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Condensation in oem headlights fixed

62K views 30 replies 17 participants last post by  Zoe 
#1 · (Edited)
Soooooo, I was getting the annoying light condensation in my oem projector headlight housings down by the led turn signals. I was getting it every day I drove with my headlights on in a cool/cold day. Once I shut them off, the condensation would slowly disappear in about 20-30 minutes. Like I said, it was really annoying me so I took the advice from this, and other forums, in a last ditch effort to see if I could remove it and it seems to have worked.

I took the headlight housing out and brought them in the house to warm up in a dry environment. I had a big tube of black silicone sealant laying around so I completely sealed all around the headlights where the clear lens meets the black housing. I’m wicked picky, so I made it look like it came from the factory that way….very clean. Next, I took the dust cap off and heated the inside with a hairdryer for like 30 minutes total. Lastly, I put a silica gel desiccant packet inside each housing just underneath the high beam bulb. Even though I already did this prior, I readjusted the vent caps as far out as possible on each housing.

So, today was the 1st day I drove the truck after doing the above. I drive about an hour and it was 25F this morning. I would had normally definitely had the condensation there by the time I got to work, but today there wasn’t any at all. I’m very happy about that. If I were to guess which one of the four that probably did most of the work, I would have to say the hairdryer. If the condensation comes back at any time in the near future, I will come back here and let you all know. :smileup:
 
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#2 ·
Excellent Pete, i hope it works out for you..!! Mine haven`t started to fog up yet, when it does, i might try this. Pretty sure i`m jumpin ship very soon, so hopefully i wont have to mess with it. This shouldnt be happening to brand new vehicles though.
 
#3 ·
Thank you for posting this. I had it happen to my 2014 ram a few weeks ago. Just a tiny bit then went away. Had allot of rain and moisture since then and still dry. But I am expecting it to happen again. So if it does I will try this out. My Dakota had a constant moisture problem and I hated it. I wound up drilling holes in the bottom of the housing. Definitely do not want to do that to this truck.
 
#5 ·
I'm gonna say it was the dessicant pack you put in there. Once that thing gets saturated it may come back.

What are the vent caps you mentioned?

I have this issue too and it's annoying as hell!

It could be the desiccant packets, but I honestly cannot see how any moisture could get in there unless I open the dust cap again to mess with the light bulbs. Either way, the silica gel is reusable and I have about a pound of it and can occasionally change it out. We’ll see. If it comes back, then it has officially won and I will give up.

The vent caps are on the back of the oem projector housings. There are 3 of them and they have an orange color cap. There’s a TSB from Chrysler that states to adjust the orange cap out (pull them straight out) without actually taking them completely off. There are a couple threads around that talk in more detail I believe.
 
#6 · (Edited)
The three orange caps shown here :



There is a TSB out right now due to some headlamps coming from the factory with the caps pressed on too tight.

Fast forward to about the 6:30 mark on this RetroShop youtube
where Jeremy explains how to correct the vent openings.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ng5S8WmY6pQ

The trouble with the 13+ Projector heads
The LED's along the bottom edge don't throw any heat compared to the old incandescent bulbs.
and if there isn't sufficient venting they fog up, if it gets really bad the moisture turns to droplets,
Then you risk damage to the LED's.


The only time I experience a light fog in my lower lens is when its' really cold, -20º to -30º outside,
and I pull into a nice warm car wash with very high humidity.
...and then even my windows all fog up too.

brrrrr -30º and block heater plugged in


before/after car wash





It takes quite a while for the defroster to clear my windows,
then once I'm home I plug a small hair dryer into my extension cord
(for my block heater) and warm up the outer lens and the fog clears up right away, less than 5 minutes per light.


Then they are good until it's car wash time again.
If its not very cold out it doesn't happen at all



My lights have been totally clear since that day, (November 29th)
 
#20 ·
The three orange caps shown here :



There is a TSB out right now due to some headlamps coming from the factory with the caps pressed on too tight.

Fast forward to about the 6:30 mark on this RetroShop youtube
where Jeremy explains how to correct the vent openings.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ng5S8WmY6pQ

The trouble with the 13+ Projector heads
The LED's along the bottom edge don't throw any heat compared to the old incandescent bulbs.
and if there isn't sufficient venting they fog up, if it gets really bad the moisture turns to droplets,
Then you risk damage to the LED's.


The only time I experience a light fog in my lower lens is when its' really cold, -20º to -30º outside,
and I pull into a nice warm car wash with very high humidity.
...and then even my windows all fog up too.

brrrrr -30º and block heater plugged in


before/after car wash





It takes quite a while for the defroster to clear my windows,
then once I'm home I plug a small hair dryer into my extension cord
(for my block heater) and warm up the outer lens and the fog clears up right away, less than 5 minutes per light.


Then they are good until it's car wash time again.
If its not very cold out it doesn't happen at all



My lights have been totally clear since that day, (November 29th)

Mine fogged up in 18 deg C weather so there is no ryme or reason to when they fog. Ridiculous new vehicles are doing this and more ridiculous we have to take the lens to correct. Frig that I am just going to force the dealer to do it. 1900k on mine and hair dryers in the middle od summer? lol insane
 
#7 ·
I had this issue the day after I brought my Ram home. I adjusted the vent caps on the back of each headlight and now they rarely fog up. For those wondering, there's a TSB for the Chrysler 300 headlights that explained the procedure. When I removed my headlights the vents were as far as in they could go, so there was no venting. The TSB stated that of condensation remained in the headlight after 20 minutes of being on, the headlight needed to be replaced. I only performed the work myself and didn't take it to the dealer because it required removing the grille and I didn't want them scratching the bumper. I personally wouldn't try to seal the housings so as to not void the warranty. Trying to get them replaced would be a better solution IMO, as that's what the warranty is for.
 
