[anjan_c2007]

SHAME WITH LUMAX OE LAMPS ON MY 2009 Scorpio!
Last week, one evening it was rainy here and while parking the SUV at home, I noticed water vapour condensed on the inside of the front left headlight, seal beam lens. The right seal beam lens was quite OK and clear.
Fellow teambhpians immediately told me to check up the headlight for any crack.
I had clicked the pictures at dusk. The next morning, while carefully seeing the headlight, I found a hairline crack-like line on its upper part- now marked the crack within the ellipsoid and between the two parallel lines.


There was however no impact or hit of any kind anywhere. Even my parking is secure in the garage at home. At office the SUV is parked in a safe parking place too!
Again later on, I inspected the headlamp of my Brute SUV. That was designer’s devil and looked like a hairline crack. On viewing the right hand headlamp, a similar hairline design is seen exactly similar in its outline to the one on the left.
The moisture had come in through some other source for sure. The only place for that to come inside is from the bulb holder-seal beam gap, I later found.
As a fellow teambhpian then said “Not with the headlamps, but this happened to my fog lights, in July, when we drove through water, and there is moisture in there till now”. One Scorpio owner said that he had to replace the fog lights that got spoilt due to water entry within after a rainy drive.Naturally, the reflector takes the beating and corrodes.
The maker of these lamps is Lumax and I am sure Lumax makes lamps for many other brands as OE. So the problem may not be Scorpio specific.
Recently only last week, in the rainy weather, I drove through more than knee deep water logged roads.
As the Scorpio was parked in the garage for the whole day, last Saturday, I detached the headlight bulb along with the rubber bush. The headlight was allowed to naturally dry-it looked like it had dried finally! But that was far away from the truth. There is still enough water inside that’s floating at the base and condensing on the inside of the lens.
But now for applicability of Murphy's Laws'
-If any problem leads to solutions, instantly other problems crop up!
-Things are not as simple as they seem to be!
To my dismay likewise, I found the two fog lamps also moisture filled.
On Sunday, I tried to apply the same therapy for both the fog lamps too. After detaching the bulbs and the rubber bushes I found at least 20 ml of water within each fog lamp. Rather than using the dryer, I used dry cotton to rub the insides of the fog lamps to extract the maximum amount of water floating near the base of the reflector. The same water was condensing and forming water vapour on the inside of the lens.


Mahindra is reaching the US shores with its Scorpio Getaway pick-up. They also intend to sell these SUV’s in many other markets. Legal disputes and compensation issues may come up in the US courts, should some such shoddy lamps become the causative factor for a mishap or more.
In our country, the Scorpio has worked hard for 7-8 years, endeared itself and earned brownie points both in the workhorse and comfort departments. It is the best-selling SUV in its class.
Mahindra is leaving no gaps of any kind by constantly improving the Scorpio and is attending to every shortcoming or feedback.
Now with such low quality, shoddy and watery Lumax lamps as OE, I am sure Mahindra will earn brickbats for no fault on its part.
I only hope Mahindra will warn Lumax to improve the quality of its lamps or else part ways to rope in another reputed supplier, if need be from a western country, to keep up its quality.
It’s a shame that Lumax makes such lamps. I can only wonder what my friends with Lumax lamps on their motor vehicle’s face in areas with much more moisture, water logging and bountiful rains.

[HappyWheels]

Anjan,

What I have noticed in the headlamps of the Scorpio is that it is not a completely sealed unit. If you have noticed the spot where you replace / remove the bulb, there is just the rubber cover which gets put on after the bulb is put in place and before the bulb holder is fixed. This will make it easy for water to get into the lamp casing when you ford into deep waters which are higher or in level with the head lamp.

Am saying this off the memory that I have of looking into an older Scorpio's headlamp assemble. And if it is still as such, there is a DIY that you can you can do to make it slightly more water tight.

[anjan_c2007]

Originally Posted by HappyWheels

Anjan,

What I have noticed in the headlamps of the Scorpio is that it is not a completely sealed unit. If you have noticed the spot where you replace / remove the bulb, there is just the rubber cover which gets put on after the bulb is put in place and before the bulb holder is fixed. This will make it easy for water to get into the lamp casing when you ford into deep waters which are higher or in level with the head lamp.

Am saying this off the memory that I have of looking into an older Scorpio's headlamp assemble. And if it is still as such, there is a DIY that you can you can do to make it slightly more water tight.

True HappyWheels, its a pity that Mahindra is tolerating such a shoddy, slip-shod quality from Lumax.
After all, SUV's are not meant for use on AutoBahns or Interstate Highways only.

[pramods]

You are not alone I have changed both the fog lamps 20 day back, the new one is already showing the SAME, there is no new fog lamp at service center, just to let all of you know I have not crossed any puddle. There seems to be design fault in the refresh model, the old ones where quite resilent to water!!

-Pramod

[condor]

@Anjan, take the lamp out. Apply a little Anabond over any gaps / joints /wire entry points. Since this is soft, it can also be removed quite easily when required.

[raj_5004]

I have also faced this issue once, mine is a pre-refresh model. In my case, even the rear lights has this issue once.

