Leaking Tail Lights

H

honda99ex

New member
Anyone else have this issue?

I bought my trail late 2014. It was a demo so it had some 4k plus miles on it. Anyhow quite immediately I noticed both tail lights had condensation in them. So i went to the dealer, complained but since they are a slow leak they dried out and they examined them and deemed them fine. They told me to come back when I have proof. So finally even though it has happened a bunch more (it either dries out before I can get to the dealer cause I'm busy) I go in 2 days ago to have them look at it. Manager comes out and definitely sees the moisture. They issue a warranty repair now they call and say toyota corporate wants to take a look and confirm before they will consider a warranty claim.

Is it just me? Both tail lights mist. Not terrible but definitely not right.
 
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It could be something as simple as the seal on the bulb sockets being warped or just not seated right, since it's on both it probably something small. Unless that for some weird unknown reason both have bad seals around the lenses or have small cracks.
 
I've not done any work on the rear end of car so what ever is there or not there was how it came originally or what they did when they examined it when I complained.

Just wondering if I got a dud...

Ironically this is the first car where I didn't try and fix it myself first...

redkat said:
The whole assembly should have a gasket.
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Next time it happens, try taking pics... make sure to catch your license plate in them to prove its your truck. Perhaps if it warms up you can try spraying the back of the truck with a hose. If thy fill up, which would definitely not be normal, you can prove they're defective on command.
 
Yeah I have pics but not with my license plate in the pic as well. Good call.

I spray them but it seems to need a prolonged exposure to rain to really fog up.

CF_Machete said:
Next time it happens, try taking pics... make sure to catch your license plate in them to prove its your truck. Perhaps if it warms up you can try spraying the back of the truck with a hose. If thy fill up, which would definitely not be normal, you can prove they're defective on command.
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Every one of my three 5th gens have had condensation in specific atmospheric conditions. The dry out quickly and have never caused any problems. It's not all the time nor only when it rains so to me it's no big deal.
 
What are those conditions?

I haven't really figured it out on mine, only that it will do it intermittently...

1engineer said:
Every one of my three 5th gens have had condensation in specific atmospheric conditions. The dry out quickly and have never caused any problems. It's not all the time nor only when it rains so to me it's no big deal.
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honda99ex said:
What are those conditions?

I haven't really figured it out on mine, only that it will do it intermittently...
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Near as I can tell it only happens when you have a substantial temperature variance and the relative humidity is fairly high. Again even after several thousand miles it has caused no damage or discoloration.
 
1engineer said:
Near as I can tell it only happens when you have a substantial temperature variance and the relative humidity is fairly high. Again even after several thousand miles it has caused no damage or discoloration.
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I once bought a car off eBay from a dealership which had 18k miles on it and a clean car fax. It was under warranty so I took it in and had the rear tailight assembly replaced due to condensation. Then I took it in again. And again.

Finally, I was talking to a mechanic when picking it up for an exhaust upgrade and he asked me if I knew it was wrecked. He showed me the overspray inside the door frame and said I needed to take a closer look at the carfax. Sure enough, there was a discernible date gap within the report. Our guess was that the dealership repaired the car but never reported it.
 
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I noticed some condensation in one of my taillights after parking it outside one night. Took a photo and took it back for a replacement. Strange as it was brand new. I was upgrading from my 2010 tails to LEDs.
 
Three inches of standing water in my Subaru tail light is a leak......The bulbs still work even when submerged. I'm thinking you will be fine. The only real issue this has caused me is the bulbs being totally rusted into their housing. Not sure how I will fix this when the bulbs go, but the car is 21 years old, so I have 0 ****s to give.
 
Hmm now Toyota Corporate wants to send some engineers to look at my tails before they warranty them... Wider spread problem???
 
honda99ex said:
Hmm now Toyota Corporate wants to send some engineers to look at my tails before they warranty them... Wider spread problem???
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A lot of things in life may happen but you can bet they will NOT send a Toyota design engineer to look at your tail light lol. You will get a regional guy just to document it.
 
My 2013 threw a weird code and somebody from corporate wanted to see it before the stealership would be allowed to repair it. Its here somewhere, and I still have a picture of it somewhere too, either at home or on my phone or Google Drive.
 
honda99ex said:
Anyone else have this issue?
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YES...Me. Well sort of...



I almost went to the dealer and then thought, really not a big deal. But then I saw it again one week later. Both times I got a really close look at it and was 100% sure it was on the inside. Took my finger to it the second time and poof!! it was gone. You judge by the pics. I took them to show the dealer but that shit was on the outside. It was kinda an illusion in a way. Saw it on another 4R in a parking lot and same deal. It was on the outside.

Dumb question but, did you try to wipe it off?
 
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