I have tried to do that. I cannot see any thing moving on either side. Besides, I kind of blind myself when looking at the lens when the lights are on. Something is happening on the passenger side when the high beam goes on, but I can't see exactly what moves - it is encased in the housing. I don't see anything loose on the driver's side - the two sides look identical. I have not removed the bumper to remove the headlamp assembly. I'm leaving it all in place because at the moment because I have low beams which allow me to use the car at night.
I won't disassemble the front end yet until I have a clear strategy to fix the high beam issue. I am intrigued though to learn that some folks heat up the housing to separate it. Then what? Does it go back together permanently?
Has anyone successfully touched that projector/lifter and fixed a problem there before?
Tom

 

Has anyone ever successfully pried open one of these <glued together> headlight assemblies and poked around inside, then glued it back together?

 

I know folks have done it with the early first gen headlight assemblies to mod them with halos and projectors. Search the forum; there will be threads.

I don't know whether your generation headlight assembly is similar in construction, though....

 

Well I dived in and took off the bumper and pulled out the headlight assembly. What a chore that is!

I baked the assembly in the oven at 200 degrees for 10 minutes and separated the lens from the housing.
Once I took apart the high/low beam sub-assembly I found the solenoid and 'flapper'. It turns out the screw and nut that holds on the spring-loaded flapper had come undone.
THAT is why the high beam wouldn't work, when I had a functioning solenoid. G2B35 was correct on what might have happened. (see post # 13)
All the parts were still loose and floating around inside the lens. I put it back together, then tested the lights. I now have a high beam again, and should be able to get an inspection sticker. Tomorrow I will polish the lens using Mother's paste and then put the whole ding dong front end of the car back together. Hope everything will still work.

Here are some pictures of the solenoid, the flapper and the way it all goes together.
This will be a 5-hour project from beginning to end, but it was necessary in order to have a functioning high beam for annual state inspection purposes.
Holy crap on fire I can only imagine how much a shop would have to charge to either fix the original lens or replace the entire headlamp assembly with a new one. Probably would be a $700+ repair bill. Yikes!

 

Glad you got it squared away! Props to you for determination.... Cleric deserves the credit for pointing out that it is a mechanical device that creates the high beam. I just ran with the facts as he and you presented them.