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Rear light issues

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kinger
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Rear light issues

Post by kinger » Fri Dec 16, 2016 10:18 am

Have just finished drying out and reasealing my nearside lamp as above, will refit when it stops hissing it down
As to the bulbs blowing , i have 2 spare sets from the old light units. :P
Mike
Image

Current - E89 35is Saphire Black
Previous- E89 35i Space Grey

Dietcokeman

Rear light issues

Post by Dietcokeman » Mon Dec 19, 2016 9:16 am

Another point worth mentioning here is the rear lamp rubber seals. You must make sure they are fitted correctly into the rear panel of the car. When you offer the lamp back into its hole, the rubber boots need to be fitted correctly . They need to be pulled through the back panel hole and seated correctly onto the panel. The boots have little tabs on them and you need to pull these to tease the sealing lip of the boot onto the rear panel. It forms a seal between the back of the lamp, where the water runs down and the boot of the car. I have seen at least one car recently where the owner had investigated the lights and then refitted them but not fitted these seals correctly and water was getting into the boot. Please make sure the sealing lip is in place correctly . If you check the rubber boots when the lights are out the sealing lip can easily be seen .

NickTheGreek
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Rear light issues

Post by NickTheGreek » Sat Jan 28, 2017 7:46 pm

I had quite a bit of water in the rear lights, just pulled the bulbs out and borrowed the wife's hair dryer and gave each housing a blast for about 10 mins. Dried out all the condensation in the top of the lenses.
:rofl:

flybobbie
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Rear light issues

Post by flybobbie » Sun Jan 29, 2017 8:47 am

So now you need to strip and seal them, otherwise you will be back to square one.

firebobby
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Rear light issues

Post by firebobby » Sun Jan 29, 2017 11:22 am

Another pants design, how hard is it for car makers to make water tight lights :headbang:
BMW Z4 30i 2003 auto 107's Whippy Toledo Blue
Beige M sport seats, wood dash
Toyota MR2 NA 1995
Triumph GT6 1972 (project)
Land Rover Discovery 1994 TDI (Tow car)
Mini 1000 1981

flybobbie
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Rear light issues

Post by flybobbie » Sun Jan 29, 2017 12:00 pm

Yep, like fronts have cobwebs in them and no way to evict the little blighters that caused them.
And the front washers have packed up for some reason :x

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kinger
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Rear light issues

Post by kinger » Sun Jan 29, 2017 1:51 pm

I need to investigate mine further, i just noticed the nearside one has some condensation in the bottom
Thats is a new one, with the redesigned gasket and sealed with sealant and seated correctly..
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Current - E89 35is Saphire Black
Previous- E89 35i Space Grey

Maniac
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Rear light issues

Post by Maniac » Sun Jan 29, 2017 4:08 pm

Every car I have gets condensation in lights... however they never accumulate enough to make running water as the rear lamps in the e89 do.

flybobbie
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Rear light issues

Post by flybobbie » Sun Jan 29, 2017 7:29 pm

All the glass headlamps and tail lights I have had in cars have never had condensation, leaked, fogged or faded, that's progress.

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ric19
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Rear light issues

Post by ric19 » Mon Jun 12, 2017 5:10 pm

Dietcokeman wrote: Wed Dec 07, 2016 6:45 pm Ok firstly I have to say thank you to flybobbie for his video on removing the rear lights that can be found on YouTube if you search .

I know this has been cover before but here is my take on things. The following may be of help to someone with what I have discovered when looking at my own car .

If you think you lights may be suffering from water ingress, you need to look at the bottom white/silver indicator section of the lamp to see if you have this sort of thing

Image
Image

Next also look at the edge of the light lens here and see if it looks like this

Image
Image

If it does, then it's a good bet that the seal between the lens and the housing has been compromised too, a frosty look here is a bad sign .

With the lamp removed from the car , clean off the debris that will be around the rubber seals that seal the lamp into the back panel . Then carefully remove the seal panel by prising it off like this

Image
Image

This will then reveal the seal that will also cause issues if not attended to , as its porous and soaks up water eventually , also one of mine was fitted poorly which doesn't help .
Image
Image

You will note that the the bulbs ( apart from the indicator led's which are not replaceable ) can still be removed with the seal panel in place , so don't worry about the next bit, which is basically sealing the panel onto the grey housing to prevent water ingress.......

Image

Clean the lamp lens and housing joint , where the lens meets the grey housing , where is may be compromised. Clean the seal and seal panel, dry them throughly , dry the lamps out thoroughly in a airing cupboard or on a radiator etc until the lamps and seals etc are completely dry.

