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Parking Lights filling with water?
#24
It doesn't matter where you get your new lenses from, they will crack...over and over. It's the heat from bulbs, the bulbs are constantly on and these lenses just weren't made to handle it.
You want to end this nightmare once and for all and never have to mess with it again, do the following...
Here's what I did and my lenses look as new as the day I installed them months later.
Get new lenses, seal the outer seam with silicone, that blue tube from autozone will do just fine. Get LED turn signal bulbs. Take a packet of dessicant, you know the kind you'll find in a jar of vitamins and dab a little silicone on the back of it and put it inside the lens housing in the back and on the bottom so it's out of sight. Now when you remove your old bulbs, spray the inside of the socket with MAF cleaner, get it all nice and clean inside (watch your eyes it's a strong stream I kept a paper towel over the end of the tube from the can to avoid splashback) then liberally coat the bottom of your new bulbs with bulb grease and install.
You do all that and your lenses will never crack nor will they get that cruddy hazed over look they get in one week from install because heat cracked them and is allowing moisture to come in and then when the bulb heats up dries it making a nice thick coating of crud right over the the shiny refective surface on the rear of the lens.
The LED turn signal bulbs I got are called switchbacks, they glow white until you use your turn signal then they blink amber, trick eh?
You can of course also get the regular amber always ones if you prefer.
They aren't cheap around 25 a piece so budget accordingly.
You want to end this nightmare once and for all and never have to mess with it again, do the following...
Here's what I did and my lenses look as new as the day I installed them months later.
Get new lenses, seal the outer seam with silicone, that blue tube from autozone will do just fine. Get LED turn signal bulbs. Take a packet of dessicant, you know the kind you'll find in a jar of vitamins and dab a little silicone on the back of it and put it inside the lens housing in the back and on the bottom so it's out of sight. Now when you remove your old bulbs, spray the inside of the socket with MAF cleaner, get it all nice and clean inside (watch your eyes it's a strong stream I kept a paper towel over the end of the tube from the can to avoid splashback) then liberally coat the bottom of your new bulbs with bulb grease and install.
You do all that and your lenses will never crack nor will they get that cruddy hazed over look they get in one week from install because heat cracked them and is allowing moisture to come in and then when the bulb heats up dries it making a nice thick coating of crud right over the the shiny refective surface on the rear of the lens.
The LED turn signal bulbs I got are called switchbacks, they glow white until you use your turn signal then they blink amber, trick eh?
You can of course also get the regular amber always ones if you prefer.
They aren't cheap around 25 a piece so budget accordingly.
I replaced both housings, and went with LEDs. I swapped in an EL12 Tridon flahser so everything still works just like OEM. (I used regular amber LEDs instead of switchbacks)
I didn't try the desiccant or the silicone around the lens. I'm guessing it's the heat from the bulbs that starts the problem to begin with. I'll keep a close eye on it and if I see any signs of leaks, I'll go back and do those steps. I want to test and see if just swapping to LEDs will fix the issue. *fingers crossed*