Moisture In Tail Lights (r33)

[madmoomoo]

Hey lads and lassies,

I'm constantly getting moisture in the reverse/indicator parts (clear bit) of my tail lights (both sides). I've had a quick look, and there seems to be a gap on top of my tail light assembly between this and the metal. From what I can gather, the water that comes down the edges of the boot then goes into my tail light assembly. I would have presumed that the water would be guided OVER the tail lights to the exterior of the car but this isn't the case on my car.

Can anyone with an R33 pls help me out; do you have some sort of rubber seal between light assembly and metal part of car to which it is screwed? Or what is the flow of this water supposed to be?

Aside from getting moisture in the lights, I find that inside my boot is also getting wet, just next to the lights. I'm presuming the trickling water then splashes out into my boot!

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers!

[Spook's_Skyline]

yer, i get it as well

everything still works so i just leave it to dry out

[paulr33]

there should be a rubber lick sticky goo that goes between the light shell and the cars boot frame area, a bit like old bubblebum, you basically sandwhich this between the taillight plastic and screw it back in place. the goo never sets and is always the same consistency

[madmoomoo]

Oh ok. I'm presuming that the bubblegum stuff is the same as the black stuff inside the door frames holding the plastic sheet in place... Any idea where i can get hold of this stuff or what it is?

Actually, I've got another part to the question. The back of the light assembly, where the lights are plugged in, I've also got that black gooey stuff around the edge of the plastic assembly. Is there supposed to be something attatched to this stuff and covering the wiring? I can't figure this one out...

[ctjet]

Oh ok. I'm presuming that the bubblegum stuff is the same as the black stuff inside the door frames holding the plastic sheet in place...

it is the same stuff. maybe try asking importers

[No Crust Racing]

The black sealant on the inside is meant to be there =) I have a similar problem on my SII 33, due to a small crack in the indicator lens assembly. It seems quite common and if left un-resolved for long enough will eventually result in fading, mould, discolouration etc. It's a matter of personal opinion as to when you deal with it. I'll be leaving mine for a while yet *lazy* =)

[RANDY]

Only my left side gets it, but the water is supposed to flow in that location that you describe. It then comes out behind the rear bumper somewhere.

I'll be pulling my tail light out soon and re-rubbering it.

[PLR33]

yea i had that... it took me a day, but i took it all apart, pulled it away from that sticky black stuff, then disassmbled the bottom clear lens part which was leaking... this was hard because it was sealed with hot glue or sum clear sticky stuff, so i poured hot (not boiling) water over it and kept pulling it out, took ages but eventually it came out. Then cleaned it up and re sealed everything with sealicon. Its being fine ever since!!! for me it needed to be done because water was actually leaking into the boot of my car which in the long run would of caused rust.

[Craved]

the black stuff is sikaflex, can be bought from supercheap, comes in a tube like selleys all clear etc..

if part i leaking, best to remove the whole light (hard work) and reseal the whole unit.

[\>sl33kLine</]

I had the same problem with my R33 Series1. I took the tail light out, which as craved said, is a bit of work. I sat a small heater facing the back of the tail light for bout an hour for the black stuff to soften then very gently puuled the light off. Makesure to take ALL the screws out b4 you start lol. talking from experience. Tehn once I had the light out, I removed all the old sealent which didnt look too healthy, re-sealed it with some new stuff (dont be shy with it) placed the light back in it's place, which wasnt the easiest of jobs either, let it set for a bit and havent had a drop of water in there since.

Good luck with it mate, hope this helps ya out.

-Dave.