Team-BHP - Moisture / Water / Fogging inside the Headlamp

Dear friends:

My neighbour in Chembur, Mumbai has this 1½ year old Hyundai Sonata Gold, which he's had since new.
Recently I noticed that his left projector headlamp has moisture condensation on the inside.

The right projector headlamp is intact as new.

His two drivers apparently told him that the Sonata headlamp is an integrated sealed assembly which cannot be dismantled.
The water has apparently gotten past the glass to rubber seal while washing.

Have any of you had this experience and found a solution?

Ram

Almost every Palio in our town has this problem.

There's an easy but temporary solution to this. That's to take out the Bulbs and remove the HL assembly. Shake all the excess water out and get it cleaned by compressed air. Also check the sealings on all the sides for any visible gaps and reseal it using some strong adhesive.
Works good for some time and again, after some rains and driving thru water etc... It will appear again. My friend goes thru this practice every now and then.

Quote:

Originally Posted by speedzak (Post 331691)

I have had this problem with my Petra. Workshop tells me it is an integrated assembly and nothing much can be done about that. Interestingly it haa only happened after my last two service visits to workshop. Last time it disappeared in a week or two. I am waiting for those one or two weeks to elapse.

Yep. My Palio has started to show this too. In fact I'm getting it fixed right now. The service guys said even a minute crack in the assembly can cause this. If your car gives even a love tap to another (or vice versa) this can happen. The service guys will locate the leak and do some "bonding" to seal it (after removing the condensation with the compressed air work that Zak mentioned). But they said it will happen again, no matter what.

Quote:

Originally Posted by speedzak (Post 331691)

Try doing this and spraying WD40 around the joints

I recently had a fused bulb in one of my car's headlamps. I got it replaced. But now there's another issue. Since the time I have got the bulb replaced, the head lamp will accumulate moisture (water vapour) every time I wash. Once I got it checked at Tata service center and they told me that headlamp will have to be replaced. I cannot believe this because this issue started only after changing the bulb. Please advice.

Thanks.

Quote:

Originally Posted by akbaree (Post 740085)

ref:

Quote:

Originally Posted by ram (Post 331686)

@akbaree:
If the metalized reflector has not yet gotten tarnished by the moisture, you may be able to save it yet.

Remove the headlamp, remove the bulb and let the sealed interior dry out completely. You can carefully use warm air from a hair-dryer for the purpose. Then replace the bulb.

Check the rubber gasket. Replace if worn. Otherwise use rubber-cement to seal the gap. The headlamp will not take in moisture again.

Note: There could also be a gap between the headlamp lens and reflector. If so, this can also be fixed with rubber-cement.

Ram

Its quite common issue, with most clear type lamps- The Vapour dries off without any residue within 1 hour or less with usage.

You may want to check with the seals, also I suggest- You can remove the head lamp unit and Seal it with Super glue in the crevices, or use a cementing fluid like Araldite or Rubber Silica compounds.

With my XETA, This is fairly common during pressure wash or rains, No issues as such on the Reflector.

-> Water accumulating inside the headlamp is coz of a crack.
-> heavy condensation is because the bulb was removed/replaced in humid weather, and humid air is stuck in the lamp.

If a crack, and if u've got patience. Use a industrial grade viscous adhesive to seal the joints completely again regard less of a crack or not, try using Areldite. fevi-quick is now viscous enough and also brittle.
If condensation problem get the head lamp opened and sealed properly and get it done in a cooler part of day like morning or late evening, so that humid air is replaced with dry air.

Our friends seem to be glibly recommending Araldite(Epoxy resin), Fevikwik(Cyanoacrylate(Super Glue)) or whatever adhesive variety they can remember.

Please remember that for each kind of use, there are right and wrong adhesives.

What you need is a flexible adhesive that can

take the stresses of heating and cooling (remember that headlamps can get very hot)
take the vibration of harsh acceleration, deceleration, even a minor fender-bender.

So the best adhesive is a flexible adhesive like rubber-cement.
(e.g. Fevicol 998FW, Fevicol 707FW, Fevibond)

Here is a run down of some easy to find adhesives in the market.

Fevicol 998FW and 707FW -- (Rubber adhesive) Bonds Neolite rubber/leather/microcellular rubber to leather. rubber, and synthetic fabric.
Fevibond -- (Synthetic rubber based adhesive) to bond leather, rubber, metal, wood, canvas
Fevikwik -- Cyano-acrylate adhesive for joining broken plastic parts in consumer electronic equipment, fixing gems in jewelry and porous materials like wood, leather. [poisonous candidate for drug addiction]
Araldite, Fevitite and M-seal -- Epoxy adhesive(Synthetic rubber based adhesive) seals, joins and insulates metals, glass, asbestos, concrete and ceramics.
Fevicol ANR -- Anaerobic adhesive gasket sealant for timing-gear housing cover, water-pump mounting, etc.
Pidiseal -- For forming gaskets, sealing windshields, fridge door beading, cracks around windows, etc.

Ram

-> Water accumulating inside the headlamp is because of a crack.
-> heavy condensation is because the bulb was removed/replaced in humid weather, and humid air is stuck in the lamp.

-> If its a crack & if you have got patience.
Use a industrial grade viscous adhesive to seal the joints completely again regardless of where the is, for the whole edge(s)
{ try using Araldite. fevi-quick is not viscous enough to set in the crack and also brittle.}

->If condensation problem get the head lamp opened and sealed properly and get it done in a cooler part of day like morning or late evening, so that humid air is replaced with dry air.