Fogging taillight

[TdotAlero]

When I first picked up my Alero it was missing one of the taillights (among other things), so I picked one up from eBay. It came off a scrapped Alero and everything was fine with it. I put it in last winter (about 8 months ago). Nothing was wrong until about 2 months ago when I noticed some moisture going on. It wasn't bad so I ignored it. But lately the lamp began fogging in and now it's getting pretty bad, that the lights get a bit dimmed. There is no cracks and it seams to be sealed pretty good. I had no problems what so ever during winter snow and summer rains. It just started happening lately. I'm talking about passenger side outer lamp (the one with the signal light). I visited the seller's shop, and they have another lamp, however no info on returns/exchange. Should I message them and state what the problem is and demand exchange or is it too late and I shouldn't bother them. Is there any kind of stuff to put in the lamp to get rid of the moisture ? I don't even care about the appearance, just it dims the light and get's worse and worse.

Here's the only picture I have of it now:
Attachment 7385
As you can see it looks 'a bit' different than the left one.
So yeah, anything I can do to fix it ? Never dealt with a problem like this before.

[CactusWill]

If you don't fix it, you'll start losing your bulbs, over and over.


Just fix it yourself. Use the instructions that are given on here to disassemble the front headlights for clearing corners, and reseal it yourself.

[broken__one]

Originally Posted by CactusWill

If you don't fix it, you'll start losing your bulbs, over and over.


Just fix it yourself. Use the instructions that are given on here to disassemble the front headlights for clearing corners, and reseal it yourself.

The tails don't come apart the same way as the head lights. It's a diferrent seal. You WILL break the lens trying to get it apart.

[KenshinZero]

How do you go about removeing them then?

[TdotAlero]

Yeah my wife was trying to tell me to follow the "clear your corners" method but it won't work. I already lost a couple of bulbs, but they were all covered by warranty. I heard of some sort of spray you can buy for the lights, but that's to remove the yellow fogging from the headlamps, not too sure about tails...

[Atmosphere]

I used a hairdryer to convert the water to a vapor and let physics handle the rest.

It might take a few tries to get all of it out though, afterwards just make sure all the bulbs are seated properly and check again for any leaks. If you have an air compressor you can blow air into one of the bulb sockets and then feel around the lamp to see if there's any hidden leaks.

[cherrington17]

remove all bulbs, and remove the taillight.

fill the inside with water, see where it drips out on the outside.

seal the inside with silicone, outside with epoxy.

problem solved.



let dry, remount.

[TdotAlero]

Thanks guys. Seeing I dont have too much time I'll try the hairdryer method first, if it doesn't work I'll do what Cherrington said. I'll let you know the end result.

[TdotAlero]

Well I found the problem. The black molding was coming off and letting water to leak in. So I siliconed it a little, will see if it will work. If not, I'll just pick up a new lamp.

[cavaliers60]

I had the same thing happen to mine, but it seems to have gone away. All I can say is, check the whole thing over and make sure it's sealed, also check around where the bulbs go in. I messed around with it a while and from what I can tell, it fixed the problem....

[TdotAlero]

Ok I solved the problem. All I did is put some Silicone 1 (the clear one that is usually used for bathtubs etc) all around the lenses, where the black molding goes and smoothed it out and let it dry overnight. Gave my car a wash and drove through the rain and no fogging so far.

[cherrington17]

booya!

simple solutions ftw!