Condensation In Headlight

[Roker]

I came back from holiday and found that my LH headlight has condensation inside the glass. Has anyone had experience of this? how does it get in? how do I get it out? there are no cracks in the glass, only the indicator bulb was replaced recently. I checked to see if the cap had been replaced correctly.

[Druid Boy]

Dunno how it gets in but I do know one thing: if you remove the bulbs and use a hairdryer to blow hot air at the back of the headlight 2 things happen. 1. The back of the headlight melts. 2. The hairdryer also melts. So, not recommending that approach then......Doh!

[roker roar]

hello roker,

yes i had this problem, i didn't know but in the end it melted the plastic inside where the bulbs were. i had to get a new headlight, bought a secondhand one off eBay roughly £50 quid. thats the easy part, i think you have to take the bumper off to change it. thats what i did but the guys on here will tell you better way i think, i'm no mechanic

cheers james

[Roker]

Melted plastic, another problem for the best built cars in the world. I noticed the glass has self catches/clips built in at the top. does this mean if the headlight is removed the glass can be taken off

[t-spiritpete]

I have found in the past that leaving the headlights on for 10 mins or so will help clear the condensation due to the heat from the bulbs but it's not a 100% guarantee .... worth a try though.

Pete.

[Paul Gailey]

What age is the model? I have the 2006 version and to get to the innards of the headlights to replace the reflector I had to place entire lamp unit into the oven to bake soften the seal that holds them apart. After fixing the reflector I resealed over the old sealant with a little silicon seal to prevent ingress. I notice there are some tubes that have caps on then on the back of the headlights which appear to be designed to allow condensation to escape but by default the caps cover these tubes. If you remove the caps and blow air in there for few a hours you might get the dampness out without having to remove the lights from the car.

[Roker]

Thanks all. With the combination of blowing with a hair dryer (on low heat), leaving it in the sun (we just happened to have some) and leaving the rubber cover off for a couple of days to allow the engine heat to circulate, I have managed to dry it out. I think it is important to put the cover back on a dry cold day as cold air does not hold as much moisture as warm air which would condense out.

I don't know how the moisture got in, inthe first place, possible it was a damp day when the bulb was replaced. I am hoping that I have fixed it for the long term.

[barrym028]

headlights by designe are'nt air tight, because if they were the heat from the lamps would cas the head light to pressurise and cause the unit to crack and fail. this would happen to my old hyundai coupe gen3 and my RX8 if they had'nt been drive for sometime, i would just drive with the head lights on all day and that would sort it out.