I seem to have a problem.

I noticed it last week and figured it was a bit of condensation, but it has now become a problem IMO.

Has anyone got any ideas as to how to solve this problem of water ingress into a real lamp cluster?

AFAIK, the rear lamp has not been damaged by impact.

When i bought my Skoda Kamiq i had different condensation issues on the majority of the lamps back. I think 3-4 times, during first 3 years.

Skoda dident want to replace/take the cost of this, but i managed to get the dealership where i bought the car to replace the lamps (i think 7 different, approx 2000 EUR)

The quality of newer lamps on Skoda has a quality issue. My experience is that its a bit of gamble if you get condensation, not sure if it will go away automatically.
Even with lots of sun (heat) it will not go away, you prob need to use some hairdryer of some kind, but issue will most likely return.

 

When they replaced my lamps, problem went away, but it has appeared on one, i hope the vent will take it out, but i have my doubts.
Its a common problem for sure...

Edited 13 October, 20241 yr by Sweden24

35 minutes ago, Sweden24 said:

When i bought my Skoda Kamiq i had different condensation issues on the majority of the lamps back. I think 3-4 times, during first 3 years.

Skoda dident want to replace/take the cost of this, but i managed to get the dealership where i bought the car to replace the lamps (i think 7 different, approx 2000 EUR)

The quality of newer lamps on Skoda has a quality issue. My experience is that its a bit of gamble if you get condensation, not sure if it will go away automatically.
Even with lots of sun (heat) it will not go away, you prob need to use some hairdryer of some kind, but issue will most likely return.

 

When they replaced my lamps, problem went away, but it has appeared on one, i hope the vent will take it out, but i have my doubts.
Its a common problem for sure...

Thank you for adding information. Hopefully others will be able to add info on a repair to stop the problem, but if it needs a new lamp cluster, then so be it.

I'm well out of warranty now, unfortunately.

Skoda will claim you used some acid to clean your car that is not covered under warranty (****ttttalk from em)
But also this condition can appear much faster if you clean your car youself with pressure and are to close,
with to close i mean (recommended lenght on pressure washer, do it yourself firm).

 

Good luck! I know this problem sucks.... would be nice if someone figure out a solution (do it yourself) to get rid of the moisture.

9 minutes ago, Sweden24 said:

Skoda will claim you used some acid to clean your car that is not covered under warranty (****ttttalk from em)
But also this condition can appear much faster if you clean your car youself with pressure and are to close,
with to close i mean (recommended lenght on pressure washer, do it yourself firm).

 

Good luck! I know this problem sucks.... would be nice if someone figure out a solution (do it yourself) to get rid of the moisture.

I have been guilty of using a pressure washer on the light previously, so if Skoda is right, I may inadvertently have caused the issue. 🤔

Is it only the nearside cluster that's affected?

 

Any signs of condensation or damp in the boot/wheel well?

 

Rear washer working okay?

 

Gaz

I've a vague recollection of this coming up before and it was the seal around the cluster, where once off the car, there was an obvious water run mark where it had gotten through and into the cluster.  Drop it off, dry it out, new seal/sealant IMO 👍

 

Gaz

27 minutes ago, Gaz said:

Is it only the nearside cluster that's affected?

Yes.

Any signs of condensation or damp in the boot/wheel well?

No, it's dry. 👍

Rear washer working okay?

Yes, no problem.

Gaz

I think it's failed here, @Gaz.

Thinking about it, it's been one of those "Huh! I don't like the look of that, but it's not causing any problems." things that I've put to the back of my mind.

I assume it's not related to that hole a bit above the tip of the pink arrow.

Edited 13 October, 20241 yr by EnterName

24 minutes ago, Gaz said:

I've a vague recollection of this coming up before and it was the seal around the cluster, where once off the car, there was an obvious water run mark where it had gotten through and into the cluster.  Drop it off, dry it out, new seal/sealant IMO 👍

 

Gaz

Yeah, I think removing the rear light and drying it out is certainly the next step.

Does the lamp actually split into more than one piece?

There seem to be two sets of torx bolts.

