Condensation in rear light clusters

[Agent Orange]

Hi all,

I know that this has been discussed before but has anybody actually found a cure for the build up of condensation found in the rear light clusters of many Mark 1 Aygos, please?

I have seen this problem on many an Aygo but, funnily enough, not on the Citroen C1 or Peugeot 107 and I have trawled the internet for an actual cure but cannot come up with anything that seems to work.  Many say, just take the cluster off and dry it, many say just run with your lights on for a while and that will get rid of it.  On the other hand I've seen that some folk silicone seal the lights to the bodywork (Not something that I want to do) and some of you don't have the problem at all.

I don't seem to have a wet boot floor, so the problem is just with the light cluster itself and I got a couple of the re-usable silica crystal bags from Amazon:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00F9M53HE/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I leave one in the boot and have one on the hall radiator, ready to change and whilst these have improved the situation, they haven't cured it.  At the moment. I'm looking at and wondering about some Anti-fogging/Anti-condensation spray to apply to the inside of the lens but am a bit worried about how these would react with the perspex.

We had a nice couple of days, up here in the north last weekend, so I gave the car a good wash, chamois and wax and (I guess) as it wasn't exactly tropical, it got cold overnight and the problem was quite bad on Sunday.  It has got a lot better over the days since but I wondered, like I have said, if anybody has had this problem and has actually be able to cure it, any information/advice would be very gratefully received.

Many thanks in advance. 

[Agent Orange]

No answers as yet but thanks to those who have read my post......

....To be honest, I didn't think that there would be a "one fits all" fix on this one but last night I had an idea that I'm going to try.

For the next week or so I'm going to run the car without the rear parcel shelf, my idea is that this will bring the back of the light cluster into the car (Rather than in the boot) and this might give better air circulation, keeping the light lens clear.

It's worth a go and I will report back.

[mickburkesnr]

I would think that if the condensation is in the rear light cluster then the seal on it has perished. Have you removed the cluster to inspect it?

[Agent Orange]

Hi Mickburkesnr,

Yes, I've checked the seal myself recently and it was checked by my Toyota Dealership last June....They said it was fine, cleaned the lens and the impression I got from them was that "This happens on Aygos, what's the problem?".  That could be one of the reasons that I haven't got much faith in them and prefer my local independant Garage.  I cannot see anything, visibly wrong with the seal but as I said in my original post, I have seen that some folk silicone the lights onto the car to give a better seal.  To be honest, I don't really want to do that if I can help it.

Many thanks for your reply, it's much appreciated.

[mickburkesnr]

I would - if you're feeling brave - dip the lens part of the cluster in to a bucket of water for a minut or two, then take it out and see if it's taken on any water. If it hasn't then maybe the water ingress is coming in from where you plug the wires in to it. That bit I wouldn't test in water, but it would narrow the culprits down.

But there's water in there and it has to come from somewhere.

[Agent Orange]

Hi again Michael,

Good idea!  That would check for any hairline cracks in the lens, however, the problem doesn't seem to get as bad as seeing water at the bottom of the cluster, it just seems to be a film of condensation on the inside which clouds the lights.

I don't know whether this is a coincidence or if it is just because the weather is a bit warmer today but I ran it without the parcel shelf in and the lights have cleared.  It's more of an annoyance than a fault as I like my Aygo to look at it's best at all times....Hence the reason that my Wife thinks that I have shares in Auto Glym! 

That burnt orange colour does polish up well though!

Thanks again for your time and thoughts.