tailight help

[supradjza80]

So i just replaced the tailight seals on my car due to water leaking into the hatch from the old seals. Once i replace the seals I still noticed water getting into my tailights. Is there a way to take the light housings apart themselves to reseal them? Does anyone know where the water can get into the housings assuming my brand new seals are sealing correctly - They should be!

thanks

 

[Poodles]

You overtightened the bolts warping the housings and breaking the old seal.

Resealing the taillights is a bit of a pain, as there are small rivets that have to be drilled out, and you have to basicly bake them in an oven to soften the glue and take them apart.

 

[Facime]

Naa poodles thats too hard. Use a soldering iron on the metal pins. Once they get hot enough, they melt the plastic around them and you can pull them out with a needlenose plier. For the old hardened butyl seal, a hair dryer and patience does the trick.

But no need to take them apart because they have these REALLY big holes in the back where the lights go in...lol. You may not be leaking at the seals, instead you may be leaking in the hatch and the water is either condensing in the tails or running down there.

When it rains and you open the hatch does water pour out of the rear interior panel on the hatch?

 

[supradjza80]

I dont think the tails were over tightened when installed. The tailights (where the red lense meets the black molding at the top) look like they are slightly pulled away here. This is how the water is getting in now - I think. Previously I knew the seals were bad because you could see the water lines going between the car and the seals - dirt grime etc. the same day i put the new seals in it rained so I checked the lights by taking the white bulb assembly out and they were both wet on the black lip that the white assembly slides into. So the only way water is getting there is from the lense not being sealed to the back of the tailight. I have checked all the other "known" leak spots right after a rain and nothing is wet at all So i am pretty sure i have pinpointed the problem. In a couple of days/weeks i will probably try to get the lights out again and pull them apart to see if i can re seal them.

thanks for the help

 

[Facime]

After you take them apart the way I described above, you can buy butyl rubber on the roll. Stretch it (roll it out) to fit the channel and squish the two halves back together, using the same soldering iron push the pins back in to keep it together and reinstall.

 

[Poodles]

If the black part is pullign away from the lense...you overtightened.

Been there, done that, same hassles.