Im so angry.
After I scratched up my newly painted front nose....and my headlights are still fogging up.
Heck...before I did the fix only my passenger side would fog...but now both are fogging up...I just did the drivers side so I wouldnt have to in case it happened in the future.
I put a ton of silicone on....let it dry for 3 days at room temperature. What is my problem here??! I didnt open the lenses....just put more silicone over.
The little drain hose cracked on both lights...but I sealed AND taped those.
Well...looks like I wont be putting my HID kit in anytime soon.
Any ideas?

 

You might have a crack somwhere on the headlight housing, or you might have some residual moisture left inside the housing. Check the bulb seals too. And silicone shouldn't take more than ten minutes to fully solidify.

 

Lex,
Didnt notice any cracks. Now the residual moisture....I dried them out completely by putting a fan on them...so they looked dry at least...could moisture still have been in there?
If so, when will it evaporate?
Silicone even now isnt hard...I could easily take it off if I wanted to. Maybe I used the wrong one even? Definately not hard...and now that i think of it...the sealant on the headlight was rock hard...this is nowhere near that.
What do you recommend specifically..maybe Ill peel all mine off and redo it.
The silicone I used said 72 hours without water to cure...thats why I left them off.

 

Did you say you sealed up those rubber trap hoses on the headlight? If you sealed most or all of them up, your headlights will produce condensation from the stagnant air and fluctuating temperature inside. The headlights need to breathe. The silicone I used is a silicone glass sealant and is pink in color, honey-like in consistancy, and dries under the sun in about five minutes. I have another type of silicone that is brownish and dries in about the same amount of time. And I'm pretty sure hot glue sticks will seal just as well, but make sure the glue is nice and runny before you apply it.

 

Lex...
Well they cracked at the midway point...so I may have gotten a little silicone in there. Im gonna check tomorrow, I need this solved before HIDS come.
Is your silicone rock hard now though? Mine certainly didnt dry in 5 minutes....it had a cream consistency in feel...came out white and dried clear.
Should those nozzles to allow headlight to breathe point up towards hood...or down towards ground?
Finally...if mine are cracked...cant I just cut them off and leave the hole be...or is there a concept to having a 2 or 3 inch curved hose coming out of them?
Thanks for your input.

 

My silicone is very stiff and solid and withstood the 250-degree oven trick. I don't remember which way to face the hoses, but downward seems logical. The U-shaped hoses work like sink traps and toilet traps, and they have a foam webbing stuffed inside that helps block contaminants from getting sucked in, so I don't know how effective cutting them off would be. Here's a pic of the hoses, you can kind of make out the stuffing inside....

 

Argh...those sponges had a purpose eh? I tossed them out. Shoot.

 

Geez!!! Just drill some 1/8" holes in each bottom corner of the lens. You won't even notice them.

Problem solved...guaranteed.

This is a factory service bulletin fix for a number of manufacturers.

Todd Matsubara
TM Engineering LLC
www.tmengineering.net

 

That's what I did. Worked just fine.

 

Yup!

 

Is there a part number for those hoses? I doubt it but its worth a try!

 

The parts breakdown I have does not show that as a separate part.

 

I just pulled my leaky headlight. I did not take it apart because it is still clean inside. There was probably at least an ounce of water in it that I was able to pour out. I can see how drilling a drain hole could help a lot! The vent tubes are not at the very bottom and are not drain tubes, imo. I really wonder about the reasoning for the 2 different shapes of vent tubes. Strange. The 90º one is in good shape, but the U-shaped one with the mesh ball inside is split 2/3 around and ready to fall apart. I don't see why a person could not simply replace it with a piece of plain hose. You could stick a LOOSE wad of plastic kitchen scrub mesh stuff into the end of the tube. Or get a little in-tank filter screen thing from a small engine section of the parts store, the kind that inserts into a 1/4" fuel pickup line. The would do the same as the mesh, and would cause the line to hang downward. The mesh is to keep insects out, I would imagine.

Now I have a question... Is the seam to be sealed the one between the black rear housing and the gray part that extends behind the lens? Or am I shooting at the big rubber gasket that wraps around the housing?

 

Don, thanks for help on traction button.
I also agree I would think a regular hose would work.....I see how Lex said it is supposed to work like a sink thing...but I dont see why that would help condensation.
The hoses arent orderable I dont think, they are not on my parts sheets either.
The gray stuff I BELIEVE is the factory sealant....so you want to seal between black housing and gray sealant...the black rubber gasket is just for a gasket between the actual headlight and the hood.
Don, if you fix your successfully, would you fix mine for a price assuming my next fix (another reseal) tomorrow doesnt work?

 

A P-trap on a sink is horizontal. On the headlight tube it is vertical, so it doesn't really function as a trap. It might be a *light* trap, but that seems like overkill too. One of those unsolved mysteries I guess.

I'll let you know how my light sealing goes and we will get you fixed up from there.