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Taillight fish tank!!!!

T

tc300

New member
Well I just noticed I had no taillight on my passenger side when I took the whole light out it was full of water!!!
back up and tail light sockets look pretty corroded...

anybody have any suggestions or options on what to do??
 


Best bet is to go to junkyard and grab the sockets off a car in the junkyard to replace yours with. And buy some new tail lights.
 
Yeah I just checked on rock auto and sockets are expensive!!!! Wtf.

I also found a small hairline crack at the top of the taillight.......
 
I second the LED tails. You won't regret it. You may be able to clean and grease (dielectric grease) your sockets if they aren't too bad off.
 


As said above, your best bet is to purchase the LED taillights. These cost around $200 or more, can be found on e-bay, or Intense-racing, or on FB. You can also google to find more places that sell these. As far as finding a decent taillight at a junkyard, good luck. I have not seen any taillights in scrap yards that are worth taking home.
 
well good news!! I cleaned out the sockets everything works.. Added some new bulbs and some dielectric grease.. Found three tail lights at my local junkyards but all three had water in them and looked in worse shape than mine. On mine I found a small/hairline crack that was vertical, I siliconed it and the top of the light with 3 coats. Ran a garden hose over it for 20 minutes last night and there was no water in the light after!!! I did cut some sockets off while the junkyard just in case I needed to replace those.
 
tc300, I suggest that you keep an eye on your repair. My taillights did the same thing and I attempted the same repair that you just did. It did not last for very long before it started leaking again. So, the next time you get a heavy rain best to check out your taillights. Hopefully you'll have better luck than I did. I eventually replaced mine with new ones.
 


Also, as a last resort, you can simply drill a small hole or two in the bottom of each tail light. Obviously it doesn't prevent water intrusion, but lets the water drain.

Make sure the bulb sockets have plenty of dielectric grease prior to installing the bulb, and they should be okay. I didn't have any issues after doing this.
 
GPCharlie said:
tc300, I suggest that you keep an eye on your repair. My taillights did the same thing and I attempted the same repair that you just did. It did not last for very long before it started leaking again. So, the next time you get a heavy rain best to check out your taillights. Hopefully you'll have better luck than I did. I eventually replaced mine with new ones.
Click to expand...

Everything has been looking good!!! we've had plenty of rain past few weeks. I have since added three coats of silicone on top of one another Took the taillight out last night and checked all the wiring connections, they were pretty corroded before. a small screwdriver some sandpaper and dielectric grease took care of that.
 
tc300 said:
Everything has been looking good!!! we've had plenty of rain past few weeks. I have since added three coats of silicone on top of one another Took the taillight out last night and checked all the wiring connections, they were pretty corroded before. a small screwdriver some sandpaper and dielectric grease took care of that.
Click to expand...

Good to hear that you're faring better than I did. Next time mine leak, I'm looking for you.
 
Hey TC300: Same problem here. Pass side full of water and sockets are corroded. Driver's side also had water, but sockets were clean. There seems to be a gap between the outer lens and the rest of the housing. The space between has gotten foggy in some places.

What did you end up doing??
 
I'd just find a good set in the junkyard and replace them both. Clean the corrosion out of the sockets or grab those from a JY too and swap them out.
 


jammy said:
Hey TC300: Same problem here. Pass side full of water and sockets are corroded. Driver's side also had water, but sockets were clean. There seems to be a gap between the outer lens and the rest of the housing. The space between has gotten foggy in some places.

What did you end up doing??
Click to expand...
He said.....
tc300 said:
well good news!! I cleaned out the sockets everything works.. Added some new bulbs and some dielectric grease.. Found three tail lights at my local junkyards but all three had water in them and looked in worse shape than mine. On mine I found a small/hairline crack that was vertical, I siliconed it and the top of the light with 3 coats. Ran a garden hose over it for 20 minutes last night and there was no water in the light after!!! I did cut some sockets off while the junkyard just in case I needed to replace those.
Click to expand...
 
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