Bit of a strange one this but thought I would post it up as this is pretty much applicable to any motor out on the market, some cars are worse than other's but the general cause of such a problem is bulb replacement after failure and then poorly re-installed lamps.........

I am basically running around, now and again anyway, in a friends Audi A6 that I have been looking after for some time while he is overseas for a few months, now as you would expect I look after the car as well as my own, having MOT'd it and detailed it up on way too many occasions.

Carl had bought the car second hand but with low mileage but for some reason the Rear Lamps had always had some condensation inside them, I had always assumed poor re-fit of the lamps meaning the seal was not correctly re-fitted.

So, last Friday after work the lamps were looking as follows:

Note the condensation in the Directonal Indicator (DI) / Reverse window:

Also some nice condensation on the Outboard 'dead space' area of the lamp:

This was also the same on the driver's side lamp:

I then removed the lamp to reveal plenty of moss and dirt building up behind the lamp:

The rear of the car then looked as follows over night after some attention with some Megs APC and a few microfibre cloths, followed by a rubber glove over each connector and harness, taped shut to prevent water ingress:

Now I forgot to take some pics of the lamps but on the back of each lamp you have a bulb carrier which houses all the bulbs, this was unclipped and cleaned, the rubber seal that sits inside the channel of the bulb carrier was not correctly seated on the back of the lamp housing, which in my opinion led to the condenstation problem.

I then left the lamps infront of a radiator over night to dry out.

The following morning I cleaned all the lamps up and then re-fitted them:

Job done and looking so much better now, nothing more annoying that having some condenstation within your lamps..........

You can apply a similar method to Head Lamps but remember when re-fitting bulbs that replacing the cap and seal is a must to get it right otherwise the condenstation and moisture within the lamp will just build up again.............

If you think your lamps show any signs of condenstation then don't be afraid to unbolt them and dry them out..............

Edited 8 March, 201016 yr by Baker21

Nice one

Nice one

Thanks Nick, hopefully you won't experience this but fairly easy to solve if you have to in the future.........

Never realised the sealing was so critical to stopping condensation..

Had to put a bulb into my ST just before I sold it, hope its okay

Never realised the sealing was so critical to stopping condensation..

Had to put a bulb into my ST just before I sold it, hope its okay

Sure is mate, can cause corrosion over time to the reflective coating within the lamp and you will then loose your light output............ :no:

Wouldn't worry about the ST now though, someone else may have to worry about it in the future.............