Hello Guys

The last 2 weeks I have been battling with my Driver side headlight. I always used to get a little fog and then it would clear up as soon as I started driving. However now whenever it rains, it looks like it's been raining on the inside of my headlight.

There are lots and lots of water droplots visible, sometime on all of the lens. Last weekend I took the headlight out and heated the lens which removed all the droplets. I then attempted to seal around where the lens attaches on to the headlight system but overnight, it rained and the water was back.

Any thoughts on this or any solutions.

 

You might need this kit.

 

Thanks for the response. Will this help with the water problem also? Looks good for the condensation.

The problem is when it rains and the cars parked and when it goes into the car wash it gets in the lens through somewhere!

 

The most common problem for 'water' to get in the housing is that number 1 in the diagram is missing. Very common problem. Water will run off the side of hood, into the fender gutter and then down right into the housing if the vent is damaged or missing. Be sure that 1,2,3,5 are not missing and installed properly and tight.

 

The kit that replaces three of the caps on each headlight is shown below.


On the left are the replacements and on the right the replaced items, there are two sets of replacement parts in the kit. My first car never had any problems but the latest one has shown moisture to a small degree. I'll see if the kit solves it at all.
The new seal set plugs every one of the three holes and the only way for air to enter or leave the housing should be through the rectangular panel on the largest cap. This panel is an extremely fine mesh membrane.

I am thinking that the joint between the clear lens and the black housing may be a problem in some cars, I assume this is what you sealed.

 

Just installed my kit last week...and coincidentally had rain for the following 2 days and no condensation. Extremely easy fix.

 

What is the part number for the kit?

 

...............
5174786AA

 

Two posts above yours is a photo of the kit and the bag it came in and it has the number on it.

 

OK, I'll share, as I always do, the method I used, very successfully to not only remove water condensate, but to remove the grungy haze from the inside of the headlight housing.

Please bite your tongues until you try it. Alaxfire will attest to the efficacy of this.

You will need one liter of high quality grade Methanol. 98% or better. I used Electronics grade 99.999%. When this evaporates, it leaves nothing behind. This is very important.

I recently polished a couple of pretty shot headlights and couldn't get the sparkling clarity I was expecting. I went through the 500P/800P/1500P/Trizact 3000P cascade 3 times and was pretty cross. Curious, I put a long Q-Tip in a hemostat and swabbed a spot on the inside of the lens. It smeared the gook in there. I've read about the intrepids that used a pair of magnets and a scrap of MF towel to clean in there with some success.

I poured in ~ 1/4 pint of the super-dry methanol and swished it around for 2 minutes. I dried it with a heat gun, lens UP.
I repeated this 3 times. The results were surprising: What I would have sworn was poor polishing on the outside turned out to be an even coat of contaminated condensate on the inside.
Now, as to where this is headed. When I mentioned "...contaminated condensate..." earlier, I meant exactly that. The headlamp housings "breathe" as they heat up and cool down. When they "inhale" (as they cool) they suck in air, water vapor and whatever crap is in the air at that time. Smog, oil mist from the engine bay, beer farts, whatever. All of this crap condenses on the interior surfaces in an even coat and will remain there, building up, forever.
This procedure cleans them very well.
A lesser purity grade will cause water spotting on the inside. Yes, that .01% is water. And it will spot. DO NOT USE IPA of any grade/purity. The semiconductor industry uses methanol for a very good reason-no residue after evaporation.

Using this method and the cap kit cited in this thread, should be a long-term solution to this problem. It worked for me and G.

YMMV

 

First couple of weeks my XF had the moisture inside the headlights. I tried leaving it in the sun, didn't work. I tried opening the caps and driving down the road in really hot weather, didn't work. I then got the Mrs hair dryer and opened both caps and blew in real hot air in one of the openings for about 10 minutes. All this while sitting in the sun after a long drive (engine bay all hot as hell). That finally worked I do not have any more moisture and its been gone for almost 3 years now. The fix by Maxcichon looks like its the best as it cleans everything out throughout the housing but for my light moisture mine worked great.

 

Too true, never waste a good beer.

 

Yea, but I bet Molsons would work OK for the cleaning .......

 

I am extremely grateful for this information and for the Forum. After washing my car, I observed tons of water in my left headlight housing, discovered that the upper vent hose was missing. Instead of hooking up a battery charger and turning on the lightes for 45 minutes, I just sat down in a lawn chair armed with a hair dryer, and focused the dryer a couple of inches away from the outside of the lens and blew hot air on it until the condensation evaporated, Then I rigged a cover for the missing hose vent out of a eyedropper rubber squeezee thingee, and popped on the vent outlet where the hose was missing. This seems to have worked, and there is still the other vent to allow air into and out of the housing, so I am just going to leave it like that, unless condesation becomes a problem, and then I will spring for the 05174786AA kit.

 

WAY new reply here (2 years down the pike). Anyhoo. I have a driver's side headlamp with some moldy looking garbage in it. I see below the Methanol cure, and I'm down with giving that a try. That said, I have two questions not addressed here:

1.) If I put methanol in my headlamp, will it in any way affect anything other than the lens? Meaning, the lamp isn't just the lens, it's the whole unit. Should I try desperately not to let the methanol get on anything else? Also, WHERE EXACTLY do I pour it in?

2.) The diagram and photos of the seals included in this thread show what appear to be white pvc "elbows" indicated as being a problem. Why, then, are these "elbow" not a part of the kit shown in the photo. Are they replaced by the smaller button-type seals shown?

Mahalo in advance for your replies!

 

1. remove all the bulbs and pour the methanol in through the little parking light hole in the corner. Nothing will be effected other than the crud.
2. Yes, the white elbows are replaced in the kit with the button type seals. The new big caps now do the breathing.

 

Hey Oregon Jaybird.......the "elbows" are vents, the elbow is designed to point downward and theoretically negate the entrance of moisture while admitting fresh air ........the kit merely plugs these [there are two per headlight] and provides a screen in the large cap which allows access to the headlight bulb for replacement. That screen becomes the vent. sound ok ?

 

I am a new 2005 Crossfire owner. When I purchased the vehicle the driver side headlight had a lot of condensation in it. I have read this thread and another one on this forum and plan on trying the solutions described. My issue is I am not sure how to remove the headlight so I can work on it easier. Two questions the first is how difficult is it to remove the headlight and second is does anyone have instructions on how to remove the headlight?

 

Type - Remove headlight - into the search box and approximately at the #32 post you will find your answer.

 

Thank you for the reply onehundred80. I typed in Remove headlight in the search box, but did not see a specific post on removing a headlight. Can you tell me what the title of the post is?