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I heard it’s common for the taillights to have condensation. Is it also common for the headlights to have condensation too?
I noticed these dark spots on the headlight and was not sure what it is. Could condensation lead to this and in the long run, damage the headlight and bulbs?
Are the dark spots on the lens or on the silver metallic headlight shroud? - tough to tell from the photo. In any case you mention moisture. Moisture will kill the electronics inside: see here:
The dark spots are on the silver metalllic shroud.
The silver colored headlight shrouds are coated with a very delicate metallic coating. Just handling without gloves, the oil from your fingers will strip the finish. You can't polish them either - the finish just rubs off. If you know the headlights have not been opened and handled you might have had a drop or two of water drip on them and the black plastic underneath is starting to show. The marks won't effect the headlight operation. I'd worry more about the moisture prevention.
The silver colored headlight shrouds are coated with a very delicate metallic coating. Just handling without gloves, the oil from your fingers will strip the finish. You can't polish them either - the finish just rubs off. If you know the headlights have not been opened and handled you might have had a drop or two of water drip on them and the black plastic underneath is starting to show. The marks won't effect the headlight operation. I'd worry more about the moisture prevention.
i don’t believe the headlight have been opened but there is no way to verify since I am not the first owner. I know previous owner babied the car. When I did the PPI, he said that there was condensation in the taillights and one of the headlights. He said he was not concerned because he sees it all the time. I wasn’t sure how common condensation in the headlight are. I heard about the taillight issue but not the headlights. I don’t want to have an issue down the road when I’m washing the car and need brand new lights because they are expensive. But it doesn’t sound like there is a way to prevent that other than taking them out and sealing it.
i don’t believe the headlight have been opened but there is no way to verify since I am not the first owner. I know previous owner babied the car. When I did the PPI, he said that there was condensation in the taillights and one of the headlights. He said he was not concerned because he sees it all the time. I wasn’t sure how common condensation in the headlight are. I heard about the taillight issue but not the headlights. I don’t want to have an issue down the road when I’m washing the car and need brand new lights because they are expensive. But it doesn’t sound like there is a way to prevent that other than taking them out and sealing it.
As I pointed out in the 2 separate linked threads the problem I believe is two-fold.
1. The headlight housings are poorly sealed from moisture (rain, washing etc.)
2. The headlights when properly sealed do not provide adequate breathing to prevent natural condensation
I found out problem two after I made sure I had addressed problem one. I never had condensation on my headlights from simple temperature differentials (outside air vs. inside air) till after I thoroughly sealed the headlights. - Then the condensation would occur when the outside air was much colder than the air inside the housing.
The Goretex patches initially described by Rich worked perfect for me to allow the air temps to equalize and to allow a sufficient transfer of air in and out of the housing while preventing moisture penetration. I just had to do much bigger patches and drill several holes on the headlight covers to achieve this.
I noticed these dark spots on the headlight and was not sure what it is. Could condensation lead to this and in the long run, damage the headlight and bulbs?
Just so you know: on the low beam the silver orifice can be rotated by 180° - So if you open up your headlights for whatever reason, you could make the "dark spots" dissapear by a 180° rotation.
As I pointed out in the 2 separate linked threads the problem I believe is two-fold.
1. The headlight housings are poorly sealed from moisture (rain, washing etc.)
2. The headlights when properly sealed do not provide adequate breathing to prevent natural condensation
I found out problem two after I made sure I had addressed problem one. I never had condensation on my headlights from simple temperature differentials (outside air vs. inside air) till after I thoroughly sealed the headlights. - Then the condensation would occur when the outside air was much colder than the air inside the housing.
The Goretex patches initially described by Rich worked perfect for me to allow the air temps to equalize and to allow a sufficient transfer of air in and out of the housing while preventing moisture penetration. I just had to do much bigger patches and drill several holes on the headlight covers to achieve this.
Some additional notes on the above mentioned issues:
Here we see an example of badly executed seal between the headlights glass and body:
There is an original "membrane thing" in the headlamp body, on the inner side towards the engine bay:
view from outside
view from inside
However , I dont know if this "membrane thing" really works...
And even if it would work, I believe it's in the wrong place.
I made a thermal image of the headlight during operation (view of headlight from the engine bay side, as 2nd picture), it is easy to see that most of the heat is released towards the back (where the bulbs sit).
So putting a ventilation membrane to the upper part of the back opening lid is most likely the better place, as there the hotter air (with higher water vapor content) is located.
Thereby more humidity will be moved out of the headlight during heating up.
Thomas
Last edited by TR-Spider; Dec 9, 2018 at 09:49 AM.
So putting a ventilation membrane to the upper part of the back opening lid is most likely the better place, as there the hotter air (with higher water vapor content) is located.
Thereby more humidity will be moved out of the headlight during heating up.
Thomas
I believe the factory membrane concept works - it is just too small and in the wrong location. I added large Goretex vents here (see pics) - on the rear headlight housing access access covers. Easier to work on as it did not require removing the headlights and if I want to reverse the modification I can easily seal up the drilled holes in the cover with epoxy. The vents are also close to the main source of heat.
As I could not find specific patch, I will try those (3 per headlamp) PMF200125 - Pressure Compensating Element Snap-In PBT Black - W.L. Gore
You can buy those individually in electronic shops for ~6 Euro/piece.
They are quoted to be sufficient to vent a volume of 5 liters each.
They're available from custom headlight builders or Amazon. I looked at valves but I wanted a bigger area of breathing.and didn't want to install 15 of them per headlight to get the same air transfer capacity. .
Last edited by BMW-North; Dec 12, 2018 at 06:57 AM.
