Hi Yeti gurus....

 

Just before taking my Snow Monster in for its second MOT, I discovered that the offside/right/driver's rear light cluster was 1/3 full of water! Up to the level of the base of the reversing lights.  Not noticed before as the horizontal lines on the inside tended to mask the tide mark, at least while stationery. Must have been like this for some time.  I don't actually drive it every day, as it is SWMBO's car primarily, so hadn't noticed. (That's my excuse!).  Can only imagine the H2O has been getting in along the top seam and draining down?  Forming a bath for the lowermost lights.

 

All lights were working fine at the time, so the rally bodgers quick fix was to drill 3 x 5mm holes in the base of the lowermost cell of the unit to let the water out again! Out of sight, in the area of the unit normally hidden when fitted to the car. Then get it MOT'd before touching anything else. Did both sides while I was at it, although the left side unit was / is dry.   (I used to have a Mini Cooper in the mid-70's that you had to take the rubber bungs out of the floor to let the water out during wet weather - otherwise the wet getting in via the A pillars and sills would form a tsunami from back to front every time you braked! Not unlike Top Gear's method for draining the water out of Hamster's East African adventure Opel after he got it stuck in a river? Also had a Mk3 Ford Escort where water in the rear lights was a  very common problem.) 

 

Now I find that that the prolonged bathing, has caused the metal contacts in the bulb carrier to corrode, to the point where the lower of the two 5w tail lights has failed and the contacts disintegrated.  Hence need a new bulb carrier.

 

Just wondered if anyone knew specialist breakers where one of those could be ordered from?

 

Nothing on Ebay. Not listed by Euro Car Parts, etc. Googling the part number (5L0 945 258, actually made by Visteon) just brings up a description of what it is. Are L and R carriers actually the same?  Or mirror image like the lens clusters?

 

Contacted Rainworth Skoda on Sat eve. When a lovely lady called Jessica came on the chat pop-up while I was browsing their parts site. Will call them tomorrow when open. 

 

Also wondered if this is unique to my Yeti, or if anyone else had similar?

Edited 26 May, 201412 yr by FlintstoneR1

Quite a few rear light clusters complete on eBay around £30

Pr'aps I should be thinking "complete" then!  Will take a look now.......

Hi Kenny.  Done a bit more research now.  All the rear lights advertised on Ebay are lens clusters only that do not have the bulb carriers fitted. Most of them actually say so when you read the item detailed descriptions.

 

Spoke to Jon at Rainworth Skoda today, who confirmed it would be very rare indeed to get the two parts together as a single unit. They are not normally sold that way. Either way, he's sorting me a new bulb carrier for under £20 - which I'm quite happy with.

 

Jon also confirmed that it's unheard of in their experience to need a new carrier for the reason I do - so not about to be an epidemic of them!  Mine must be a duff one.  Although visibly pristine. Might run some sealer along the top seam of the lens unit when I put the new carrier in.  See if that keeps the wet out.

Are L and R carriers actually the same?

No, they are different:

p/n 5L0945257 - left;

p/n 5L0945258 - right.

Send an e mail to Skoda asking them to send you a pair of carriers as a good will gesture. As this surely should not happen.

Good luck.

Thanks Carlo - good thought.  For a £17 part on a 4-year old Yeti though, that sounds like a lot of hassle. Posted the OP just to find if anyone else had encountered the same?  After talking to Jonathan at Rainworth, sounds like extremely rare indeed!  To the point I now realise, possibly even unique.

 

Excellent parts service from Rainworth. The new carrier is now fitted and working just fine. Have also re-sealed the top edge of the lens unit while it was out, as it seemed that was where the water was gaining ingress.  Also drilled a couple of drain holes in base of each fog light lens back, both sides.  In case it happens again. In a part of the unit that is 100% when fully fitted to the car.  That should cure it!   

I may have missed something here but why have you drilled holes in each of the clusters?

 

Removing the cluster and then the bulb carrier would have allowed you to pour the water out through the holes normally filled by the bulbs.

 

The clusters are meant to be water tight, now they aren't.

 

During prolonged periods of cold and wet weather (i.e. 9 months of the year) moisture will be able to access the cluster and the bulb carrier will again now slowly corrode.

