Head lamp letting water in

masculinist

I have a headlamp which lets water in during storms and heavy rain. Its perpetually steamed up on the inside. I've given up replacing the bulb and fuses since November as Id already done that job 3 times since the summer. The NCT is due at the end of February and this is focusing my mind.
Finally I got to visit a few scrap yards and not one of them has the rubber gasket or replacement headlamp I need. So what to do ?

Citroen only sell the headlamp as a entire unit for over 80 euro last time I checked . I only need the rubber seal around the access hatch. Besides I wouldnt look forward to the unnecessary labour of replacing the whole part outside in the cold with my hands frozen off.

So what to do ? Tec 7 might work but it would also make it difficult for the next owner to pry open the access hatch and make it difficult to changer bulbs in future and put back without scraping it off with a knife potentially scrapping either my own hands or damaging the plastic . So I don't really want to do that.

How about the 'always wet' types of flexible putty which plumbers use in radiator valves ? Can anyone think of a durable solution or some other product which doesnt make the problem worse in the long term?

Suggestions welcome

Irish Steve

slightly overfill the groove that the seal goes in with Tec7, then put a piece of cling film on it before refitting the cover, the cling film will stop the tec7 sticking to the cover, and the cling film can be cut off once the tec7 has set.

NUTLEY BOY

Is there any chance of cracking in the lens unit or elsewhere than the line of the gasket ?

A pal of mine had similar problems with the rear light unit of a Toyota. Another car cracked the light unit without actually breaking the glass out. He repaired it with lens tape but the unit kept refilling with water and fogging up every time it rained.

As this would probably be an NCT fail it might be worth it in the long run to get a new replacement unit.

CJhaughey

Post a pic up, you can get neoprene gasketing material from some places and if you buy a square and trace a pattern you can cut a ring to fit.

Buffman

In the past I've used the 'stick on' rolls of weatherproof draught excluder to make my own seal in that type of situation. Cheap, easy to fit, and work well in my experience. If it wasn't an access hatch I'd suggest the liberal use of silicone sealant, but it would only be a pain when you need to change bulbs. And I'm assuming that hatch isn't directly exposed to rain.

The 'D' profile one would probably work best for you. You can buy it in most DIY/builders providers shops.



Make sure to get all the mositure out before sealing it up, I've found a combination of all lights on and using a hair dryer to heat the housing evaporates the moisture well. Don't use a heatgun or anything which will overheat/melt the lights/electrics.

masculinist

Thanks for the helpful responses. Theres some great ideas above. I'll report back as I make progress on this and might even post some photos.

The first step is to somehow get the moisture out of the headlamp. The lamp is permanently fogged up. I will try this with a hairdryer. Now I do have a nice heatgun but I'm not sure if its lowest setting could be far too high unless I hold it from an appropriate distance [which could be a runner if I find the hairdryer isnt making any progress].

CJhaughey

masculinist wrote: »

Thanks for the helpful responses. Theres some great ideas above. I'll report back as I make progress on this and might even post some photos.

The first step is to somehow get the moisture out of the headlamp. The lamp is permanently fogged up. I will try this with a hairdryer. Now I do have a nice heatgun but I'm not sure if its lowest setting could be far too high unless I hold it from an appropriate distance [which could be a runner if I find the hairdryer isnt making any progress].

Put the hairdryer on low and leave it in the bulb opening for a period of time, if there is a lot of water in the headlamp unit you may have to remove it and drain it out. I found that any residual water could be removed with a few silica gel packs, obtainable from shoe shops for free.