Condensation In Tail Light. Do We Care?

[rageandlove]

I have a 2019 4Runner. About 2 months off warrantee. A week ago I noticed condensation in the passenger taillight.

The vapor is entirely in the top silver section.

It is not always there, though. What I've noticed is that it seems to disappear when it's cooler out and re-appear when warm or sunny.

First question is - should I care?

I'm sure the seal in the stupid thing was faulty from day 1 and water leaked into the hole that for the bulb (which inexplicably isn't sealed) and I just failed to notice until it was my dollar, not Toyotas. If I don't care about how it looks, anything to worry about?

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I have to say. Given all the "4Runners are super well built" and "they have had 10 years to iron out all the rough patches" my actual experience has been there has been a lot of crap on this vehicle that has needed to be repaired since day 1 that doesn't reflect the 4Runner lore.

Two shock replacements, warped brake rotor off the line, gas pump recall, steering wheel shake that lead to two wheels being replaced, rear hatch mis-alignment, rear seat groan (TSB on that one claimed fixed after 2015), loose dome light, slight fender mis-alignment that lead to the headlight and fender contacting and paint getting rubbed off, and so on. I sure hope this doesn't continue; it's the exact opposite of the 1st get Tacoma I owned for 15 years where nothing ever went wrong, ever.

 

[bglfgd]

For what it's worth, my 2016 has had condensation in one of the taillights for years, no ill effects to speak of so far, aside from aesthetics. I could be wrong on this but I do recall seeing moisture in the taillights referred to as normal somewhere in the manual..... I'd argue against that notion but I guess that's one way for Toyota to get out of having to replace them under warranty [emoji1745].

Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk

 

[Pedro367]

Seems pretty common as I was just looking into this myself. It will go away. I only looked into it because I installed LED bulbs and I messed up the gasket on the back putting them back on. Pulled it back off, got everything where it should, and its no issue anymore. You can pull it off and check, or just let it go.

 

[osugsxr]

just drill a 1" hole in the bottom, itll help drain it

 

[J-Roc]

just drill a 1" hole in the bottom, itll help drain it

That’s a big drain hole [emoji3] I don’t think he’s getting that much water in there.

 

[4r-4ever]

remove that taillight and let it dry properly by removing the bulbs.

 

[97BlackAckCL]

Definitely sounds like the gasket on the tail light is not sitting flush, remove the tail light, let it dry out completely and then reseat the gasket all around the tail to make sure it sits properly

 

[rageandlove]

Definitely sounds like the gasket on the tail light is not sitting flush, remove the tail light, let it dry out completely and then reseat the gasket all around the tail to make sure it sits properly

I live in Seattle so that will be in July lol.

I might see if I can order a new gasket from Toyota.

Thanks folks.

 

[rageandlove]

In case anyone finds this thread later, yes, you can buy just the gaskets for under $20, so I'm going to take off the light, dry it out, and put it on with a new gasket.

Right is PN 8155235400. Left is 8156235390.