MR2 MK3 Headlight Condensation

[Skirmisheer]

Recently bought a 2002 MR2 and the nearside headlight unit has condensation on the clear plastic. I've read that some people cure this problem in other cars by drilling a small hole to provide some ventilation and a way for the moisture to escape. I wondered if anyone has done this on an MR2 MK3 and if so where is the best place to create the hole.

Hope someone can help on this. Thanks in advance.

David

[Riknos]

Isn't this caused by the rubber seals giving way on headlights? I'd be more focussed on trying to find replacement rubber seals / complete light clusters than drilling existing ones if I were you..

[Crazysteve]

Hi bought my old lady one last month with the same problem O/S, on a 2001 plate.
Try this link from the mr2 owners.
http://www.mr2roc.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=47&am...
I have been told a hair dryer works ok.

Hows your oil usage? the one we have got gobbles the dam stuff, oval bore?
Pre cats removed and the car runs great, not sure wether to get rid or change the engine later on this year.

[Skirmisheer]

Crazysteve said:

Hi bought my old lady one last month with the same problem O/S, on a 2001 plate.
Try this link from the mr2 owners.
http://www.mr2roc.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=47&am...
I have been told a hair dryer works ok.

Hows your oil usage? the one we have got gobbles the dam stuff, oval bore?
Pre cats removed and the car runs great, not sure wether to get rid or change the engine later on this year.

Thanks for the reply.
I've tried drying it out and it seems a lot better although there is still some condensation there. I've found when I take the rubber seal off it drys out fine and am tempted to leave it off to see if the cures it.
Can't really say about the oil consumption as we haven't had it long and only using it very occasionally. I have had the pre cats taken out though as a precaution.
How many miles has yours done and does it have a full service history? Our's has and has done only 42,000.

[rodenal]

Hmm I wouldn't go leaving the seal off the headlight - is it that bad? Mine fogs up a bit but it's not terrible.

With regards to the car eating oil it does sound a bit worrying, have you checked for any actual leaks first though? Timing chain tensioner is a famous one, though when mine was leaking I could hardly notice the loss - if somebody had broken one of the studs though I'd imagine this could be alot worse. If I were you I'd decide whether I wanted to keep the car long term: if so then look at getting a new short block from toyota and having this installed, a second hand engine will always be a gamble - if you do decide to get the engine from another car try and get one from as late a model as possible.

Alternative I would say is to clean it up, make sure it has enough oil in and send it to auction.

[Skirmisheer]

rodenal said:

Hmm I wouldn't go leaving the seal off the headlight - is it that bad? Mine fogs up a bit but it's not terrible.

With regards to the car eating oil it does sound a bit worrying, have you checked for any actual leaks first though? Timing chain tensioner is a famous one, though when mine was leaking I could hardly notice the loss - if somebody had broken one of the studs though I'd imagine this could be alot worse. If I were you I'd decide whether I wanted to keep the car long term: if so then look at getting a new short block from toyota and having this installed, a second hand engine will always be a gamble - if you do decide to get the engine from another car try and get one from as late a model as possible.

Alternative I would say is to clean it up, make sure it has enough oil in and send it to auction.

I may have confused you when I said 'rubber seal' I mean the rubber shroud that seals the opening where the bulb is inserted.

[OlberJ]

If it's a pre-2003 then it's gonna use a litre every 500 miles or so. Totally crap engine.

Keep it topped up and u should be fine but if it goes bang make sure u get a later engine.

Normally the condensation is actually just a clouded light lens, polishing it normally does the trick.

[Skirmisheer]

OlberJ said:

If it's a pre-2003 then it's gonna use a litre every 500 miles or so. Totally crap engine.

Keep it topped up and u should be fine but if it goes bang make sure u get a later engine.

Normally the condensation is actually just a clouded light lens, polishing it normally does the trick.

It's definitely condensation as it comes and goes.

[rodenal]

If you're just leaving one of theindividual seals off then that should be fine.

A ore facelift car using 1litre every 500 miles would be well on the way out - they don't all do it by any means so its a bit silly to brand then all the same. Decent engine but it really does have its issues, what's more annoying is Toyota slowly did things to try and fix it without ever acknowledging the issue

[OlberJ]

rodenal said:

A ore facelift car using 1litre every 500 miles would be well on the way out - they don't all do it by any means so its a bit silly to brand then all the same.