#9 ·
Yup, I knew all about the TSB and adjusted my vents as it said to and it didn’t help. As stated above, my condensation would disappear quickly enough so that a warranty replacement would not happen per the TSB. There was no need to waste my valuable time driving an hour to the dealership. I’ve read lots of posts were people had their vents adjusted and still got the condensation. Also, some of those same people had up 3 sets of headlights replaced under warranty only to still get the condensation by the led turn signals. It’s just a shitty design.

I wasn’t worried about putting black RTV silicone on the housing as I know it would not void any warranty. All I did was seal something that should already have been sealed from the factory. I did not alter the design or function in any way. Adding silicone sealant there could had only helped and not hurt anything.
 
#8 ·
copied from another board:

The tsb says to replace the headlights only if there is actual water drops in the headlight or the condensation doesn't go away after sitting with the lights on for 20 minutes



DISCUSSION:
Some customers may report that on occasion, vehicle exterior lamp assemblies are fogged
with a light layer of condensation on the inside of the lenses. This may be reported after
the lamps have been turned on and brought up to operating temperature, turned off, and
then rapidly cooled by cold water (such as rain, or the water from a car wash). Lens
fogging can also occur under certain atmospheric conditions after a vehicle has been
parked outside overnight (i.e., a warm humid day followed by clear cool night). This will
usually clear as atmospheric conditions change to allow the condensation to change back
into a vapor. Turning the lamps on will usually accelerate this process.
A lamp that exhibits condensation/fogging should be evaluated in a service bay
environment by first drying all water from the outside surface of the lens and operating the
lamp for 20 minutes.
If the condensation/fogging has begun to clear from the lamp lens after 20 minutes with the
lamps operating, this indicates the lamp sealing has not been breached, and the lamp
does not need to be replaced (Fig. 1).

If the condensation/fogging has not begun to clear after 20 minutes with the lamps
operating, or the lamp has large amounts of water droplets visible on most internal
surfaces, this indicates an issue with the lamp sealing that has allowed water to enter the
lamp. In this instance, the customer is also likely to report that moisture in the lamp is
always present and never disappears. A lamp that exhibits internal moisture permanently
should be replaced (Fig. 2).
 
#14 ·
Yes, pushing them in would be the exact opposite of what you want. Pull the caps off as far as possible without them falling off. If I were you, since you have the headlights off, I would take a hairdryer to the inside to dry up any of that condensation in there.
 
#17 ·
The two solutions is getting more ventilation by opening up the factory vent nipples even more. Or.... Going the opposite direction and trying to seal them up even tighter.
Anyone that uses goggles while skiing or riding a motorcycle when its cold knows what's going on. This same issue was very common on the Audi cars. Most opted to ventilate the housing more.
 
#18 ·
I'm on my 4th day now with zero condensation/fogging in my oem projectors after doing what I said in my 1st post in this thread. Today was a rainy/snowy day and I would had gotten that condensation/fogging in my headlights 100% for sure....but I got zero...very happy it's fixed.
 
#28 ·
I used to get a bit of condensation. After doing the fxr retro I haven't had any. I also opened up the vents and sealed them really good. I also added those moisture absorbing packs in each light. Maybe those packs might help, try them out they are cheap.
 
#29 ·
Soooooo, I was getting the annoying light condensation in my oem projector headlight housings down by the led turn signals. I was getting it every day I drove with my headlights on in a cool/cold day. Once I shut them off, the condensation would slowly disappear in about 20-30 minutes. Like I said, it was really annoying me so I took the advice from this, and other forums, in a last ditch effort to see if I could remove it and it seems to have worked.

I took the headlight housing out and brought them in the house to warm up in a dry environment. I had a big tube of black silicone sealant laying around so I completely sealed all around the headlights where the clear lens meets the black housing. I’m wicked picky, so I made it look like it came from the factory that way….very clean. Next, I took the dust cap off and heated the inside with a hairdryer for like 30 minutes total. Lastly, I put a silica gel desiccant packet inside each housing just underneath the high beam bulb. Even though I already did this prior, I readjusted the vent caps as far out as possible on each housing.

So, today was the 1st day I drove the truck after doing the above. I drive about an hour and it was 25F this morning. I would had normally definitely had the condensation there by the time I got to work, but today there wasn’t any at all. I’m very happy about that. If I were to guess which one of the four that probably did most of the work, I would have to say the hairdryer. If the condensation comes back at any time in the near future, I will come back here and let you all know. :smileup:
I just fixed our condensation. We had bought aftermarket replacements and they condensed like crazy with the cold weather. Read on this forum there are vents. Ours were on the back with rubber sort of stickers we pulled off that left two little square holes. No condensation since!
 
#30 ·
My 2020 Laramie has all LED lights; headlights, tail lights, fog lights, turn signals, tag lights, and everything else. I’m guessing they won’t produce enough heat to have condensation problems. Is that correct?

Even all the interior lights are LEDs...
 
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