Headlight condensation repair

I had a go at solving the ubiquitous condensation issue with the headlights, and it seems to have worked. here is what I did, If other wants to give it a try.

I removed the headlights, two screws, and pulls out forward. Rear cover clips off, cable connector and all the bulbs, careful to not touch the Halogen bulb glass with your fingers, as it reduces the life of the lightbulbs.

I used a hair dryer to dry out any residual moisture within the lens, I then separated the outer rubber seal, marked in red that surrounds the front edge of the headlight. I gave the join area of the lights a good clean, especially the little join areas with grim built up over the years. I used a toothbrush, a some soapy water and finally a quirt of throttle cleaner to get rid of any oil etc. Placed black silicon gasket sealant on the join area between rear and front headlight components, marked in green, you can see the clips and joint area, and also put a thin bead of the sealant between clear lens and rear plastic join, marked in blue, as there seemed to be a glued seam there, which potentially could leak, probably overkill but saves having to do it again if it is the source of the leak.

Seems to have worked, as no condensation over the last week, even with the biblical levels of rain we have seen.

Hope this helps.

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There's two basic types of headlight. The earlier type which can easily be separated and the later, bonded type. It's possible to separate that later type by placing the complete headlight in an over set to 120 deg C for 20 minutes. This softens the adhesive and they will readily come apart. I'm saying this because the interior of the headlight can then be thoroughly cleaned and also accessed for modifications such as fitting DRL's . When re-assembling, future condensation will be prevented if some bags of silica-gel are deposited in the rear of the headlight ....

David
 
This is great - thanks @quantumtokoloshi . I'm going to give this a go.... Our car is 2002 1.4 Petrol - anyone hazard a guess as to whether the lights will come apart easily or whether I need to oven bake it :) @DJ 190 what are "DRL's" and why do I want them in my life/car :) ??
 
I think the one piece headlights were introduced some time in 2001/2002 not exactly sure if they were on particular models first, or done for the build year, so you will have to check yourself. DRL's are the Daytime Running Lights as fitted to all recent cars and mandatory in some form or other in many countries. Do you need them or want them, well that is entirely up to you. You can get aftermarket ones that you fit into the grilles or into the fog light locations as well as the ones that stick externally to the light lenses if you do not want to open up your headlights for internal ones.
 
This is my headlight - It doesn't look like it will come apart without breaking into a number of pieces....any suggestions? Thanks again everyone....
 

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Looks like the later one piece headlight. They will need to be cooked to soften the glue to enable the "glass" to be removed from the shell. What exactly are you trying to achieve with the headlight(s)?
 
Looks like the later one piece headlight. They will need to be cooked to soften the glue to enable the "glass" to be removed from the shell. What exactly are you trying to achieve with the headlight(s)?
I want to clean and polish the inside of the lens to get rid of all the marks and yellowing
 
Guys sorry to jack this thread, had a look at my headlights which are also misting up badly. They seem to be the early type that can be separated. Is there any diagrams to show how to dismantle and what could be the cause of condensation? Thanks
 
There are a series of clips holding the front cover in place. Incidentally that's how you can see if it's the early type by checking how many clips there are ..... if there are just four then it's the later type. Just unclip the front and open up the headlight! It's as simple as that!. Purchase some silica gell bags from Ebay. Clean the inside and insert the gell ... Re-assemble and job done!

David
 
Lights are doing fine, there is a small amount of residual condensation, but goes away when you turn the lights on. I am going to get some silica gel to put in, to keep that away. Otherwise, seems to have worked okay.
 
I have cured this problem on 4 or 5 A2s.Just take the bulb cover plate off, inside the cover is a foam gasket take it out turn it over,then dry headlight and put cover back on. Worked for me
 
In many cases it is the foam seal inside the access panel that has either flattened, twisted or not in the groove. but others it is a failure of the bond between the "glass" and the rear of the light assuming there is no holes in the unit. First step is the access panel seal, either remove, clean and refit correctly or if hardened swap the left and right seals over with a smear of silicone based grease or Gummi Pledge. Sealing the join has been covered above and will also probably now have to be done to the splittable headlights as doubt new seals are available.
Placing silica crystal bags is not really fixing the issue...
 
Just thinking aloud, can we not get one of these Ali express places to manufacture us some of these foam gaskets? Or can we send an email to Hella or something?
 
Think relatively low numbers and long out of production would make tooling up too expensive now. Unless torn the cleaning or reversing the left to use in the right or vice versa has always worked for me. At a push I suppose some self adhesive draught excluder could be used instead.
 
Think relatively low numbers and long out of production would make tooling up too expensive now.
Not if you know someone with a fairly beefy laser cutter. All you need then is the foam sheet and a dxf file of the shape you want. Can’t help with a contact, tho’. Sorry.
 
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