Smoked headlight gone murky? Now with pic

3rd May 2011, 01:01

Anybody experienced this, after smoking my headlights one of them looks perfect, really crystal clear, the other one a couple of days after doing it the inside of the lens went abit murky(not like condensed with water droplets, like a little steamed up though kinda, but it stays like it and doesn't disappear, so I re opened them, cleaned and resealed, again after a couple of days it did it again, so I again opened it, cleaned it, removed the glue and sealed it with Tiger Seal this time, which stopped it for a couple of weeks but now it appears to be back. Strange problem and a bit obsessive I know but i'm a bit of a perfectionist

If nobodys got any ideas I may get another O/S headlight and smoke it or just get some angels lol.

Cheers

3rd May 2011, 01:05

could be one of the rubber o rings that go between your indicator/sidelight bulb holder is missing or is perished (see 1st link), letting crap in...or there is no rubber cover on the main headlight bulb?

http://thumbs2.ebaystatic.com/m/mylk...f8gy2g/140.jpg

http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/l...D/CIMG2701.jpg

3rd May 2011, 01:12

I'll have a look at the O ring tomorrow mate, i'm sure the grey rbber cover fro the H4 bulb is there though. I'm wanting to order HIDs soon but if I can't solve this I may as well upgrade to angels then get some xenons, but I do rather like the look of standard smoked ones :/

3rd May 2011, 01:15

yeh i prefered the standard smoked lights on my black saxo as apose to angels :/...failing that, not sure what to suggest if youve resealed them :/

3rd May 2011, 01:16

I'll have a look at what you suggested in the morning mate, otherwise anyone else ay ideas?

Weird thing is its just the drivers headlight doing it, over and over...the passenger side doesn't and the only difference between them is the passenger side was replaced with a new unit shortly before I bought the car I think.

3rd May 2011, 01:19

it shouldnt matter on the age of the unit if they have both been re-sealed, as thats the only thing that could cause this, are the seals (lense sealent or rubber rings)

3rd May 2011, 16:33

Only thing I can think of is the sealnt is reacting with something,causing the light to go murky.You could try opening up the light again & washing it off with white spirit then re-seal it.

Steve.

3rd May 2011, 16:40

Check the seals around the bulbs.

3rd May 2011, 17:08

stevo, the thing is ive tried resealing it 3 times now, twice heating and putting back together the original glue and the third time using tiger seal, I shall have a look at the bulb seals in a sec Morgz.

Thanks for the ideas

3rd May 2011, 20:58

I've always used this to seal up headlights i've tinted so know it works well

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...=STRK:MEWAX:IT

May be worth a try if the o rings are all fine?

3rd May 2011, 21:01

Clearly condensation is getting back in, could be one of the bulb seals as stated above. To clear the lens just take out the headlight bulb, heat up the light unit with a hair dryer until its gone then re-seal. If you think its bad now wait till winter, barely any light will get through

3rd May 2011, 23:18

I've checked the bulb seals, they are all there, so that isn't the case.

Simon, I've used that stuff before, I don't trust the fact its only slightly adhesive, Tiger seal worked a lot better for me imo, its been perfect on the passenger side one :/

Lewis, the thing is though this looks nothing like condensation, doesn't appear to be affected by the weather either, where condensation looks like moisture this doesnt, it looks more just like the lens is frosted but only slightly, I'll try take a picture but I doubt it will show up?
I've smoked headlights before on a number of cars, only ever had one problem before with one and that was clearly condensation, as it looked more like it and was dependant on the weather, after opening, cleaning and resealing it was fine.

4th May 2011, 11:59

May be worth just getting a new light for that side then? Can pick them up quite cheap on here!

4th May 2011, 23:28

That my plan mate or go for angels. The only thing I'm worried about is getting another and having the same problem :/

I tried to take a pic but it won't show up, its just like the inside of the lens is a tad cloudy...

29th June 2011, 18:26

Its back, it went away for ages this time but for some reason the light hs gone fucking murky again, this is not condensation as there is no moisture, just looks like a bisk on the inside of the lens, really pissing me off now :/ no amount of resealing it helps.

29th June 2011, 18:41

Heres a pic of the problem, can only be seen in this pic as the headlights shine on the bisk:

As in this pic you can't really see it without the lights been on, its not a condensation type thing like i say as it doesn't seem to come and go depending on the temperature, its more that i seal the headlights and it isn't there, then after so long it appears and stays?