Now refit the seal into the plastic holder( the googles plastic trim with rubber seals ) then run a bead of silicone sealer around the refitted seal and replace it on to the rear lamp housing and push it firmly into place on all its clips whilst the silicone is still wet .

Now run a bead of silicone sealer right around the lamp edge between the lens and grey housing , smooth the joint off with a wet finger making sure the gap is full of sealer , do not worry at this point about excess, this can easily be trimmed off with a sharp knife when the silicone has dried , but try and fill the gap fully with silicone sealer .

Image

Refit the lamps and hopefully the water ingress issue will be sorted. It appears the bottom edge of these lamps crack away from the inner housing whilst flexing when the roof is operated . And the seal inside the plastic holder is made of open cell foam which allows water to soak up and then bleed into the housing eventually . Crappy design .

Hope this helps someone

Just like to say thanks for this how to..went out last night to see condesation in my N/S rear light so followed the above and run some mastic around the seal and fingers crossed I'm hoping it's sorted

Dietcokeman

Rear light issues

Post by Dietcokeman » Mon Jun 12, 2017 10:03 pm

ric19 wrote: Mon Jun 12, 2017 5:10 pm
Dietcokeman wrote: Wed Dec 07, 2016 6:45 pm Ok firstly I have to say thank you to flybobbie for his video on removing the rear lights that can be found on YouTube if you search .

I know this has been cover before but here is my take on things. The following may be of help to someone with what I have discovered when looking at my own car .

If you think you lights may be suffering from water ingress, you need to look at the bottom white/silver indicator section of the lamp to see if you have this sort of thing

Image
Image

Next also look at the edge of the light lens here and see if it looks like this

Image
Image

If it does, then it's a good bet that the seal between the lens and the housing has been compromised too, a frosty look here is a bad sign .

With the lamp removed from the car , clean off the debris that will be around the rubber seals that seal the lamp into the back panel . Then carefully remove the seal panel by prising it off like this

Image
Image

This will then reveal the seal that will also cause issues if not attended to , as its porous and soaks up water eventually , also one of mine was fitted poorly which doesn't help .
Image
Image

You will note that the the bulbs ( apart from the indicator led's which are not replaceable ) can still be removed with the seal panel in place , so don't worry about the next bit, which is basically sealing the panel onto the grey housing to prevent water ingress.......

Image

Clean the lamp lens and housing joint , where the lens meets the grey housing , where is may be compromised. Clean the seal and seal panel, dry them throughly , dry the lamps out thoroughly in a airing cupboard or on a radiator etc until the lamps and seals etc are completely dry.

Now refit the seal into the plastic holder( the googles plastic trim with rubber seals ) then run a bead of silicone sealer around the refitted seal and replace it on to the rear lamp housing and push it firmly into place on all its clips whilst the silicone is still wet .

Now run a bead of silicone sealer right around the lamp edge between the lens and grey housing , smooth the joint off with a wet finger making sure the gap is full of sealer , do not worry at this point about excess, this can easily be trimmed off with a sharp knife when the silicone has dried , but try and fill the gap fully with silicone sealer .

Image

Refit the lamps and hopefully the water ingress issue will be sorted. It appears the bottom edge of these lamps crack away from the inner housing whilst flexing when the roof is operated . And the seal inside the plastic holder is made of open cell foam which allows water to soak up and then bleed into the housing eventually . Crappy design .

Hope this helps someone

Just like to say thanks for this how to..went out last night to see condesation in my N/S rear light so followed the above and run some mastic around the seal and fingers crossed I'm hoping it's sorted
I would add to this by saying that I've had mixed success with these old ( 3 bolt type lights) with this , however what I have had complete success with is if whilst doing this you remove all the fixing screws , all the screws you can in the light and put mastic in all the screw holes and refit the screws, any you can't remove , mastic over the screw head completely , the lights seem very poorly put together seal wise, it's a nightmare when you get this and one one of my own cars I had the light in and out more times than I care to remember but doing the mastic over head and in every screw hole did the trick and all I've done since have remained water tight .

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Oakleyextreme
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Rear light issues

Post by Oakleyextreme » Fri Jun 30, 2017 10:59 am

I've just spotted condensation in one of my rear light clusters, I've dried out using a hair dryer but on closer inspection I can see the odd hair line cracks on the bottom of the light cluster.
I have the 2 stud version on a 2012.
My question is do anyone know who makes the genuine BMW light cluster? Reason I ask is Europarts on a auction site have Magneti light cluster for £157 which is approx £100 cheaper than BMW, I'm always a genuine parts person but BMW get someone to make there lights for them and was wondering if anyone new who makes the rear light clusters for the Z4.

flybobbie
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Rear light issues

Post by flybobbie » Fri Jun 30, 2017 7:41 pm

Originals are Magnetti.

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