Condensation In light clusters
- Thread starter Scotter280
- Start date
Standard on most lights nowadays to be honest. One of the big brands released a statement about something to do with atmospheric pressure causing it and blah blah even on new and nearly new
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I bought a 2016 Leon with condensation in one light and full-moo water in the other. Dealer replaced the bad light but yip, the brand new light now has condensation in it!
Thing is, we have a 2014 Leon that has never had any condensation in the lights, ever. So it can be done. Why they don't, I don't know.
Thing is, we have a 2014 Leon that has never had any condensation in the lights, ever. So it can be done. Why they don't, I don't know.
We had a 2014 Leon ST FR and a Leon "Style", last series with the 1.9TDI, never any condensation. Also not in the Cupra Ateca we have now, nor in our Fiat Panda.
I thought there might of been a chip or crack but I can’t find any
The car has been stood around for nearly 6 months and only recently have I been taking it out on a weekend, maybe and hopefully that has something to do with it!?
The car has been stood around for nearly 6 months and only recently have I been taking it out on a weekend, maybe and hopefully that has something to do with it!?
The lights aren’t completely sealed. And LED’s don’t get hot enough to dry them out like other bulbs would. Just one of those things you have to live with I guess
So how come my 2014 car has covered 70K miles without a drop of moisture in the headlights? Why can't they build all the lights like that?
Seat won’t build the lights themselves. That will be contracted out to another company such as hella or another light manufacturing company.
the supplier of the lights may even change through a car’s life on the production line dependant if can be sourced cheaper elsewhere things like that
I know, the lights are made by Valeo, but it doesn't matter who makes them. The point is that it's clearly possible to make lights that don't collect water, as some cars have them. So why aren't all lights made that way?
I would imagine it depends on different environments and conditions of where your car is. Mine has been stood up for most of the last 6 months and in an area away from any sun so maybe that played a factor
My V40 LED headlights never had any condensation, both Seats i had did. Even on heat generated Bi Xenons
It seems that not all Volvos are immune from condensation in the headlamps, including the V40;
https://www.volvov40club.com/threads/condensation-inside-the-xenon-headlight-unit.25466/
https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=261221
https://forums.swedespeed.com/showthread.php?309801-Headlight-Condensation
A quick Google search and BMW, Mercedes, Audi, VW and Skoda also seem to suffer from the same issue. I dare say a search on other specific manufacturers vehicles will show this isn’t just a problem specific to Seat and the manufacturers listed above.
For me, I’d not be too concerned at a small amount of misting inside the headlamp, but I would consider ‘excessive’ condensation (e.g. where the entire inside of lens is covered in large water droplets and / or the presence of actual pooling of water in the headlamp unit) to be unacceptable. A forum member over on golfgtiforum.co.uk recently had a headlamp unit on their Golf GTI replaces under warranty because of excessively heavy condensation inside the headlamp unit.
It isn't possible to make a truly sealed headlight, the pressure differences created by atmospheric changes or heat cycles would split the seals or distort the lens.
So they have to breath and, as they cool, breathing in damp air this time of year if you've been driving in the dark. That moisture won't get expelled as the unit heats up on the next cycle, so you get a buildup of condensate when the lens is the coldest surface.
The breather pipe should have a filter (not present in the pre FL model hence why the dust problem) and preferably a vapor barrier, which will negate the problem, but obviously still not in these current Valeo lights.
You could place a bag of dessiccant inside the headlight, or gently dry it with a hairdryer or wait until a sunny day, park it facing the sun and leave the rear caps off for a few hours.
Without a vapor barrier on the breather pipe then the condensation will return, every time you use the lights on a damp night you'll add a little more but it's not an MOT failure or warranty claim unless the light is dripping inside with a split seal.
So they have to breath and, as they cool, breathing in damp air this time of year if you've been driving in the dark. That moisture won't get expelled as the unit heats up on the next cycle, so you get a buildup of condensate when the lens is the coldest surface.
The breather pipe should have a filter (not present in the pre FL model hence why the dust problem) and preferably a vapor barrier, which will negate the problem, but obviously still not in these current Valeo lights.
You could place a bag of dessiccant inside the headlight, or gently dry it with a hairdryer or wait until a sunny day, park it facing the sun and leave the rear caps off for a few hours.
Without a vapor barrier on the breather pipe then the condensation will return, every time you use the lights on a damp night you'll add a little more but it's not an MOT failure or warranty claim unless the light is dripping inside with a split seal.
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