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Condensation in rear lights
- Thread starter Rooster6655
- Start date
MrBadger
Badger out
Did you get a chance to see the old unit or discuss how moisture was entering? If its an easy job to remove and refit, if a bit of sealant is what is needed, then maybe a DIY job to resolve? Certainly easier I would think than repeatedly bashing ones head on the Tesla stonewall.
navt
Member
It was a very short conversation but entire unit is replaced. He did confirm they are sealed units and sometimes those seals fail. There is a breathable membrane and that too can fail.
Mobile service replaced one of my rear lights which from new had really bad condensation. As soon as the unit was off and turned over water started pouring out ... probably around 250ml in it. You could actually see the water level sloshing around in the unit! Worst he'd seen apparently and was going back to the workshop to show the other mechanics.
Condensation has appeared in the replacement after washing (normal hand wash) but quickly disappears, although I'll definitely be keeping an eye on it.
Condensation has appeared in the replacement after washing (normal hand wash) but quickly disappears, although I'll definitely be keeping an eye on it.
HenryT
Active Member
Has it been established yet where it gets in?
I would have thought it should be easy enough to remove and seal a lamp unit if the weak spot was known.
(As an aside, my MS rear lights also fog up in very wet conditions but do clear pretty quickly.)
AndrewGR
Member
When I complained about condensation in M3 rear lights the SC told me they were vented to compensate for temperature changes. I guess the same would be true for altitude. I would think this must be true for all lights from all manufacturers apart from the old sealed beam headlamp units which were, effectively, just big bulbs. The question is, why are Tesla rear lights so prone to condensation in wet conditions? I think my fog lights got particularly bad when driving on very wet roads last winter. They were replaced but I was told the condensation in the rear lights was normal. They’ve dried out now.
So I’ve noticed mine (passenger side rear taillight) is fogging up a lot of the time, especially after rain, or humidity, or me washing the car. It is clearing, eventually, and doesn’t appear to have water running down the inside, etc yet, but it still looks crap.
The drivers side one is perfect. Never mists up. Ironically this makes the fact the passenger side one is defective even worse.
I’ve booked a ranger appointment to get it replaced, which has gone through. Am i likely to get this knocked back before that happens as “within tolerance” ?
The drivers side one is perfect. Never mists up. Ironically this makes the fact the passenger side one is defective even worse.
I’ve booked a ranger appointment to get it replaced, which has gone through. Am i likely to get this knocked back before that happens as “within tolerance” ?
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AndrewGR
Member
Mine were much worse than that last winter but not replaced. They have dried out now. I think you might struggle to get them replaced.
Quoting myself.. I spoke too soon about the drivers side light. It’s started to mist up now.
I can only think that the heavy rain we had yesterday has penetrated something behind the lights, as this problem has only just started for me in 4 months of owning the car. It’s been outside the whole time too, in rain, etc so the conditions haven’t changed.
To add insult to injury I found water inside the boot too, a problem I thought had gone away.
Passenger side is starting to form actual droplets at the top, drivers side is not far behind. Both misted severely.
This is so s**t. It’s actually really depressed me today.
MrBadger
Badger out
That sounds similar to B post cameras which can suffer the same fate and get an equally quick brushoff even when previously agreed. Apparently an engineering fix is/was in the pipeline.
Quoting myself.. I spoke too soon about the drivers side light. It’s started to mist up now.
I can only think that the heavy rain we had yesterday has penetrated something behind the lights, as this problem has only just started for me in 4 months of owning the car. It’s been outside the whole time too, in rain, etc so the conditions haven’t changed.
To add insult to injury I found water inside the boot too, a problem I thought had gone away.
Passenger side is starting to form actual droplets at the top, drivers side is not far behind. Both misted severely.
This is so s**t. It’s actually really depressed me today.
My RH rear light looked very similar, I was told that Tesla will only replace if there's sign of water having run down the inside of the lens which initially mine didn't have, but it progressively got worse. Mine definitely looked bad enough and when it came to the mobile tech replacing it he was happy to do so, but when removed (see post #104) and turned over water just poured out ... lots of water!
