my center section of tail light has moisture beads inside,can this be removed,cleaned and re-sealed?
moisture in taillights
- Thread starter randall
- Start date
If you are the original owner, see Acura. Into my second year of owning my '97, I was at the Acura dealer to get an oil change, noticed this moisture in the taillight, at this point in time, I can't remember if it was the right side or left side. But, they said they would take care of it. It seemed as though this was not uncommon. While in the service area, there was another NSX in the garage, and after careful review, I saw that it too, had moisture in the taillights. And on the SAME side! It was an older model. Yes, get it fixed ASAP, you don't want to get an electrical short and blow a fuse....
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I have had the moisture in tailight problem many times on both of my tailights. And from talking with other owners, this is a very common problem.
The tailights are not completely sealed units. They are two large pieces of plastic sealed together by hot glue. However if you remove the trunk carpeting and look closely, you can see the backs of the units have ventilation holes.
In my case, I found these ventilation holes themselves were how the water entered my lights. It seemed if there was extremely high humidity in the trunk (i.e. heavy rain, damp car cover left sitting in trunk), the water vapor would get inside the lights and then later condense into small water droplets.
The solution was to not place even mildly damp stuff in the trunk. And if water does appear, I just wait and after several weeks it seems to dissappear on its own. If it's really bad, sometimes using a hairdrier to blow hot air through the vent holes seems to speed-up the process.
One last thing, I would not recommend ever trying to take a tailight apart yourself. I have tried doing this many times using a heat gun and it's extremely difficult. The likelyhood of you deforming the plastic while trying to take it apart is high.
The only piece I haven't taken apart is the center tailight. Since the size of this piece is small relative to the left and right lights, it should be considerably easier to take apart.
Unless it looks like an aquarium in your light, I wouldn't worry about it causing an electrical short. One time on another Honda I had a tailight fill half way up with water before I even noticed the problem!
[This message has been edited by BB (edited 26 September 2001).]
The tailights are not completely sealed units. They are two large pieces of plastic sealed together by hot glue. However if you remove the trunk carpeting and look closely, you can see the backs of the units have ventilation holes.
In my case, I found these ventilation holes themselves were how the water entered my lights. It seemed if there was extremely high humidity in the trunk (i.e. heavy rain, damp car cover left sitting in trunk), the water vapor would get inside the lights and then later condense into small water droplets.
The solution was to not place even mildly damp stuff in the trunk. And if water does appear, I just wait and after several weeks it seems to dissappear on its own. If it's really bad, sometimes using a hairdrier to blow hot air through the vent holes seems to speed-up the process.
One last thing, I would not recommend ever trying to take a tailight apart yourself. I have tried doing this many times using a heat gun and it's extremely difficult. The likelyhood of you deforming the plastic while trying to take it apart is high.
The only piece I haven't taken apart is the center tailight. Since the size of this piece is small relative to the left and right lights, it should be considerably easier to take apart.
Unless it looks like an aquarium in your light, I wouldn't worry about it causing an electrical short. One time on another Honda I had a tailight fill half way up with water before I even noticed the problem!
[This message has been edited by BB (edited 26 September 2001).]
thanks bb,my problem is in the center section.does the center section have vents as well?
I typically get my rear lights replaced after every other oil change. The condensation keeps coming back time and time again- and the warranty keeps paying for it.
I had a similar problem with the lenses on my Subaru SVX. Eventually, I got one that worked and the issue never came back- I would only hope the same holds true on the NSX.
NSX-SVX what's the difference??? It's all made in Japan =)
I had a similar problem with the lenses on my Subaru SVX. Eventually, I got one that worked and the issue never came back- I would only hope the same holds true on the NSX.
NSX-SVX what's the difference??? It's all made in Japan =)
Randall, the center section is the only piece of the 3 that I've never had a problem with. So I don't know for sure. Pull the carpet up in the rear and look at it-- it's very easy to get in there without hurting anything.
I've tried drilling the small hole trick. I found it didn't make much of a difference in my case.
Another idea is to just avoid driving in the rain. That's what I do. I haven't seen condensation in my lenses for over a half year now.
[This message has been edited by BB (edited 28 September 2001).]
I've tried drilling the small hole trick. I found it didn't make much of a difference in my case.
Another idea is to just avoid driving in the rain. That's what I do. I haven't seen condensation in my lenses for over a half year now.
[This message has been edited by BB (edited 28 September 2001).]
Another idea is to just avoid driving in the rain.
In Washington State???
In Washington State???
I had the same problem w/ moisture in the lights...but it was the l & r sections, not the middle. I drilled a few small holes at the edges of the lights, drained the water and let the lights dry for a few weeks in front of a fan. Then I used clear silicon and a syringe and put a small bead around the entire light, where the front and back are glued together. I don't have the luxury of having my car under warranty, so I have to do stuff like this. You can't even tell this was done, other than there's no more moisture.
