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Porsche Specialist Surrey, Porsche Specialist London, Porsche Specialist East Sussex, Porsche Specialist West Sussex, Porsche Specialist South

Condensation in rear lights .. is there a fix ?

D

deMort

Monaco
Joined
21 Mar 2015
Messages
11,244
I've had a message about this and it got me wondering ..

If the water is left in them for too long then it will damage the electrics and a new unit will be required.

So is there anything that can actually be done as a long term cure ?

My way of thinking and from what i've seen is the reverse section ( clear plastic ) debonds from the rest of the lens allowing water in .

It could also maybe be the outer seal.

We are dealing with gen 1 and 2 here .

So it's damp ..

If it was my car i think i would remove the units and put them somewhere warm to dry out .. an airing cupboard perhaps.

How to stop future problems though ..

My thought would be armourfend over the entire lens .. it would seal it but i'm unsure what it would look like .. again will any heat from the unit discolour it ? i'm not sure ..

Any suggestions please ...
 
On 997.2 I replace them. Plenty of threads where people discuss drilling holes or wrapping them.
 
Had water in one of my rear lights traced to the centre section curiously delaminating and allowing water ingress. I can't see a way to fix such an issue TBH. And so I opted to replace :thumb:
 
Never noticed condensation but in anticipation I have removed the small round stickers on the base of the units to hopefully allow some air circulation/drainage.

I know some have done removed the stickers, dried in an airing cupboard, and then wrapped the lenses using PPF
 
There's a simple fix I've used since owning a Ford Escort MKII back in 1990. Just drill a small hole (talking 1mm....ish) in the top of the light unit. You can do it in the lens and the hole is so small you don't see it unless you look close (and also water doesn't seem to be able to get in through a small hole), or you can do it in somewhere less visible (from the back) so long as you penetrate into where the condensation appears. Keeps the light unit free from condensation and nice and aired.
 
Iain, I had this problem with my 997.2 rear lights which are supposed to be a sealed unit. I removed them and tried drying them out but the problem always returned.

So in the end I thought why not try allowing them to vent properly, so I drilled a few holes in the black plastic rear housing of the light assembly and the problem has never returned since - and this was a few years ago with the car having lived outside over a few winters too!
 
I wrote to deMort about this, in the mistaken belief that there was a fix. In the meantime, can someone point me to a how-to on how to remove/reinstall the rear lights? I plan to dry them out and add some ventilation holes.
 
Ok, so with this i was told to take out rear lights and vinyl wrap them with clear film as you would to when wrapping a car, then on the rear of the lights use silicone and apply thinly going around the seal which will protect from any water leaks, also by drilling 3 holes on each unit, 2 above and one below which will allow air in to dry amd in these holes fit a drinking straw in there about half inch long cos if you wash your car water may run down the back of the light and into the hole, with a piece of straw it wont go in!! there have been many revisions of the rear lights cos of faults, the latest revision of the Gen2 rear lights is the situation of condensation/water leaks... by doing the said wrap will help solve the problem. But only doing the when the rear light is dry!! Im yet to do this!!

A porsche technician told me this and works which prolongs the life of the lights!!

Cheers

J
 
MaxA said:
I wrote to deMort about this, in the mistaken belief that there was a fix. In the meantime, can someone point me to a how-to on how to remove/reinstall the rear lights? I plan to dry them out and add some ventilation holes.
Click to expand...
Open up the engine lid and undo the two torx screws. That's it!
 
I had mine replaced under warrenty and within a few months one suffered the same old problem of condenstation. Now off warrenty so plan to remove and drill holes to improve ventilation. Dry and sunny weather does eventually cause the condensation to go, suggesting that moisture is able to both enter and leave.
 
Shaoxter said:
MaxA said:
I wrote to deMort about this, in the mistaken belief that there was a fix. In the meantime, can someone point me to a how-to on how to remove/reinstall the rear lights? I plan to dry them out and add some ventilation holes.
Click to expand...
Open up the engine lid and undo the two torx screws. That's it!
Click to expand...

Brilliant. I'm still new to working on the Porsche... it's the other car that takes most of the time.
 
Pulling off the two stickers and the cover on the vent will help them breathe. The later German lights don't have the problem in my experience.

LED lights will always be prone to condensation, but water sloshing about is a real problem.
 
MaxA said:
Shaoxter said:
MaxA said:
I wrote to deMort about this, in the mistaken belief that there was a fix. In the meantime, can someone point me to a how-to on how to remove/reinstall the rear lights? I plan to dry them out and add some ventilation holes.
Click to expand...
Open up the engine lid and undo the two torx screws. That's it!
Click to expand...

Brilliant. I'm still new to working on the Porsche... it's the other car that takes most of the time.
Click to expand...

It's even covered in the manual - at least for gen 1.
With the right torx (T25 from memory) it's about 90 seconds for the pair 😁
 
I had condensation in drivers side for some time (more than 12m) on my 2009 997.2 and generally it would clear up. About 1 year ago I noticed that it was not clearing and removed the light to find about half a pint of water in there.

There are plenty of reports about water ingress between the different coloured elements that make up the lens so I "filled" the gaps with glue and polished out the marks then refitted. I added a couple of holes for better breathing while I was at it.

However, in the past couple of months, the problem re-surfaced. Only condensation (not full of water). The passenger side also started to exhibit condensation and at that stage I bit the bullet at replaced both lamps.

The model no on my original ones suggests they were those fitted to the car from new (and I have had the car 7 years). The replacements, manufactured in 2018, have a different part no to the originals (different part version no) so may have some subtle design change.

Given the outrageous cost of replacements, it is worth trying all avenues to eliminate water ingress before splashing out on new lamps. If it is genuinely only light condensation, some air holes at the rear may help a bit. I do not believe that the units themselves have any ventilation and are, by design "air-tight".

If you open up the light (remove the screws and the black plastic back), the gasket is a pain to get back (takes a lot of patience) but a replacement is available as part of the reversing light replacement kit (a bulb and a gasket) should you want to replace it.
 
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