Errr, have a look in the handbook if you don't believe me.

[rodenal]

I know what the handbook says - it doesn't change the fact that if it's actually using a litre every 500 miles that it's already got real problems.

[rodenal]

• that's not to say a car using that much oil can't go on for a long time - especially if the precats have been gutted*

[OlberJ]

Pre-cats are not the big killer on these, it's the crap engine on all but maybe 10% of pre2003 cars, which uses far too much oil and folk don't check it often enough.

When they run dry and start to knock they have oval bores and a facked bottom end to go with it.

I would always advocate removing the pre-cats, they're a stupid idea but even if it had no pre-cats from the start you would still see roughly the same amount of failures. And believe me, i've seen a lot of them.

The pre-facelift engine is utter, utter crap in how it was built. End of.

[Crazysteve]

Skirmisheer said:

Thanks for the reply.
I've tried drying it out and it seems a lot better although there is still some condensation there. I've found when I take the rubber seal off it drys out fine and am tempted to leave it off to see if the cures it.
Can't really say about the oil consumption as we haven't had it long and only using it very occasionally. I have had the pre cats taken out though as a precaution.
How many miles has yours done and does it have a full service history? Our's has and has done only 42,000.

Hi it's just clicked over 66k, mot'd it last week believe it or not passed emissions ok, Hc up a bit at 66ppm.
Using about 1tr per 200 miles or so depending who is driving it, i do check the oil every 2/3 days just to keep top side of things.
Service history up to 55k ish, it looks like there was a oil leak on the chain tensioner at some time. Cleaned it all off when i de-catted it with gunk, just so i could see where it was leaking, dry since.

[Crazysteve]

Skirmisheer said:

Thanks for the reply.
I've tried drying it out and it seems a lot better although there is still some condensation there. I've found when I take the rubber seal off it drys out fine and am tempted to leave it off to see if the cures it.
Can't really say about the oil consumption as we haven't had it long and only using it very occasionally. I have had the pre cats taken out though as a precaution.
How many miles has yours done and does it have a full service history? Our's has and has done only 42,000.

Hi it's just clicked over 66k, mot'd it last week believe it or not passed emissions ok, Hc up a bit at 66ppm.
Using about 1tr per 200 miles or so depending who is driving it, i do check the oil every 2/3 days just to keep top side of things.
Service history up to 55k ish, it looks like there was a oil leak on the chain tensioner at some time. Cleaned it all off when i de-catted it with gunk, just so i could see where it was leaking, dry since.

[OlberJ]

Crazysteve said:

Using about 1Ltr per 200 miles or so

Mental. Simply mental.

Even the VAG units don't use that much!

[Crazysteve]

Keep it going until it goes bang, or she cant not see through the mirrors (Not as if they are used lol)
Somedays it reminds me of the days gone by leaving a smoke cloud from my old Suzuki Gt750

[Skirmisheer]

OlberJ said:

Pre-cats are not the big killer on these, it's the crap engine on all but maybe 10% of pre2003 cars, which uses far too much oil and folk don't check it often enough.

When they run dry and start to knock they have oval bores and a facked bottom end to go with it.

I would always advocate removing the pre-cats, they're a stupid idea but even if it had no pre-cats from the start you would still see roughly the same amount of failures. And believe me, i've seen a lot of them.

The pre-facelift engine is utter, utter crap in how it was built. End of.

So what's the difference with the 10% that are fine?
Is a lot of the problem down to how the car has been looked after and also how it's been driven? I read about a resonance problem with the engine at 4000rpm. Is that a contributory factor? 4000rpm works out at cruising at 90mph according to my rough calculation.

[OlberJ]

Yep, certain engines haven't been used in a manner which would exacerbate the problems which lead to oval bores. Or the tolerances from the original build were lucky in such a way they didn't slap around and go all chocolate on us.

They use a lot of oil due to oval bores. A lot of people (due to the general public who buy them) don't check the oil regularly enough and top it up.

A lot of them then go bang eventually.

I'd only buy a pre-2003 car if i was going to remove the engine and put in something bigger.

[Skirmisheer]

Well I've just done an oil and filter change today so I'll see how it goes. Anything scary signs in the future though and it will end up being sold.