[aargee]

I was in lol when I read "SHAME WITH LUMAX OE LAMPS ON MY 2009 Scorpio". I completely agree with this point as I've personally witnessed the quality of Lumax, Minda & FIEM. However that was for motorcycle.

I know all 3 of them are pioneers in lighting & was confused when it came to buy a tail lamp assy for RX. One look at FIEM was sufficient to reject it outright; the touch & feel between Minda & Lumax made me to settle for Minda finally, though the price was Rs 250 compared to Lumax's Rs 220 (Fiem was somewhere in 180's range).

Now, if there's one available in Minda for Scorp's headlamp (not sure), but worth giving a try. Use Minda even though they're little expensive; its worth the price & way too good on quality compared to Lumax. Lumax is only fit to make revolving red lamps for sarkari babus ambassadors

[princey]

It's a pity to see that shoddy manufacturing has led to so much heartburn for owners. It's time that manufacturers wake up....but don't quality control checks apply at some stage of OEM supply and during installation on vehicle assembly line ???

[Cyrus43]

It is not just mahindra that have a problem guys. Alot of car headlamps have similar issues. I recently saw a brand new Audi A6 with the same problem.

[naveen.raju]

This is a common issue with aftermarket HL. I had the same problem for two weeks when I installed aftermarket projectors in my Swift. Even the instructions manual had a note stating that after the installation, there will be some formation of mist due to the air trapped during the install. After a while, vacuum will be created which will in turn get rid of the mist. After few weeks, it was all ready.

The problem that you faced might be because of the hairline crack that you had mentioned. My friend who recently got himself an Audi Q5 faced the same problem the very day he took delivery of the car. Went straight to the showroom and got it rectified. Think, they even replaced the whole HL assembly.

[anjan_c2007]

Originally Posted by pramods

You are not alone I have changed both the fog lamps 20 day back, the new one is already showing the SAME, there is no new fog lamp at service center, just to let all of you know I have not crossed any puddle. There seems to be design fault in the refresh model, the old ones where quite resilent to water!!

-Pramod

Sorry to know that Pramod. With your grit and determination you can prefer to make them replace the fog lamps for free as it should have been under warranty.
True these fog lamps of the Refresh are not available off the shelf. I had to wait for many, many months to get this pair.I will also try to make them replace mine as these are only six months old.

Originally Posted by condor

@Anjan, take the lamp out. Apply a little Anabond over any gaps / joints /wire entry points. Since this is soft, it can also be removed quite easily when required.

Well taken condor. Thanks

Originally Posted by raj_5004

I have also faced this issue once, mine is a pre-refresh model. In my case, even the rear lights has this issue once.

Sorry to read that Raj. What solution you arrived at then?

Originally Posted by aargee

I was in lol when I read "SHAME WITH LUMAX OE LAMPS ON MY 2009 Scorpio". I completely agree with this point as I've personally witnessed the quality of Lumax, Minda & FIEM. However that was for motorcycle.

Thanks aargee.

Originally Posted by naveen.raju

This is a common issue with aftermarket HL. I had the same problem for two weeks when I installed aftermarket projectors in my Swift. Even the instructions manual had a note stating that after the installation, there will be some formation of mist due to the air trapped during the install. After a while, vacuum will be created which will in turn get rid of the mist. After few weeks, it was all ready.

The problem that you faced might be because of the hairline crack that you had mentioned. My friend who recently got himself an Audi Q5 faced the same problem the very day he took delivery of the car. Went straight to the showroom and got it rectified. Think, they even replaced the whole HL assembly.

Nope naveen. These are OE factory fitted headlamps and Mahindra OE foglamps from the M &M A.S.S.C and not after market ones.
And if you read carefully, there was no hairline crack at all.

[raj_5004]

Originally Posted by anjan_c2007

Sorry to read that Raj. What solution you arrived at then?

Leave it as it is. they become normal in a few days.

[sgiitk]

I will be surprised if the water ingress is from the rear. The rubber cap works quite well, and the rear end does not get that wet. The only possibility here is that the cap was put upside down. Then the drain holes will get water into the lamp. It is possible that the ingress was from elsewhere. My experience with Lumax has been excellent so far.

[PAVAN KADAM]

On the whole, its Mahindra which has failed, why blame Lumax.

Shoddy, Quality Control.

But, on the other hand, there are 125+ Scorpio's on T-BHP, anyone else with the same problem.

[naveen.raju]

Originally Posted by anjan_c2007

Sorry to know that Pramod. With your grit and determination you can prefer to make them replace the fog lamps for free as it should have been under warranty.
True these fog lamps of the Refresh are not available off the shelf. I had to wait for many, many months to get this pair.I will also try to make them replace mine as these are only six months old.


Well taken condor. Thanks


Sorry to read that Raj. What solution you arrived at then?


Thanks aargee.


Nope naveen. These are OE factory fitted headlamps and Mahindra OE foglamps from the M &M A.S.S.C and not after market ones.
And if you read carefully, there was no hairline crack at all.

Sorry on that. Yes, I know. Even OE fitted HL have the same problems. My friends Audi Q5 faced the same problem.
So did they do anything on this?