Out of warranty and issues start.... - rear lights and moisture

DaFoot

Active Member
Jun 16, 2014
299
0
Sheffield
www.dafoot.co.uk
Warranty on my Leon ended in Sept '17.

Prior to that I called a local SEAT garage to ask about (a little) moisture in rear light cluster to be told it's normal in vented light units. Seemed odd to me, but hey ho.

Sure enough, the next service (Oct, after end of warranty) a different garage pointed out the moisture and quoted £200 to replace the light unit!

So, is the moisture a concern (2nd place were talking about potential concerns should water find its way into electrical system)?

What should I be looking to pay to replace the unit if I need to and is it an easy job to do myself?
 

KXL

KXL
Dec 15, 2016
1,581
197
London, UK
May I ask is the moisture persistent or sometimes.

When I had my Leon, the front headlights would have moisture sometimes, but it goes away, same with rear light clusters.

BUT...only the right rear seem to be 24/7 condensed after 6 months of ownership (so the car would have been about 20 months old), the rest would go away after awhile. This is normal, however my rear right unit wasn't 'normal' so the garage replaced it no questions asked.

When I went to service the car (1st of 2 free services) they said it was normal (or can't be asked to fix it). A different Seat garage (which I highly recommend), I brought car there to fix a rattle, and they 'advised' I should fix the rear right light as it's condensed, but I would need to come back couple of weeks later when they receive the part. It was done no issues or questions.

However car was still within the first 3 years and under warranty.
Outside of warranty, it will be difficult (to get it replaced for free).
 
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robby71

Full Member
Sep 3, 2005
653
91
Yorkshire, UK
Maybe ask SEAT for a goodwill gesture if you have FSH or buy a used light from a breakers/ ebay

It takes 5 mins to remove unit so easy enough to do yourself
 

LLLLeon

Active Member
Jan 5, 2018
2
2
Hi all, long time lurker. When I bought my leon at two years old after having lurked here, one of the things I checked for was the rear lights, and one of them had moisture in it. I pointed this out to the dealer to replace before buying, which they did.

Fast forward 6 months, and the replacement light was starting to get damp inside and progressively got worse the next couple of months or so. When I looked closely at the light, I didn't have cracks where the halvesl bond the outer to inner light moulding, but the join where the clear and back part are bonded had seperated about 1/3rd along the top of the light.

Being as I use a fair amount of plastics and things, I preferred to try and fix before buying a replacement for it to likely only fail a number of months down the line.
So I unscrewed the light cluster out [3 screws, inner rear boot one for me].
I then cleaned around the light with a damp tissue/kitchen roll around the groove where the inner and outer light moulding parts join [good design that - designed to trap water in there!] to get rid of any dirt.

I then put masking tape along each edge of the joint gap, so only the small slot recess is visible. I then use a small artist brush to fairly quickly paint into the groove a layer of flowable silicone adhesive [Wacker A07 in my case - you can find it via a google, although those that stock it in the UK charge a lot for what it is. rs silicone: ps-composites.com/product/rs-silicone-rubber/ should work just as well].

The flowable sealant has toluene in it, so it slightly attacks/bonds to surfaces better than regular silicone sealant, and it is also runny rather than paste like. A07 sets in about 5 mins, so to clean brushes, use a small pot of white spirit.
After a couple of layers all around the join and letting the previous cure for 30 mins between each, took the masking tape off and put the light back.

Been several months since, and all this wet weather, haven't had any damp in there since.

Might help one or two of you who get sick of buying new lights!
 
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salsajoe

Active Member
Apr 12, 2017
130
13
Yorkshire
Warranty on my Leon ended in Sept '17.

Prior to that I called a local SEAT garage to ask about (a little) moisture in rear light cluster to be told it's normal in vented light units. Seemed odd to me, but hey ho.

Sure enough, the next service (Oct, after end of warranty) a different garage pointed out the moisture and quoted £200 to replace the light unit!

So, is the moisture a concern (2nd place were talking about potential concerns should water find its way into electrical system)?

