Headlight condensation

[CTO]

A known fault on the F10 it appears

Last year it had mild cloudiness, and I wasn t too fussed to sort. This year it is noticeably worse and I m led to believe is only a matter of time before the water starts to cause wider issues/failure.

Pics below for illustration..

Anyone have any advice? Is it a case of DIY solution, send it off for fixing or buy a replacement (seem quite spenny).

Car is a 2014 530d.







Thanks all,

Edited by CTO on Sunday 25th October 14:09

[GiantEnemyCrab]

Timms BMW Repairs and Information channel on YouTube has some good ideas on this. It boils down to basically a hairdryer and a pipe into the headlight until *bone* dry. Not at desk so can’t find the video but if you also check his site he has a picture of his E63 and a direct link to the video over the headlight. Much of a muchness.

Ps: spenny, ghastly word

[mmm-five]

The hairdryer/desiccant fix only works if the cause of the condensation is fixed.

So if there's a crack in the sealant fixing the front of the headlight to the rear housing, then you will just get more condensation. There are also seals between the modules on the back/top/bottom of the housing which when torn/damaged can also cause condensation.

BMW Warranty / BMW Insured Warranty are very inconsistent on whether they cover this seal failure or not...and it seems to come down to how much a dealer has claimed on warranty (i.e. are they too keen to put warranty claims in?).

BMW will only sell you a completely new, whole unit...and in the case of my LED lights on the LCI F31, they wanted £2000+ to supply & fit.

I've just left it for now, as it comes and goes - and strangely there doesn't seem to be a correlation between wet weather and condensation, nor big temp differences between day & night. If I ultimately come into a small lottery win, I will buy a genuine BMW/Hella part from one of the online sellers for about 50% of what the dealer wants.

On a good day, mine looks like this...


On a another day it can look like this...


...and on a bad day it can look like this...

Edited by mmm-five on Sunday 25th October 15:07

[CTO]

Thanks Grande Crustacean…

Will take a look

Spenny Spenny Spenny Speennnnnnnnnnnnaaaaaaaaaaaaay



Am such a child

[paddy1970]

Don't let it fester, it will only get worst with corroded contacts and all

[bigdom]

I had similar issues before with some BMW headlights. New rubber headlight gaskets and Granville sealant over the top joints sorted the issue.

[Doesitdrive]

The easy option is a fine drill bit, drill lowest point in both lower corners, like matchstick size.

Allows the enclosed area to drain and breathe.

[CTO]

Thanks all,

So the options are

Split them and reseal.

Remove them and send them somewhere for someone else to do a better job than I will on the above..

Remove (I assume) and drill some teeny holes in the back, at the bottom.

Get a replacement from a breaker that may have the same issue.

Get rinsed by BMW…

Is there a breather pipe or similar that I should be checking?

[danb79]

Had this with my FiLs F10 530d - sorted it by drying them out completely overnight on a radiator on low; used a very thin bead of silicone sealant across the original seal line, pushed in and spread for good coverage, and then in the main cap; taped a bag of silica gel which was swapped out every 2-3 weeks for a few months.

The condensation never came back and they were spot on for a good 6 months before he sold it on

[parabolica]

CTO said:

Is there a breather pipe or similar that I should be checking?

Yeah, at least there was on the same age of 6 series I had with the same issue; there was a small rubber pipe/grommet on the back of the headlight that I pulled off and the headlight/misting dried out within 24 hours; I put it back on the next day and I never had the issue again. My only guess, was that there was some blockage in pipe preventing moisture/air from venting, but I couldn't see anything.

If there is a pool of water in the headlight, that's a different story; ideal solution is to unbolt it if you have the tools to do so, drain it out and make sure to dry it out completely - ideally by leaving it in the house overnight in a warm room. Using a hairdryer is fighting an uphill battle as the hot air often just produces more moisture. Drilling a small hole in the bottom of the headlight is a last resort IMO.

[CTO]

Thanks Parabolica, appreciated.

I’ll have a look to see if I can locate said grommet thing. Did you have to remove the headlight, or go in from the wheel arch etc?

Thanks also to all others who have replied… I’ll report back on how it goes…

[CTO]

Further to all of the above.

I’ve booked it in to have sorted.

https://www.keepyourcarsafe.co.uk/products/f10-f11...

These guys are about a 40 minute drive from me. ^^

I figure it’s likely to only cost more money if I don’t, and it’s not the weather for me to go faffing about on the drive and likely making things worse.

I’ll report back once completed. Might be a useful resource for fellow owners as the water ingress thing is very much a thing it appears for the F10!

Reviews look solid and they’ve been very helpful to deal with this eve.

Thanks all.

[WOO5IE]

HI
I obtained this site from another forum

https://homeofheadlights.co.uk/products/bmw-f06-f1...

Maybe be useful

Trevor