Misted rear light
Discussion
My secret weapon for getting these off is a cheap grapefruit knife. It has a serated edge on both sides of a curved blade, which makes it relatively easy to cut the selant without wrecking the paint or the cover.
Good luck getting them to not fog up... I resealed mine a couple of times and while its better they still tend to.
Good luck getting them to not fog up... I resealed mine a couple of times and while its better they still tend to.
Edited by Tanguero on Thursday 3rd December 11:51
smithy78 said:
Thanks all, i will check in the boot first. Then move onto cover removal, my first job on the car. However have the feeling not the last....
You don't neccasarily have to remove the cover, just put a bead of silicone round it and smooth off with a wet finger. If that doesn't work, then remove it.As mentioned though, it could be getting in from the rear, they are prone to misting especially because they are not air tight.
I had this problem on both and it was getting from the back of the lights solved it (not sure its right)was told and drilled a tiny 1/16 th drill hole right at the bottom of the cover at an angle up it keeps the air temp the same in and out does not let any water in and if you ever had any in the light lets it out as well?? Solved mine anyway and easy to seal if you wanted too
As Ireland says above I removed mine in 5 minutes from inside the boot, 2 screws and a small amound of mastic holding them in. If the outer cover needs sealing you might do it from the inside? Sorry can't remember how much room there actualy was. Probably worth trying this route first, before taking knives to your body work!
Ireland said:
My tail lights are removed from inside the boot.
They are simply held in place by a couple of screws.
Are they not all the same?
If they are then there is no need to remove the lenses at all.
Mine are firmly fibreglassed in place. No way you could remove them from the boot side without a saw.They are simply held in place by a couple of screws.
Are they not all the same?
If they are then there is no need to remove the lenses at all.
Tanguero said:
Ireland said:
My tail lights are removed from inside the boot.
They are simply held in place by a couple of screws.
Are they not all the same?
If they are then there is no need to remove the lenses at all.
Mine are firmly fibreglassed in place. No way you could remove them from the boot side without a saw.They are simply held in place by a couple of screws.
Are they not all the same?
If they are then there is no need to remove the lenses at all.
I recommend black adhesive electrician's tape for a simple cheap fix. Keeps the water out.
JensenA said:
The original Fiesta lights were just screwed in, if you have these you can re-seal them from the inside. The latter 4 pod lights are bonded in so you have to remove the clear lenses.
I will check tonight, as my weekend of bimbling starts... mainly on cleaning the interior.However my lights are (I guess) the early production non afterburner style, however also seem to have a bond around them on the outside??
JensenA said:
The original Fiesta lights were just screwed in, if you have these you can re-seal them from the inside. The latter 4 pod lights are bonded in so you have to remove the clear lenses.
Odd - mine are the original fiesta lights, but they are very definately bonded in place. Isn't this TVR consistency thing just great 
Had to change the Fog and Reversing lenses over on mine when I brought it over here and did a bit or research to find that there was little consistency BUT, generally, as said above, the square light set (as fitted to the Fords) were a lot more accessible than the round units.
If you have the round units then the back colour-coded plate is bonded to the bodywork at assembly time. Each bulb has a circular screw-in locator each of which can be removed quicker than winking - in order to change failed bulbs -
If you need to get at the individual light lenses, as I did, then the clear (or, in some cases, tinted) outer cover (I can't call it a lense coz it isn't) has to come off.
As you have already found there is some hardened sealant on the outside edge of the cover. This is generally to give a smoother finished look IMO.
What you have to do is get an unbelievably sharp knife (tried the grapefruit knife but didn't have enough room for the required sawing action) to cut through the surface sealant and underneath the sealant which lies (or should lie) between the outer, inside edge of the cover and the (painted) bodywork. I found that, due to the lack of complete coverage on this inside edge, that I only needed to cut away on two of the cover 'corners' before the whole cover would pull off using my diminutive. feeble strength.
However, I also found on mine ('01 4.5) that there were breather holes in the bottom of the internal back-plate which encourages the passage of moisture out of the final, sealed cover so I would check to make sure that these aren't blocked which may be giving you the problem in the first place.
Hope that drivel halps
I am using Loctite Superflex Black to seal these things now and find that it works well (and you can use the tube on more than one occasion)
If you have the round units then the back colour-coded plate is bonded to the bodywork at assembly time. Each bulb has a circular screw-in locator each of which can be removed quicker than winking - in order to change failed bulbs -
If you need to get at the individual light lenses, as I did, then the clear (or, in some cases, tinted) outer cover (I can't call it a lense coz it isn't) has to come off.
As you have already found there is some hardened sealant on the outside edge of the cover. This is generally to give a smoother finished look IMO.
What you have to do is get an unbelievably sharp knife (tried the grapefruit knife but didn't have enough room for the required sawing action) to cut through the surface sealant and underneath the sealant which lies (or should lie) between the outer, inside edge of the cover and the (painted) bodywork. I found that, due to the lack of complete coverage on this inside edge, that I only needed to cut away on two of the cover 'corners' before the whole cover would pull off using my diminutive. feeble strength.
However, I also found on mine ('01 4.5) that there were breather holes in the bottom of the internal back-plate which encourages the passage of moisture out of the final, sealed cover so I would check to make sure that these aren't blocked which may be giving you the problem in the first place.
Hope that drivel halps
I am using Loctite Superflex Black to seal these things now and find that it works well (and you can use the tube on more than one occasion)
Edited by Mr.Cerbera on Monday 7th December 12:13
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