Please help me with a headlight condensation issue

[brianhuntRVA]

I beg of the 4Runner experts to help me figure this out. I replaced my yellowed and driver-side-condensing stock lights a little over a year ago with depot black lights. All was good at first. After a while the drivers side would get condensation after high pressure car washes.

Now it gets condensation for no apparent reason at all after driving. I'll pull the bulbs and it'll dry during the day while it sits. Then I drive and it fogs back up. I've tried driving without the high beam bulb to vent it... still fogs up. I've also added some silicone at the seam where it can be accessed while the housing is still installed and put the bulbs back to seal it... no difference it still fogged up. Also what's up with the built in vents? On the oem ones there were caps on only the bottom ones. On these I can feel the caps on the top and bottom on both driver and passenger. Keep in mind the passenger one is fine though.

This is seriously driving me crazy I'm hoping someone can help.

 

[T4RNightHawk]

Get some of this stuff, cook your headlights to open them up, and reseal them with the butyl glue. I need to do the same on mine. For extra measure you could toss a pack of silica sand in there too.

 

[brianhuntRVA]

Thanks. So the goal is to full seal the unit then, correct?

I baked the tail lights on my old Z to remove the amber lenses and replace them with frosted white. Was very messy and not really something I want to do again though. I may just remove the housing and put silicone the rest of the way around.

 

[T4RNightHawk]

Thanks. So the goal is to full seal the unit then, correct?

I baked the tail lights on my old Z to remove the amber lenses and replace them with frosted white. Was very messy and not really something I want to do again though. I may just remove the housing and put silicone the rest of the way around.

Yea with a lot of those aftermarket headlights the seal isn't great so many people buy them and reseal them.

 

[brianhuntRVA]

Yep they are pretty terrible. The clear coat is also peeling off in places which I had planned to sand and re-clear when it warms up some. So I guess if there is any silver lining, it's that it will be easier to do that while they are off the vehicle to fix this issue.