New Defender Headlight Repair
You have probably seen a Defender driving around with a headlight out or “winking” at you as it passes.
Many early model Defenders from 2020 have suffered from an internal electrical fault which causes the lower LED ring or “smile” not to illuminate. So far, the Land Rover dealer’s have only been able to replace the headlamps as an assembly. This is was not so bad if you are within the warranty period, but as these vehicles age and come out of warranty, a new headlamp assembly is an expensive repair.
When the lower LED ring on our 2020 Defender failed, we were fortunate to have the headlamp assemblies replaced under warranty. However, now faced with multiple client vehicles with this issue, we have found an out-of-warranty repair option with a kit that replaces the faulty electrical component. Inside the sealed headlamp assembly, on a small circuit board, there is an area that overheats and melts causing this fault.
To access the faulty circuit board we have to carefully remove the permanent seal between the clear lens and the headlight housing. This is not a sanctioned repair and there is no guarantee that we can remove the lens without damage or that we can reseal it 100%. So you are taking on some risk while saving money on the replacement cost of a new headlamp assembly.
Once inside we disassembled a little further and found the problem circuit board. The melted area can be seen with the naked eye. The repair kit comes with a new circuit board which we swap in to replace the faulty one.
The most time consuming part of this repair is cleaning up the old sealant in preparation for reassembly.
We have successfully completed this repair a few times now and so far no issues.
With a new factory headlamp assembly at over $4000 plus labour to install, this repair is a great cost saving alternative.
Please contact our customer service team if you wish to get an estimate and have this fault repaired on your 2020 and newer Land Rover Defender.
If you prefer to try this yourself, you can purchase the repair kit on our online store.
