buddha845

iTrader: (3)

After some rain or a couple car washes theres usually about a 1/3 cup of water in my tail light housings (yes, both) it looks like the water just runs down the hatch groove and dumps all over the bulb plugs and wires in the back where they snap in. I RTV'd the seams on the housing but that didn't help, I blocked off the small section in the hatch groove that creates the waterfall and I ended up with all of the water in my trunk instead...

sooo if anyone has dealt with this before or has a solution id really appreciate some advice, bulbs aren't very expensive but they definitely start to add up lol. I was bored enough to attach a picture (not my car) to give you an idea of what I mean





P.S. New brake light bulb (3057) installed in plug, bulb doesn't light up until I wiggle it around in the plug and find the sweet spot but it wont light up at all when I hit the brakes, no matter what. Never changed a bulb plug but it looks pretty easy, any insight on this would be extra appreciated

eseibel67

iTrader: (10)

Only 2 possibilities, really. Either your lens is cracked or the socket gasket is damaged. The water running down on it is not the problem. It should be able to take a spray from a hose without leaking.

buddha845

iTrader: (3)

I thought about that but the lens doesnt have any cracks in it, much less a crack that would let in that much water but it wont hurt me to look into it some more so ill definitely check on that.

The back of the housings are bone dry on the inside halves (2 inner plugs, blinker and reverse light), still covered in dust/dirt and dont look like theyve seen a drop of water so thats whats makin me think the water running down the back is an issue because of the location of the 2 outside plugs.

the gasket sounds like it could be a winner, is that something I have to change with the whole plug itself or is there some sort of smaller fix?

Blk98ls1

iTrader: (3)

I had the exact same problem with mine. So i took them out, turned them over and drilled a small hole on the bottom side of the light closest to the outside of the car on each side. You can't see the holes when the lights are installed and they do not hold water anymore. Simple fix and it has worked great for a while now. I basically did the hole right between the "T" and "V" where you have the RTV in the picture there. This is done on the backside of the light right behind the lip where the housing and the lens come together. Hope that helps, I tried to explain the location as best I could. Sorry if you don't understand.

buddha845

iTrader: (3)

Believe it or not, my mother also suggested this so I cant argue there

I appreciate the info, definitely going to do this tomorrow morning


EDIT: worked great and took all of 15 seconds, sweeeeet

Scira

iTrader: (4)

JMO, but if there was constant water leaking into my tails, I'd track down the way its getting in, not make a way for it to get out.....

buddha845

iTrader: (3)

still workin on that too

Blk98ls1

iTrader: (3)

Glad it worked out for you. Good luck tracking down how the water gets in there. I'm not gonna lie, I stopped looking for the cause right after I saw how well the drilling worked. Haha. If you can't find it I guess you could always buy new tail lights....pffff. Trust me you'll forget about it by the time your finished reading this post.

blueamber

Water in the tail-light fixed! My 99 let water in around the backup lens. There was a big gap in that separate lens that let water in. Carefully popped out the white lens, cleaned everything, epoxied back in, no more leaks!

Chris - my first post here!