Set one - Five bolts circled Blue (Philips head)

Set 2 - Four bolts circled Pink. (Torx T20)

 

The pink bolts look like they can be removed fairly easily, but the blue ones look a bit like they might cause problems.

Or is it straightforward?

 

Edited 13 October, 20241 yr by EnterName

Don't know, but I'd have thought the blue ones hold the coloured lens unit on.  Those three oblongs on the same edge as the location pins look like they might be recesses on the other side, for the coloured lens to slot into.

Well I've done a very rough and ready job of it, but it's getting dark and I need the car tomorrow.

It's fairly easy to do, once you know what you're doing.

This video gets the light out, more or less.

 

There are a couple of flies in the ointment, however.

There are two pop-in plastic lugs that fit into the bodywork.

You can see them on the left below.

I needed to pry the light backwards with the thin pry tool to pop them out, as there's not much purchase on the lamp itself to pull it out.

Beyond that, I tried unscrewing the five Philips screws, but they were "giving" in an odd way, and I had visions of undoing something that might subsequently move and be impossible to re-assemble, so I bottled it and took the 4 torx screws out and removed the bulb cluster out. So now I know how to change my rear bulbs at least, which is nice.

The rubber seal you can see  actually slots into the bulb holder, it just happened to adhered to the main lamp body when I split the two.

 

 

To remove (most of the water) I started with a turkey baster, then when I'd got the worst of it out, I used a tea-towel, extra-long cotton buds and a useless pipe-cleaner.

(Which reminds me, I need a better pipe-cleaner.)

It's still pretty horrible, but it'll do for now and I know what to do to do a better job when I have more time to do it.

10 minutes ago, Gaz said:

Don't know, but I'd have thought the blue ones hold the coloured lens unit on.  Those three oblongs on the same edge as the location pins look like they might be recesses on the other side, for the coloured lens to slot into.

I gave them a try, but I think I was just trying the handle on the door to a world of trouble and I bottled it and went fishing for water instead.

It's not perfect, but it's plenty good enough for now.

Thanks for your replies, @Gaz & @Sweden24! 🤝

Run a thin bead of silicon sealant between the coloured lens and white plastic maybe?

 

Don't blame you at all for bottling it   Time and place and all that jazz.

 

Helped my Son change his rear trailing arm and blown shock (MOT failures) on the Sunday before I went to Bruges the next day.  I pointed out to him before we started that if anything went wrong he was stuffed.  A couple of simple errors were good for the adrenaline 🙄

Edited 13 October, 20241 yr by Gaz
comment added

1 hour ago, Gaz said:

Run a thin bead of silicon sealant between the coloured lens and white plastic maybe?

 

Don't blame you at all for bottling it   Time and place and all that jazz.

 

Helped my Son change his rear trailing arm and blown shock (MOT failures) on the Sunday before I went to Bruges the next day.  I pointed out to him before we started that if anything went wrong he was stuffed.  A couple of simple errors were good for the adrenaline 🙄

Yeah, that's my plan for when I do the job properly. 👍

You could always drill a small (2 or 3mm) hole at the lowest point of the light to let the water run out if it builds up.

2 hours ago, HeavyMetalRich said:

You could always drill a small (2 or 3mm) hole at the lowest point of the light to let the water run out if it builds up.

This is what I have done to my daughters 9n polo ( as well as a line of mastic along the joint between the two halves of the light) vw polos of a certain age seem to suffer with condensation in the rear lights.  

Edited 14 October, 20241 yr by seriesdriver
spelling

1 hour ago, seriesdriver said:

This is what I have done to my daughters 9n polo ( as well as a line of mastic along the joint between the two halves of the light) vw polos of a certain age seem to suffer with condensation in the rear lights.  

 

Yeah there are many types of car that suffer from this problem. My Octavia has it due to the fact that someone has drilled large holes in the casing to fit flashy lights for some reason??!!🤔😁 I had to replace one light though as the water had stopped the LED element working properly.

 

I think also, in cars of a certain age, the glue starts deteriorating thus letting the water get in.