 

I suspect either the cluster has a manufacturing defect or has a hairline crack in it, allowing water to be forced in when washing etc.

 

Sealing the cluster with silcone sealant was good, making the cluster water tight again. Drilling holes in it, albeit at the bottom will now serve to undo your good work.

 

I would have sourced a new cluster and bulb carrier for the drivers side and left the other passenger side cluster alone.

Edited 2 June, 201412 yr by silver1011

Hi Silver,

 

A few reasons:

- Already drained over half a pint of water out of the offending cluster by the route you describe. That's how I discovered the bathing in a swimming pool had corroded the metal contacts in the lower tail light section to the point the contacts just crumbled into ferrous dust.

- Holes are in the lowest part of the back of the units, in the lower face of the reflector immediately below the fog light bulbs, so any further water ingress has an escape route instead of becoming trapped in the bulb spaces. Bit like having drain holes in the lower edge of a door. 

- In a normally dry area, pointing down, so chances of water getting in that way are less than zero. Even during a pressure wash. Unless the car is submerged in 4' of water of course, in which case the light units will be the least of my concerns.

- There are no cracks in the outer lenses, hairline or otherwise.

- Close examination of the units once off the car, revealed the sealing on the top edge between the outer lens and the moulded reflector body was where the water was getting in. If it can happen once, it can happen again.

- There was evidence of condensation quantities of water in the left side unit already.  Now it has somewhere to escape before it builds up to reach the contacts.

- We'll see how effective, or ineffective the modification is over time.  If I think water is actually getting in that way, it's a simple enough job to seal the holes with some gaffer tape. LOL.

Edited 3 June, 201412 yr by FlintstoneR1

That does seem strange, I have seen it before where the hot gluing process used to seal the outer lens to the cluster hasn't been 100% successful around the full circumference of the light, to have this on two clusters fitted to the same car is extremely unlucky.

 

I assume your Yeti is out of warranty, but given the lack of being able to demonstrate fair wear and tear on a plastic light lens, and that there is no obvious accident damage together with the fact that the issue is on both rear lights I would have been sorely tempted to contact Skoda UK or your dealer to see what could be done in terms of some goodwill towards two new replacements.

 

I hear what you are saying with the likelihood of water finding it's way back into the lens but I wouldn't be so sure. They are sealed for a reason.

 

Front headlights and front fog lights are fitted with breather holes to allow the moisture to escape, the moisture evaporates when the lights are in use and vents through the holes into the engine bay. The rear lights won't get the opportunity to get as hot so won't be able to dry themselves out if water does get in. The drain holes you have drilled will help to release large volumes of water but any condensation will just stick to the inside of the lens.

 

Anyhow, all this is just my angle on things, it could be that all is good from now on. Let's hope you are able to enjoy maintenance free tail lights from now on

50 months old. 102,000 miles.  Don't think I'd get much joy out of Skoda? Not for a £19 part anyway.  Both Rainworth and the specialist independent I bought the car from 14 months ago had never seen or heard of the same problem.  So I conclude my SM is a one-off.  Perhaps its exacerbated by the fact it's invariably parked overnight tail first down a rearward sloping drive? Perhaps affecting the way rain water pools along the top edge?  But that's such a narrow gap anyway (good build quality on the Yeti - very consistent panel gaps).

 

For sure if the lens gets a crack, I'll be onto Ebay for some fresh / salvage units*.  Meanwhile, I'll let you know if it proves I've cocked up with the drain holes idea. I have the T15 Torx and the gaffer tape at the ready.

 

( * Just by comparison when I replaced a broken rear lens unit on my previous car - a Ren-Oh Grand Scenic - the "made in China" pattern replacement actually fitted better than the original.  But I wouldn't expect that on the Yeti. Build quality is shall we say - "superior" to the Ren-Oh.    No idea what Dacias are like. Haven't seen enough close up.)

New soda Yeti right rear light cluster letting in water. When I wash my 11 month old Yeti the water comes in top seal. Took it back to dealer and says its collision damage, there's not a mark on it. Took out the part and checked with magnifier and the top seam is a mess. The service manager took a look at it and says its impact damage. Wanted £60.00 to repair. Awaiting Skoda to replace ?

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