What the heck is Kludge

 

Yeah please explain what kuldge is.....

 

There was a heavy rain storm last weekend... and the damn drivers headlight is full of condensation from the inside now. The passenger headlight is fine, but the driver's is fogged up/wet on the inside.

I have HID's and LED's- they don't run anywhere near as hot as the OEM style Halogen bulbs... and the condensation hasn't gone away for about 5 days already. Do I HAVE to open up the headlight, dry it, and re seal it with some new silicon?

-Allen

 

Any reason most of the bad ones are the drivers side?

 

Just Plain luck, i just drilled 7 breather holes in the bottom, so we'll see how that works. Otherwisee clean after the oven

 

Cool did you get any water to pour out? did you use the hairdryer? let me know how it all works out....oh, and by the way, kludge is just a way of saying that o.l.t. thinks it's a quick fix or sub-standard. But, you can't argue the fact that mine worked fine with drilling and will always be vented. The oven I guess would be a good thing if you had alot of crud in the housing that needed cleaning, but overall to me the method looks like a lot more work and not a guarantee if you do not re-seal it correctly then you're back to square one.

BLK 97- I would say "yes" to your question, either bake or drill. Even if it dries, it's gonna happen again...sorry man.

SC300- I don't know why that is, I read that in one of the threads I think?

 

I think I'll drill a few holes on the bottom of the headlight... we'll see how that works. Are there any precautions I need to take during drilling, or is it pretty straight forward? How far in do I drill?

So the headlights haven't had any condensation or fogginess since you made the extra "vent holes"? Sounds good to me

-Allen

 

no problems with condensation here, just yellowing of the passenger side

gonna have to pay someone to de-line my lights and clean em up for me. knowing me i'd go to heat up the seals and end up baking the lights into a cake.

 

Use a heatgun its so much safer. You only heat the glue and edges, not the whole unit. Alot less chance of deforming the housings.

 

I have no condensation since. I think I drilled about an inch or so in from the back of the unit on the bottom only of course. Just don't drill through the chrome difuser, but if you hold the unit in your hand and drill you won't have a problem, there is a significant space between the black bottom and the difuser, you shouldn't have a problem. Shake all the water out, dry with a hairdryer ( 30 minutes or so) and seal it with clear silicone for good measure. You may have slight condensation after you dry it, just give it a day or two and it will clear.

 

i filled my drivers side light up with 1 liter distilled water and shaked the hole light very well like a cocktail and let all the dirt of 13 years come out. i did this twice, outside of course. also i found out that the rubber vent tubes were blocked with bugs. i let the light dry over night, seeled it on top with glue and have no moisture since a year. will do the passengers light soon.

i assume we only have moisture build up if the inside of the light is dirty/clouded. same happens if you dont clean your windshield for 13 years. it gets moist immediately. fresh cleaned windows dont get moist.

 

I have no hazing, condensation, or yellowing of any kind.

Of course, I just jinxed myself and should expect a leak the next time I wash the car.

 

Heres what i did, which will be the last time. I pulled the headlights out of the car. Pulled the bulbs out the housing. Turned the oven on to about 170 and let them sit in there for about and hour or so. If you are to do this, just do it untill the lights look dry. Take em out and shake them, if they have water still inside it will show. If there is water still there put them back in. IF not take a 1/8 drill bit to the bottom and drill about 6 or 7 holes in the low spots on the bottom, ie the depressed parts of the housing. after that if you want to be extra precautionary put a seal of silicone around where the housing meets the lense. Put them back in and you should be done. LIke i said i just did this today so i dont know if it worked yet. We'll see.

 

lol yeah that's usually how it is.

 

I used to try and save the world, now I just don't care. Let your headlights yellow inside from oxidation. Let your reflectors and projectors get covered in oxidation, yellowing, moisture and dust. Let your light output suffer from non reflective issues and dirty inner lenses because you opened them wide open to the elements. It's like smoking.... "I feel fine, this isn't hurting me............right now - today".

If not having visible moisture is worth destroying the internals of the headlight with moisture and oxidation (the parts you can't polish or get to 8 months from now), then that is quite fine by me. The more air you let in, the more oxidation takes place.

but it is worth it you say........... because you can't SEE the moisture on the outer lens and that takes priority over safety and clear focused headlights.

Kludge it if you want. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Since nature will be going on where you can't see or do anything about now I'd use the next 8 months to save up for new headlights... because you just accelerated oxidation and dirt/dust buildup by 800%.

before 12 months passes you'll be able to park beside another SC with sealed headlights and it'll look like yours aren't even on with both set's aimed in the same direction when the light hit's the wall.

You either did not read the DIY and see the pics of the projector that was pulled out, or you just don't care what oxidation does. https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=183023

Meh, either way I don't care. I saw an aluminum Cf wing earlier on page 1 and decided it really didn't matter

Good luck. Here's your future: