Passenger Taillight Moisture Issue

[sjappers]

When they said this, did you say "Well DUH!!" haha Sorry, this problem sucks and I spent a lot of time trying to remedy the situation. See my other reply below.

yup....it sucked...jeep has 29k on it, and just over 3 years. They had to diagnos the problem first before I could even ask about extended warranty (which was denied). I had to order the part for 740$ myself. labor was going to cost me 100$ additional cost. I was not happy since the entire point of paying the extra money for LED tail lights was so I never had to replace a bulb...but in the end they agreed with me and did a good will warranty, i just paid 100 to guarantee another replacement if it occurs within two years...so it worked out, but way to much time spend in shop dealing with it.

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[iboostgti335]

Did you ever take it to Jeep to get a response? When I did here's what they said (the first part which I already knew) "The Bumper to Bumper warranty which would have covered this ended 14,000 miles ago with the previous owner. Too bad they didn't have the work done. And, the used dealer you bought this from should NOT have given you a passing state inspection sticker (Massachusetts) with that moisture in the tail light." My response to that was "Well DAMN! Of course they passed it, I looked up the part cost and it's $465!!" Not happy.

i took it to Jeep and they denied it as a service claim because of a tiny crack in the plastic.

 

[The Last Cowboy]

Maybe you could try removing those brown caps. Then place it in the oven, on convection if you have it, at about 140 degrees for 30 min or so. That should remove all of the moisture.

I don't think superglue is the way to go for sealing anything. It dries too hard and brittle. If there is actually a jagged crack though, it would probably work well. Too bad JB Weld is grey, that stuff is amazing.

 

[InexplicableBill]

i took it to Jeep and they denied it as a service claim because of a tiny crack in the plastic.

Typical dealership response. I swear manufacturers must have training sessions for dealer shop managers on the different sleazy ways they can deny warranty coverage. What I want to know is why is this such a common problem? Why is it so often the passenger side lens? Are all these owners with cracked lenses abusing them in the same fashion?

I personally think it's a result of the way these lenses are made, that there's probably a differential in cooling and curing of the plastics that were heat welded together to make the assembly and cracking can occur. It's like when glass sometimes shatters during manufacturing. Or maybe the way the vehicles are handled during shipping - is there a common action while processing them that causes some sort of impact on that passenger tail lens that leads to a crack and water infiltration? I'm positive Jeep Chrysler knows what's up but they're hanging their hat on the cracks being a customer problem. They know how much it would cost them to own this.

 

[InexplicableBill]

Maybe you could try removing those brown caps. Then place it in the oven, on convection if you have it, at about 140 degrees for 30 min or so. That should remove all of the moisture.

I don't think superglue is the way to go for sealing anything. It dries too hard and brittle. If there is actually a jagged crack though, it would probably work well. Too bad JB Weld is grey, that stuff is amazing.

As I stated in an earlier reply, I spent a fair amount of time with the breather caps removed sucking air through the housing with my shop vac. I heated up the housing with a hair dryer to vaporize the condensation, then sucked it out. I did that process over and over - for well over an hour - until no more condensation showed on the inside of the lens. I'm not so sure simply putting these in an oven will remove the moisture. You need air movement.

Also the superglue worked just fine for me. The crack in our lens was right at the plastic seam, and super glue is thin and flowable. It soaked into the crack with capillary action. If that ultimately fails again, I'll fill the seam gap with clear silicone. Hopefully won't come to that because that would look like crap.

 

[afterdarq]

As I stated in an earlier reply, I spent a fair amount of time with the breather caps removed sucking air through the housing with my shop vac. I heated up the housing with a hair dryer to vaporize the condensation, then sucked it out. I did that process over and over - for well over an hour - until no more condensation showed on the inside of the lens. I'm not so sure simply putting these in an oven will remove the moisture. You need air movement.

Also the superglue worked just fine for me. The crack in our lens was right at the plastic seam, and super glue is thin and flowable. It soaked into the crack with capillary action. If that ultimately fails again, I'll fill the seam gap with clear silicone. Hopefully won't come to that because that would look like crap.

How did you manage to find where the crack is? I have the same issue, but can't seem to find a visible crack.

 

[Fixxxer29]

I have the exact same is on a 2019 JL Rubicon but on the drivers said. I have the extended warranty but Im sure the Stealership will blow the same smoke that somehow I did it!

 

[jesnamy01]

Similar issue here with wife’s 2020 Rubicon. Not sure if it can be fixed, or do we buy replacement, or go aftermarket. It also has the blind spot monitoring.

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