Tail light\ Trunk LEAK - any info???

[Black&Tan97Tnewportbeach]

My tail lights and trunk get a fair amount of water in them every time the car is washed, upon closer inspection it appears that the outside\red lens part of the tail lights are sort of coming out from the car, it looks like they are held together with a tacky caulking. Has anyone else ever had this problem?

Is it easy to remove, dry, and re-seal them to solve the problem for good or is it better to just replace them?

Thanks;

Wolfie

 

[FuryNSX]

I've got leaking into my taillights too, but since I only get that when I wash the car, I lay down a strip of blue painters tape to seal it right before I wash, and yank it off when I'm done. Simple. No more condensation.

 

[Malibu Rapper]

Is it easy to remove, dry, and re-seal them to solve the problem for good or is it better to just replace them?

The center lens is easy. I could not warn you enough about the left and right tail lights. Very, very easy to fracture them. To give you an idea, I was removing the center H logo from my JDM center section and I was just lightly scrubbing the H part with an acetone laden Q-tip and to my surprise, I have a few hairline fractures. The reason why I have these JDM tail lamps is that I took apart one of my OEM lamps to reseal it with silicone and it started developing fractures.

In the end, I found out that it wasn't that the tail lamp was letting in moisture between the lens but because of the seals behind the lamp were just worn. One time I warned another Prime member about doing that and the next day I saw an wanted ad in the marketplace for a set of tail lamps.

 

[SugrueNSX]

My tail lights and trunk get a fair amount of water in them every time the car is washed, upon closer inspection it appears that the outside\red lens part of the tail lights are sort of coming out from the car, it looks like they are held together with a tacky caulking. Has anyone else ever had this problem?

Is it easy to remove, dry, and re-seal them to solve the problem for good or is it better to just replace them?

Thanks;

Wolfie

This is a very common issue on the NSX. My trunk was very wet after driving in the rain. The usual way to take the lights apart is with a heat gun and it is not easy to do and you risk breaking them. If money is no object then just replace the whole unit. Money is an object for me so I used some black silicon calking to seal the gaps.
Also some people drill tiny holes in the bottom of the lenses and this helps with the condensation.


Regards,

Patrick

 

[Black&Tan97Tnewportbeach]

Thanks for the info guys , and by the way . . . how much is a new set anyway???

 

[SugrueNSX]

Thanks for the info guys , and by the way . . . how much is a new set anyway???

They list for $378 each but you can get them for $302 each with the usual discount. That's not too bad imo. I thought it would be a lot more. I think that the more “consumable” the part is the better the deal.
I find I get sticker shock when shopping for a little bit of trim that I need that rarely gets replaced.


Regards,

Patrick

 

[Stunner]

I have the same problem. Only with the right side taillight though. I tried to take it apart a few weeks ago to find the problem and it was more of a headache than I first anticipated. I ended up reinstalling everything without fixing the problem. I am going to swap the entire taillight assembly with an 02 set anyway so hopefully when everything is apart we can find the culprit to this leaking issue.

 

[freelance201]

Yeah, I have the same problem in my 93.
The trunk gets wet after I wash my car or drove in the rain.
My left and right tail lights are also like that.
Black&Tan97, I think you should fix this as soon as possible, b/c the water in the trunk managed to break my CD changer, and its not a good experience.

 

[Jin1976]

I had the same problem before but not with the old tail lamp but with teh new 02 ones. The reason was after taking of the old tail lamp I re-used the old rubber seals and put it on the new 02 tail lamps. Water seaps into the tail lamps. The mechanics told me to use the new rubber seals at the back of the tail lamps and it solves the problems.

 

[NSXDreamer2]

They list for $378 each but you can get them for $302 each with the usual discount. That's not too bad imo. I thought it would be a lot more. I think that the more “consumable” the part is the better the deal.
I find I get sticker shock when shopping for a little bit of trim that I need that rarely gets replaced.

Regards,Patrick

Unless you can see that your light is cracked, if not, new gasket will do. Also since it involves seven or eight bolts on the light, you need to go over all of them 2-3 times to make sure they have a tight fit. I had my lights filled up with water, after installing the new gasket, the condensation seems not wanting to get out even with heat gun & hair dryer, (It just start forming condensation on the other side of the plastic where it's still cold)... so I gave up, surprise surprise, after two weeks, it's dry and it's been half year now!!!!!

Freelance201, STOP Whinning, :biggrin: you know how I got rid of my problem It surprised me that you still didn't try a set of new gasket yet... If you want, lets get to your house and experiment with aftermaket gasket tonight. Yeah, someone just blew couple thousands on his gf's car but tried to save $100 that bother him for more than a year...

 

[SugrueNSX]

Unless you can see that your light is cracked, if not, new gasket will do. Also since it involves seven or eight bolts on the light, you need to go over all of them 2-3 times to make sure they have a tight fit. I had my lights filled up with water, after installing the new gasket, the condensation seems not wanting to get out even with heat gun & hair dryer, (It just start forming condensation on the other side of the plastic where it's still cold)... so I gave up, surprise surprise, after two weeks, it's dry and it's been half year now!!!!!

Well if it’s the gasket that is leaking then of course replacing the gasket will fix the leak. Replacing the gaskets is never a bad idea. However:
Even though the light comes as a unit it is made up of two major components that clip together. The first is the lens and the second is the part that the bulbs screw into and quit often the plastic warps over time and the two parts separate in the middle at the top and that is where the water gets in. Once it is in the lens it can cause condensation in the lens and also “boil off” and cause condensation on the trunk lid which then drips down and makes the trunk damp. My trunk was not damp. It was full on wet after a drive in the rain and now it’s bone dry.

Regards,

Patrick

 

[Zero 260]

I had the same problem on my 2000. When I brought it in to the dealer for an oil change they replaced the rear lenses under warranty. No charge.

 

[Kushbudz]

Replacing the gaskets solved the problem for me. If you end up replacing the entire lights I would recomend replacing the gaskets as well.

 

[midlifecrisis]

I just bought a '91 and it has a bad case of "funk in the trunk".

The air pump is shot, and the tool kit foam has a layer of mold 1/4" thick! I'm in the process of removing the carpet, cd changer, toolkit, etc. Then I plan to do a hose test to see where it's coming from. The tail lights don't show condensation now, but it's been garaged for several months.

Any ideas on where I should spray to determine if it's the gaskets or lights?