Quote:
Originally Posted by wheelhaus
They may or may not fix it, impossible to know. To TRULY fix the problem, I'm afraid the chassis sheet metal forms need to be redesigned. The problem is not the tail light itself, the housing is fine and is sealed around it's seam like any other tail light assembly. The problem lies in how the gasket fits and how the sheet metal it bolts to is so thin, and deforms easily. The light bulb sockets are not sealed (and technically don't need to be), so any water that gets past the gasket has a chance to wick past the bulbs into the housing. It's not really an easy "fix" because as I mentioned, the tail light itself is fine.
A few permanent solutions would be to A- replace the gasket with better material (this has worked for some but to me isn't ideal because the sheet metal can still deform), or B- a sealant, which I recommended a few times in this thread but makes the installation semi permanent, (could be problematic for some) or C- fabricate a more rigid bracket that sits on the sheet metal opposite the taillight that would prevent the thin sheet metal from deforming at all.
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Due to the nature of the water flow from the back window into the tails the permanent solution is a proper rigid body metal base for the lights.
And perhaps a re-design of the black plastic top of the light where it contacts the water channel (and allows water to flow under it and into the gaskets) with a body metal lip over the top of the plastic to redirect the water flow.
CERBERUS