On 14/10/2024 at 10:16, HeavyMetalRich said:

You could always drill a small (2 or 3mm) hole at the lowest point of the light to let the water run out if it builds up.

That thought did cross my mind, but I don't want to be drilling holes in the rear light in what is still a fairly young car, if I can effect an alternative solution.

Right, an update.

Tonight I removed the light, covered the hole in the bodywork with a plastic bag taped in place with detailing tape, to keep the worst of the weather out.

I then set about drying the rear lamp indoors.

I started with a (newly bought) hairdryer set on max fan and mid heat, with a large desiccant bag nearby.

I'm not sure how much the desiccant bag helped, but the hairdryer worked very well, and I was content letting it run until I realised that a 2kW hairdryer might be quite an expensive way of drying the light. By the time that thought occurred to me, the light was already pretty dry.

I had a careful look around with the aid of a torch for any tiny drops of water that I'd end up sealing in if I didn't shift them at this stage.

There were a couple left, so I figured I'd need a cheaper but still effective solution to shift them.

Enter the hot water bottle.

 

I have rested the light on a cushion with the desiccant bag under the bulb holes, and rested the rubbery hot water bottle over the top of the remaining water hole and left it to evaporate the water.

The cushion allows me to position the light perfectly for the hot water bottle to sit neatly over the drop of water and associated condensation, and I'll check on it and replenish the hot water bottle as required.

 

I have a little tube of clear silicone sealant on the way for tomorrow, and will use some very cheap and nasty interdental brushes to clear the accumulated crud out of the channel where I intend to run the silicone sealant. I intend to err on the side of caution, and use as little silicone as possible. I'll squidge the sealant into the gap between outer lens and main lamp body with a toothpick, and hopefully that will be that.

Edited 16 October, 20241 yr by EnterName

Thanks to all who've contributed to this thread.

I'll post more pics of how the light fits into the bodywork tomorrow, as you'll need to know how to remove the light unit if you ever have to change a bulb in the rear lamp cluster.

No the light is beautifully dry and ready to be sealed against water ingress.

I have ordered the silicone sealant, but I have a thought that some silicone grease might be better, as it's a more fixable solution after completion.

I can easily wipe it off and re-apply, whereas the silicone sealant is not easy to sort out if it fails or turns black with water mould.

But potentially it's a less permanent solution.

I suppose I could put an initial layer of sealant on the joint around the lamp unit, then if it fails, apply a top coat of the silicone grease.

There's one awkward crevice that will be difficult to seal neatly and completely.

The trouble with silicone grease is that it does attract dirt and crud.  Having had two Del Sol's, where silicone grease is your friend when it comes to keeping the roof seals in good order, it's lovely when you first put it on, but the next time you touch it it'll be all gritty and 'orrible.  It's a labour of love. A thin line of mould resistant clear sealant would be my weapon of choice.

 

Gaz

19 minutes ago, Gaz said:

The trouble with silicone grease is that it does attract dirt and crud.  Having had two Del Sol's, where silicone grease is your friend when it comes to keeping the roof seals in good order, it's lovely when you first put it on, but the next time you touch it it'll be all gritty and 'orrible.  It's a labour of love. A thin line of mould resistant clear sealant would be my weapon of choice.

 

Gaz

That is an excellent point, Gaz.

I will take your advice and use a permanent sealant.  🤝

Cleaning the light prior to sealing it and I find one of the plastic spacer/shim tabs has become displaced and needs removing and gluing back in place.

I uhm'd and ah'd about what to use and then opted for some superglue gel.

Cleaned off the previous failed glue, which looks like some sort of double-sided sticky tape, and then applied a few tiny drops of superglue and pressed the pad into place.

Held it down with a contrived tweezers & peg clamp, as it's a tricky little situation to allow clamping and the tweezers and peg allow a precise and simple "fit and forget" clamp which worked perfectly.

 

While I'm here, I'll mention that the lamp isn't a sealed unit when fully assembled.

There are vent holes in the rear of bulb mount by the connector plug, but hopefully water will not get in through there.

Edited 17 October, 20241 yr by EnterName