I imagine it would be possible, but not nearly as easy as placing it within a hot oven.

 

Its the uneven heating that I would be concerned about. Without the headlight being heated evenly and thoroughly you could be there all day if you don't burn it. Not saying its impossible I guess, just risky since its concentrated to one area.

 

I used the oven to take my housings apart. It was very easy. Putting them back together, however, I used a heat gun. On low it hits 500 degrees, high is 1000 degrees. I kept it at 500 and heated up the butyl tape until it looked like it was almost liquid, which did not take long at all. Then I clamped everything together. Everything sealed up just fine...I would not want to use it to take the housings apart though. I felt like it would melt the plastic before softening the glue because the gun was so hot.

 

Not worried about it. Can't be any worse than heating my food up in the microwave in a styrofoam or plastic container, or frozen dinners. meh

 

burning plastics do indeed let off dangerous chemicals,some of them carcinogenic, but using this low heat shouldn't be hot enough to cause that kind of decomp

 

This should be correct. I think it takes a certain temp for plastic. I still cook my food in the oven and I'm fine.

 

Worried people can always just pay to not worry and purchase black'd out headlights then sell their oems. Just do it, there are shit ton of other ways you will die before stuff leftover from modding your headlights in the oven ever gets you. Hell, stuff in the food you are cooking is most likely just as bad as the plastic fumes are. Oh no, the black part of grilled stuff has carcinogens, how many people ever worry about that? Live, just live, nobody will ever see 125 anyway, lol.