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My tail light is full of water.[ALL/1988] posted by Rob Abel on
Wednesday, 18 February 1998, at 6:20 a.m.
Daughter's '87 740's right rear tail light fills up with water at each heavy rain (rare for AZ, but has occured this winter just to test this car I'm sure). I've removed the taillight, cleaned and silicone-caulked the light to body gasket and darn near any other place I could think of. I'm about ready to dip a paint brush in cauld and paint over the whole darn thing. Somebody give me another idea before I do something this stupid.
Re: My tail light is full of water.[ALL/1988] posted by Mr. Tool on
Wednesday, 18 February 1998, at 7:10 a.m.
here is a fix for the symptom, not the problem. at the bottom of the taillight in an inconspiques (sp?) spot, drill one or two small holes. use a drill bit that is a 1/16" dia. or smaller. any collected water will then drain. of course the best fix is to fix the problem, but at least you will keep the water out of there for now ...........good luck ......mr. tool ........
Re: My tail light is full of water.[ALL/1988] posted by Mark on
Wednesday, 18 February 1998, at 11:33 a.m.
Also, don't caulk the bottom of the lense. If you didn't get the leak on top, the sealant on the bottom will cause a bigger problem. Drilling small holes in lense will also allow the insides to dry out. High moisture inside can cause an invisible rust problems or eat the reflective finish off behind the bulbs.
Re: My tail light is full of water.[ALL/1988] posted by Mark Klein on
Wednesday, 18 February 1998, at 10:06 p.m.
I don't even try to reseal the lenses. They all get a 1/8" hole in the lower edge.
Re: My tail light is full of water.[ALL/1988] posted by Craig on
Thursday, 19 February 1998, at 8:07 a.m.
As long as we're talking tail lights, I remember someone a long time back talking about a (2 part?) compound epoxy for repairing broken plastic lenses - broken off edges and so forth. I recently have had my left rear lense crunched, and simply do not want to drop the cash for a replacement. It's for a '73 142. The repairs wouldn't be that hard to do. I'm familiar and comfortable working with resins and epoxy.
Any thoughts?
Thanks....Craig
Re: Tail light leak FIXED.[ALL/1988] posted by Rob Abel on
Saturday, 21 February 1998, at 7:40 a.m.
My leak was in the outside of the assembly between the separate lenses. A tiny bead of clear silicone fixed it. I think I'll also drill the holes in the bottom so it can dry out well. Thanks for the info.
Re: Craig's lens: at $180+ I can certainly understand the desire to repair rather than replace. Do you have all of the pieces? If not can you buy a cheap lens at a discount store and carve some with a Dremel tool to epoxy in? Let us know how it works out.
Re: Tail light leak FIXED.[ALL/1988] posted by Mark Klein on
Sunday, 22 February 1998, at 5:35 p.m.
I have seen all three color repair kits at local discount stores (K-Mart in particular). This comes as a kit which requires you remove the lens and lay it flat. It comes with a sheet of plastic you tape in place and then fill the hole with the colored plastic repair stuff. I've used it on a rear lens. It certainly wasn't perfectly smooth around the edges, but the whole lens was red after the repair (which certainly wasn't the case before I began).
Re: Tail light leak FIXED.[ALL/1988] posted by Craig on
Monday, 23 February 1998, at 2:06 p.m.
Actually, I think I found a solution in buying both - yes both, as in right and left - rear lens AND housing for a fraction of the cost of what I originally thought (about a third the cost of the estimate I had for only one side...still can't believe it). Used, but in good shape I hear.
Hope it's true.
Wasn't really looking forward to the epoxy/resin fumes anyways.