Took the headlight assembly out over the weeekend to attempt to remove the moisture. Didn't think there was all that much water in it until after I got it out. I would estimate about a 1/2 cup total.
I quickly realized that using just a hair dryer would take a really long time with that much water. Compessed air got a little of it. Best technique I found was to hold the light facing downward and allow the water to collect near the center of the high beam lens. Then quickly flip it 180 deg. This allowed me to get small amounts of water out through the bulb opening. After numerous attempts, I had managed to remove about 3/4 of the water. I was then able to use a hair dryer to remove the rest (took about 20min). I then left it in the house overnight to allow any remaining moisture to dry out.
After inspecting the light and not finding any obvious places where the water got in, I ran a bead of clear sealant around the edge of the housing where the two halves mate together.
One note here , the 2 sections appear to be held together by some clips and it looks like you could take it apart, but my Toyota parts guy says that the clips are put there when they are assembled to hold the 2 sections together until the sealant is fully cured and that it is nearly impossible to get them apart and then put them back together without damaging the unit.
Anyway, I put the unit back in and it works fine. Did wind up with a couple of small water spots on the inside of the lens, which I suspect is due the the water having some salt content in it from road spray after the snowstorm. Not really noticeable unless you know its there.
The light is still dry after a run through the car wash. Supposed to rain later this week, so that should be a better test.
if I needed to do it again, I would try to use some sort of a vacuum connected to a small hose inserted into the bulb opening to try and suck out as much of the water as possible.
Another interesting thing, the housings have 2 small ventilation hoses attached to them (one on each side). They are located at the rear of the housing, but I couldn't seem to get any of the water to come out through there. Also, don't apply compressed air to the hoses as there is a small screen inside (keeps out bugs, I guess) which will disappear either into the light housing or the nether regions of your garage. :whoops:
Happy New Year!
Bob Garrett
I quickly realized that using just a hair dryer would take a really long time with that much water. Compessed air got a little of it. Best technique I found was to hold the light facing downward and allow the water to collect near the center of the high beam lens. Then quickly flip it 180 deg. This allowed me to get small amounts of water out through the bulb opening. After numerous attempts, I had managed to remove about 3/4 of the water. I was then able to use a hair dryer to remove the rest (took about 20min). I then left it in the house overnight to allow any remaining moisture to dry out.
After inspecting the light and not finding any obvious places where the water got in, I ran a bead of clear sealant around the edge of the housing where the two halves mate together.
One note here , the 2 sections appear to be held together by some clips and it looks like you could take it apart, but my Toyota parts guy says that the clips are put there when they are assembled to hold the 2 sections together until the sealant is fully cured and that it is nearly impossible to get them apart and then put them back together without damaging the unit.
Anyway, I put the unit back in and it works fine. Did wind up with a couple of small water spots on the inside of the lens, which I suspect is due the the water having some salt content in it from road spray after the snowstorm. Not really noticeable unless you know its there.
The light is still dry after a run through the car wash. Supposed to rain later this week, so that should be a better test.
if I needed to do it again, I would try to use some sort of a vacuum connected to a small hose inserted into the bulb opening to try and suck out as much of the water as possible.
Another interesting thing, the housings have 2 small ventilation hoses attached to them (one on each side). They are located at the rear of the housing, but I couldn't seem to get any of the water to come out through there. Also, don't apply compressed air to the hoses as there is a small screen inside (keeps out bugs, I guess) which will disappear either into the light housing or the nether regions of your garage. :whoops:
Happy New Year!
Bob Garrett
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