What should I be looking to pay to replace the unit if I need to and is it an easy job to do myself?

The moisture in the rear lights is a known issue to dealers and SEAT. The dealer should have replaced the light as soon as you pointed out the problem (while still under warranty). I would go straight back to them and point out it is a known problem and you reported it while still under warranty. If you don't get any joy from the dealer then contact SEAT customer service.

Bought my Leon (MY 2016) one year old and checked the rear lights as I had already done the research about any issues and this was one of them. One needed replacing because of moisture and this was replaced without any hassle.

One reason the lights leak is if they are overtightened when fitting this distorts the plastic and joints eventually fail.
 

DaFoot

Active Member
Jun 16, 2014
299
0
Sheffield
www.dafoot.co.uk
Thanks for input all.
SEAT have responded to comments on Twitter, hopefully as I explained I first queried while still under warranty they will help get things sorted (at least not at full price).

In answer to some questions -
Rear lights only
Persistent moisture
Both sides
 

DaFoot

Active Member
Jun 16, 2014
299
0
Sheffield
www.dafoot.co.uk
Thanks for input all.
SEAT have responded to comments on Twitter, hopefully as I explained I first queried while still under warranty they will help get things sorted (at least not at full price).

In answer to some questions -
Rear lights only
Persistent moisture
Both sides
So got response from SEAT Twitter account.

They initially replied to my tweet about being out of warranty to ask for details an DM. which I duely typed out for them.

They respond saying out of warranty, tough.

So that's what I expected, what annoys is they asked me to provide more details when all the details they needed (out of warranty) were in original public tweet.
 
Last edited:

kendo08fr

Active Member
Aug 8, 2017
37
38
Glasgow
Hi all, long time lurker. When I bought my leon at two years old after having lurked here, one of the things I checked for was the rear lights, and one of them had moisture in it. I pointed this out to the dealer to replace before buying, which they did.

Fast forward 6 months, and the replacement light was starting to get damp inside and progressively got worse the next couple of months or so. When I looked closely at the light, I didn't have cracks where the halvesl bond the outer to inner light moulding, but the join where the clear and back part are bonded had seperated about 1/3rd along the top of the light.

Being as I use a fair amount of plastics and things, I preferred to try and fix before buying a replacement for it to likely only fail a number of months down the line.
So I unscrewed the light cluster out [3 screws, inner rear boot one for me].
I then cleaned around the light with a damp tissue/kitchen roll around the groove where the inner and outer light moulding parts join [good design that - designed to trap water in there!] to get rid of any dirt.

I then put masking tape along each edge of the joint gap, so only the small slot recess is visible. I then use a small artist brush to fairly quickly paint into the groove a layer of flowable silicone adhesive [Wacker A07 in my case - you can find it via a google, although those that stock it in the UK charge a lot for what it is. rs silicone: ps-composites.com/product/rs-silicone-rubber/ should work just as well].

The flowable sealant has toluene in it, so it slightly attacks/bonds to surfaces better than regular silicone sealant, and it is also runny rather than paste like. A07 sets in about 5 mins, so to clean brushes, use a small pot of white spirit.
After a couple of layers all around the join and letting the previous cure for 30 mins between each, took the masking tape off and put the light back.

Been several months since, and all this wet weather, haven't had any damp in there since.

Might help one or two of you who get sick of buying new lights!


Sounds good to me. I have the odd 'normal' condensation but will use this if it gets worse.
 

Das Chin

Active Member
Aug 31, 2016
207
11
If i were you i would find a local member with the same car but one that does not have the issues and under warranty.

Assuming they are the same lights and cluster (make sure not face lifted) swap them over.

Your man with the now dodgy light under warranty can go in and get it changed under warranty

A part like a rear light surely can't be unique to a car and seat are mass made so the dealer won't know any different

I am not local as would otherwise do it..mine is a cupra 290 black edition under a lease so I have no intentions of keeping the car past the lease, it's not mine so I don't really give a crap about it tbh. It gets ragged every day, dirt cheap to run and again it's not mine as seat fin services own it ;-)
 
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