Ok well Traildust stickied this thread in the common prob sticky, and asked if I could make it a little more user friendly so here goes nothing, just going to sum up everything/ go into a tad more detail :thumbsup:
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If you have moisture in you headlights, the last thing you ever want to do is start drilling holes in the lens itself, that is just going to make the problem worse. The OEM housing has its own dedicated air opening to allow the flow of moisture to prevent buildups. The housings also has a rubber butyl sealant that goes in a "channel" where the lens and housing meet. If this sealant is compromised, even the OEM openings won't be able to alleviate the amount of moisture that can get in.
Anyway now for things to check:
First, inspect the housing for damage. Look for cracks in the lens, housing, seams, etc... also make sure the turn signal and parking light bulbs are fully and properly seated in their socket, and the main headlight bulb rubber cap is properly on. If all is good, move on.
Second, make sure the housing OEM openings are free/not obstructed. You will probably have to remove the housings from the car to properly check them. Here is a thread that goes into detail on how to install/remove the headlights (
http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/1...ector-led-halo-headlights-installed-pics.html) The openings you are looking for are in this picture below:
The first pic shows two black caps on the outside of the housing. Behind each is an semi-circle opening, make sure those are open and clear. There is suppose to be foam in the black cap (keeps debris out, but allows air). If those are blocked, clear them. In the 2nd pic there is a structure in the lower right part of the housing that resembles what the openings look like, it is suppose to be sealed there though.
Third, its time to check the OEM sealant. It shouldn't just randomly start allowing moisture in, but things can happen. To check/add to the sealant, the headlight must be dissembled, and by that I mean the lens has to come off. Here is how:
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Remove Housing Lens:
There are 9 screws and 3 clips that hold the lens to the housing.
Red boxes show the screw locations (phillips screws) and yellow boxes show the clips. Take the screws out then take it to the oven. Set the oven for 265F and bake the housing for 7 minutes. Now BE VERY CAREFUL, when the plastic is this hot it is EASILY bent and broken so take your time. The clips will be easy to disengage at this point. Just use a large flat screwdriver to pry the lens away from the housing. If the sealant starts to reharden, throw it back into the oven for a min or two to re-soften it. It should come off eventually. Make sure you don't let the sealant get onto the reflectors as it will be a major pain to remove. Just throw the sealant that is hanging over back into the channel. This is what you should end up with:
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Now if you look above, around the outside edge of the housing you can see the channel I was refering too. That dark grey material is the sealant. It is pretty tough at room temp, but very malleable when heated. By the way, those 2 semi circles on the left side of the housings are the OEM air openings. Now at this point you have 3 options:
1)You can just re-install the lens and hope by taking it on and off, the sealant will reset it self and form a proper seal (that worked when I retrofitted my headlights, but I wasn't already having moisture problems)
2) Get some new sealant. It is a rubber butyl compound, sometime called butyl tape. This is what I am refering to (
http://www.theretrofitsource.com/product_info.php?cPath=31&products_id=792) The dealers and local auto store (Autozone, Advance Autoparts, Pepboys, etc...) might carry some in stock, but you may have to order it online. You can then take some and pull it into a string and feed it into the channel (adding to the original sealant). Then re-install the lens.
3) Or get the sealant, and while the housing is hot scrape out the original sealant and start over. Instead of just adding to the original, start over with brand new sealant (not necessarily required, the original stuff will soften and reseal fine usually.
Now do NOT use silicon inside this channel instead of the butyl. It will not work the way you want it too. Silicon is not good at forming a proper seal between the layers of plastic (leading to more moisture problems), and will not "flow" around the lens/screws in the channel while you reinstall the lens like the hot butyl will. Also it will make lens removal in the future very difficult and a major PITA. There is a reason why OEM manufacturers use butyl :thumbsup:
At this point you need to re-install the lens and make the housing whole, here is how:
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Resealing the housing:
First use compressed air to clean out the housing. Also make sure the reflector is clean of all dirt, dust, or anything that got on it while it was open. Reheat the oven to 265F degrees. Push the lens back into the housing as far as you can get it (it won't be close to sealing at this point) and place it into the oven for 7 min. Take it out and place clamps along the edge to force the lens back into the housing. The edges should mount back flush. While the clamps are on and sealant hot, start screwing the 9 screws back in and reengage the clips. Once they are all in, the lens is flush to the housing, and it is cool, remove the clamps.
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Another thing you can try is using silicon on the OUTSIDE of the housing. There will be a ridge where the housing and lens meet. You can take silicon and run it along that ridge. It can block some of the moisture from getting inside, by blocking the path to the lens/housing seam. The silicon is not visible from the exterior of the car as it is hidden behind body panels once the headlight is re-installed.
If you tried all of this and your still getting moisture (realize it can take a day or 2 to dissipate), you might want to look into a new housing. Ebay is a good place to look for used OEM housings (its where I got mine) and you can find lots of OE housings just by googling. Probably somewhere between $100-150 for a used OEM/new OE headlight
Disclaimer: Do at your own risk. I will not be held responsible for any damage to vehicle or bodily harm when performing these modifications, or any voidage of certain parts of your warranty.
