Fog/Condensation in my retros

Some lessons are hard taught.

I squeeze the shit out of my headlights when they're fresh from the oven and don't stop until they cool, then I reseal them thoroughly and have never had any issues.

 

Yes they are, but I try to stay optimistic. As much of a pain this is going to be for me at least for now it isn't anything worse and like I said other then this I really like my retro fitted lights.

I'm ordering some silica packets from theretrofit (can't seem to find a store here that carries them locally.)

What brand of sealant would you recommend I use to add that extra layer PeeRunner?

 

To be honest I haven't bothered to mess with headlight housings since 2008, and the only time I had to add additional sealant was in 2006 on a Scion. I don't remember back that far.

The last headlight I cleared was for another Scion and I separated the lens and housing after taking it out of the oven, I pulled the amber reflectors and put the lens and housing back together, put it back in the oven at 225 or 250 to soften the OEM adhesive, and then pulled the whole assembly out and squeezed it to death, in the middle to seat it fully and then I squeezed along the entire perimeter as hard as I could. That assembly fully sealed without adding anything and it didn't look jacked up either, since I didn't try to scrape it off. Had a fully cleared OEM headlight that didn't look at all like it'd been apart. Win.

Andrew is the man, so I'd go with what he recommends. I personally don't remove the factory sealant when I did headlamps, but I've not done my Tacoma and don't plan to.

 

Just trying to figure out what you mean exactly.

Are you saying if I can get the headlights to dry out on their own then use the silica and sealant? that would work.

EDIT: wait nevermind I got what you were saying. Yeah yesterday afternoon only the passenger side had a little bit of fog remaining. That seems to be the worse side. Hopefully the packets and the sealant will fix and prevent it in the future.

Thanks to everyone for all the help.

 

I had moisture problems after only I put in my HID bulbs. So I am not sure if this applies since your lens may not be sealed correctly.
After much trial and error and studying the issue...what caused the moisture was the rubber boot was not on all the way. That rubber boot has to be on correctly without cutting it.
How I corrected it. - I waited for a dry day...left it in the sun, hood up with bulbs out. then I got I got wet/dry vac and it fit nicely over the hole where the bulb goes...then let it suck the moisture out of the housing...it took about 15-20 minutes for the condensation to disappear. That was the only way to be sure all the moisture was sucked out.

Then I put my rubber boots on correctly all the way, and I also put a little Vaseline the contact points..to ensure a air tight seal. I haven't no moisture issues since.

FYI I tried placing several silica dry taped to a long zip tie in the housing overnight and that did not suck up the moisture.

Good Luck.

 

I haven't put that bolt back in since I retrofitted my truck a year ago

 

Really?

damn it. I've done it twice to each side since installing those retros.

Your lights don't move or rattle?

 

Most people's don't it seems.

 

Same. I don't have either in.

 

^^^oh man well that's it then I'm not gonna waste my time putting that thing back in. The first time it took us damn near 45 minutes to just try and get it tight not even all the way down.

wish I had known that earlier.

A lesson well learned

 

Don't feel too bad. I went out this morning and my pass side was twice as bad as yours. Looked like someone held the lens over a boiling pot of water then used a spray bottle on it. What's really bad is that I resealed the lenses and then sealed the seams from the outside with silicone. Gotta love Oregon weather.
I'll probably yank em, strip em down, dry/bake the components, and redo them again.

 

Wow that sounds pretty bad. I'm hoping if I can get everything dry the silica packets and just adding a layer of latex sealant like AndrewTRS was suggesting will help. I know I'll have streaks on the inside of the lenses, but those wont bother me for now. Just wanna get rid of the fogging and try to fix it before the rain really comes down on us.

The price we pay for living in Oregon. Had a freaking nice summer at least.

 

I dropped in some Morimotos three years ago, with out the rubber boots even on, and have never seen one single drop of moisture in my lamps. BTW, I'm in the middle of doing a set for a buddy, he bought the Depo aftermarkets, they already had the silica packets in them when I opened them up.

 

^oh nice. I think mine are eagle eye housings. Do a lot of local stores sell silica packets. Like office depot, lowes, or home depot. Never had to buy that before.

Post some pics up of your buddy's lights when you're done working on them. Never knew what the big hype was with retrofits were besides look until I threw mine on and actually saw the difference.

 

If you do a search on Eagle Eyes on this forum, you'll see that most are not a fan of them. I have no experience with them.

 

yeah I remember reading up on them a lot. These were retrofitted though with mini d2s from the retrofitsource so they are just the housings. They just need a little more TLC on the seals and I think they should be good after that.

The guy who built them is pretty talented.

 

So I took the rad lights out and when I went to take out my DTRL the bulb pop out into the housings and that's when I noticed the housing around the dtrl were melted and nowi can't get the actual bulb out any advice

The bulb is the same from my OEM lights



This freaking sucks starting to wish I just stayed stock

 

Bump

 

After a week with my Retros my passenger side started to leak and obtain tons of moisture. I was pretty pissed because I even put in extra butyl befor I sealed them. Well after I took the light back off I dried the light out with my wife's hairdryer. I then took electrical tape and taped off all the holes on the back of the light. I left a small hole in the main headlight hole to blow in with my mouth... ( haha yeah I know). The positive pressure then showed me where the leak was coming from. Mine happened to be on the top. I then put a bead of silicone where theeak was at and have been moisture free since.

 

I just got done putting a bead of silicone all the way around both lights letting it dry now.

I also in order to get the drl bulbs out and to be able to put them back in I had to grind down a little bit of the housing where they rest after being placed in. Hopefully that won't happen again.

I really do like these retros and love the look it gives to the Tacoma just hate all the hassle that comes with it though haha. Maybe one day it will just be an add on from the dealers.

Just gotta wait for the latex sealant to dry and through them back on. I'll update with the results in a couple days. Hopefully with good news.