HELP - headlight condensation

Back in a Bowtie · September 19, 2018

I have the worst luck with lights ever. So long story short. I bought eagle eye headlights from a user here. Finally installed them a month or two later... all was good. went to the beach, got home, and was flushing the undercarriage with a sprinkler. BOOM fogging. I used a heat gun to get rid of it but it came right back. Took headlights off and i had a cup worth of water in them. Must have shot straight up a vent when i used the sprinkler. I got all the water out... left them open next to a dehumidifier over night and then strapped some silica packets to the inside to absorb any residual moisture. Now less than a week later im getting fogging again. When there was water inside i rolled it around to try to see if there was a leak anywhere else and i couldn't find anything.

Its easy enough to pop the lights back out, is there any good way to determine exactly whats causing this?

FastWS6TA · September 19, 2018

Get some of these
https://www.theretrofitsource.com/goretex-patches-53788.html

Put a few new breather holes with these patches on the back of the headlights. Help them to breath better and get that moist air out of there. It can take quite a while to get even a drop of water vapor out of the lights. Are they black lights? Those a notorious for fogging. The black heads up a lot and then the lenses cool quickly. Perfect environment for fogging.

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Back in a Bowtie · September 19, 2018

2 minutes ago, FastWS6TA said:

Get some of these
https://www.theretrofitsource.com/goretex-patches-53788.html

Put a few new breather holes with these patches on the back of the headlights. Help them to breath better and get that moist air out of there. It can take quite a while to get even a drop of water vapor out of the lights. Are they black lights? Those a notorious for fogging. The black heads up a lot and then the lenses cool quickly. Perfect environment for fogging.

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ill certainly give those a try. They look just like the OEM 14-15 LTZ headlights

Back in a Bowtie · September 19, 2018

19 minutes ago, FastWS6TA said:

Get some of these
https://www.theretrofitsource.com/goretex-patches-53788.html

Put a few new breather holes with these patches on the back of the headlights. Help them to breath better and get that moist air out of there. It can take quite a while to get even a drop of water vapor out of the lights. Are they black lights? Those a notorious for fogging. The black heads up a lot and then the lenses cool quickly. Perfect environment for fogging.

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the headlights do have 3 vents on them already... do you think i should block those off and do these goretex patches?

MN1(SW) · September 19, 2018

If you're mechanically inclined enough, get your heat gun and some 3M adhesive and take it to those lights. Use the heat gun to warm up the glue holding the lenses on. Once the glue is soft enough, peel the lenses off. After that, remove all of the old glue and put some fresh stuff on there. Every single aftermarket headlight or taillight I've ever owned has had a garbage seal. That's how I fixed them. I'd also check the seal around the bulbs themselves and make sure it's making full contact between the bulb and light assembly.

Back in a Bowtie · September 19, 2018

i was thinking of grabbing a few of these (https://www.theretrofitsource.com/bolt-on-breather-vent.html) sealing off the old (3) vents and drilling 2 or 3 of these onto each headlight. obviously getting them completely dry first.

Back in a Bowtie · September 19, 2018

1 minute ago, MN1(SW) said:

If you're mechanically inclined enough, get your heat gun and some 3M adhesive and take it to those lights. Use the heat gun to warm up the glue holding the lenses on. Once the glue is soft enough, peel the lenses off. After that, remove all of the old glue and put some fresh stuff on there. Every single aftermarket headlight or taillight I've ever owned has had a garbage seal. That's how I fixed them. I'd also check the seal around the bulbs themselves and make sure it's making full contact between the bulb and light assembly.

definitely something i can do, a little larger a job than i had in mind. Do you think adding additional sealant around the outside of the seam without opening them would work?

FastWS6TA · September 19, 2018

i was thinking of grabbing a few of these (https://www.theretrofitsource.com/bolt-on-breather-vent.html) sealing off the old (3) vents and drilling 2 or 3 of these onto each headlight. obviously getting them completely dry first.

You can modify the existing vents by cutting off the tube sleeves so it is flush to the housing. Then just cover the hole with patches. You could put more vents in other places too. I would suggest a hot nail to make new holes. If you drill you will create plastic debris that could end up in the light.

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FastWS6TA · September 19, 2018

definitely something i can do, a little larger a job than i had in mind. Do you think adding additional sealant around the outside of the seam without opening them would work?

Get some butyl sealant from the retrofitsource. It's what I use on everything. Holds really well. Toss the lights in the oven for 15 minutes at 255 degrees. It will loosen up the sealant on those eagle eye headlights and you can pretty easily pry off the lenses. Just make sure you remove any screws on the back that might be holding either the lense or internal bezel in place. Otherwise you will be prying and prying getting nowhere fast. Lol

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Back in a Bowtie · September 19, 2018

47 minutes ago, FastWS6TA said:

You can modify the existing vents by cutting off the tube sleeves so it is flush to the housing. Then just cover the hole with patches. You could put more vents in other places too. I would suggest a hot nail to make new holes. If you drill you will create plastic debris that could end up in the light.

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which do you think is better? the goretex or the screw valves?