This was clearly not obvious in the photo therefore must have been within the rear of the unit behind the light panel which would explain why condensation would form so easily on the lens yet there's no obvious water level in there. Once mine had been turned over the water entered the lens area and could be seen half way up the lense, certainly enough to keep a small goldfish in.
The boot area is designed such that rainwater (etc) flows down the C-pillar past the hinge assembly, under the light unit and exits via bottom of the boot opening. In heavy rain or even hosing the car down there's going to be a lot of water going through this area and obviously more than the unit can cope with.
My thought is that water (not damp) enters at the rear of the unit but cannot escape. This in time builds up a volume of water within the rear of the unit which then causes condensation in the lens area, by the time the condensation appears there's more water in the unit than is actually obvious. My unit still had condensation following the long dry spell we had in June which further adds to the thinking that I've been driving around with a fishbowl.
Service technician told me that the plastic welded seam at top of the light was compromised allowing water ingress when he changed mine. Apparently this has been improved in the new units. I could actually see it too, when shown side by side!
Thanks both. It definitely seems to me that one or both of mine have failed, after previously having no issues.
The passenger side fogged up for the first time shortly after I washed the car, having previously (~3.5 months been completely clear). I used a pressure washer but not on a high setting, and had previously washed the car at least 6 times before it happened. It went away of its own accord the next day, in direct sunlight, but has got progressively worse with each rainy/humid day (or washing it). In the last couple of days it has persisted.
The drivers side, which I thought was fine, has started to mist up as well although not to the same extent as the passenger side.
Neither of my lights has yet started having drips running down the inside, but I suspect that's on its way. I have a mobile service appointment booked for 05/08, not sure if that is going to be too soon to determine whether they are "within tolerance" or not.
@Bobbins / @Latibes - I assume in both your cases the replacement lights haven't fogged up?
The passenger side fogged up for the first time shortly after I washed the car, having previously (~3.5 months been completely clear). I used a pressure washer but not on a high setting, and had previously washed the car at least 6 times before it happened. It went away of its own accord the next day, in direct sunlight, but has got progressively worse with each rainy/humid day (or washing it). In the last couple of days it has persisted.
The drivers side, which I thought was fine, has started to mist up as well although not to the same extent as the passenger side.
Neither of my lights has yet started having drips running down the inside, but I suspect that's on its way. I have a mobile service appointment booked for 05/08, not sure if that is going to be too soon to determine whether they are "within tolerance" or not.
@Bobbins / @Latibes - I assume in both your cases the replacement lights haven't fogged up?
After Googling misting of LED car lights and getting results for all manufacturers it seems this is an extraordinarily common problem. There must be a ripe opportunity for some designer/inventer to to come up with a guaranteed reliable solution. It comes as a surprise to me that it is so hard to make a fully sealed watertight unit. It's not like they have to vent heat like with incandescent filament bulbs. Sealed headlight units (glass) used to exist of course where there was no internal envelope and the glass lens/casing was effectively a bulb in itself.
LongRanger
Active Member
Surprised nobody has invented some sort of “compression gasket” as an aftermarket part to sit between housing and mounting location, so that re-fitting creates more of a watertight seal where the internal drainage runs.
Alternatively they could just make something that works and doesn’t leak
Alternatively they could just make something that works and doesn’t leak
MrBadger
Badger out
Any idea how easy it is to remove the unit and check for water ingress - ie invert it to see if water flows inside?
Tesla dismiss the fault with nothing other than looking at a photo which, imho, based upon the above is invalid. We had a couple of recent service visits of which condensation was on the list. Even though it had been previously agreed by a visual inspection at a previous SC visit, it was dismissed this time because they wanted more fresh photos. If it was a 10 minute job to remove and inspect the unit, I would have thought that this was better for Tesla to do instead of merely dismissing out of hand.
The following video shows how to get access - dead simple, but not how to remove. nb, the fault being fixed was down to a third party Tesla contracted bodyshop, not Tesla themselves.
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