Headlights had a lot of water in them ,Silicon Fix ?

[bcraig]

in the process of changing out the headlight bulbs in my 2013 Ram 1500 I poured about an inch and a half of water out or each headlight.
Im thinking that I am going to be Better off to just run a good bead of clear silicon around the seal of the headlights before I put them back in to stop the water coming into the Headlights ,which it has obviously been doing.

I have already taken the vent caps off blew through them and put them back on just not pushed them on as far.


Clear Silicone do the trick ?

 

[tron67j]

Best thing to do is find where the leak is and fix the actual problem. Could remove each housing, seal the bulb opening, and do a dunk test to find the leak. Since it is both bulbs, my initial guess is the seal around the bulb socket is bad. Sealing that with silicone will make it hard to pull apart next time.

 

[bcraig]

Best thing to do is find where the leak is and fix the actual problem. Could remove each housing, seal the bulb opening, and do a dunk test to find the leak. Since it is both bulbs, my initial guess is the seal around the bulb socket is bad. Sealing that with silicone will make it hard to pull apart next time.

I looked at the bulb seals and they 'looked'good and presented plenty of resistance to being turned in with no visible cracks,But who knows .

From what I can see, the seal looks like 'probably' the issue on both headlight's.

As of now my plan of action is to run a bead of clear silicon around the outside of the headlight ,
to make sure that it is well sealed and put some dialectric grease on the bulb seal, then when I put the bulb covers on the housing I will put a little grease on the seal for them.

Giving serious thought to laying a bead of clear silicon around both the circular covers and the turn signal hole as well.

 

[Kay H]

I pulled the light completely out on our 2012 2500 6.7CTD and lightly pressurized it with an air compressor sealed loosely with my hand and masking tape as needed. Using a spray dish soap solution, I found the source to be the seal around the clear section, only in a small area. Used RTV Black to seal. Retesting showed additional leaks and I applied more silicone. Before I pressure tested I used a common hair dryer to completely dry out the light. I would not recommend submersion to find the leak and don't forget to retest until it passes.

 

[joelmic]

RESURRECT:

Mine is real bad, only 1. I will pull them tomorrow and see what it might be.
Gonna have to do the blow dryer thing first, then I guess I'll see if I can visually find a crack or broken seal. Upgrading to new ones with a LED light bar is only $168, if I have to I will.

 

[BenWade]

Use the silicone and then attach a silica pack onto the inside of the cover you remove to access the bulbs.

 

[GTyankee]

Any actual water would have to enter at the face of the headlight, where the clear lens meets the housing.

If on the other hand, you only have droplets in the face, that is from the VENTs being set to the incorrect position.

the GREY Caps are Vents on this Dodge Ram 1500


vents set correctly


Vents set incorrectly



From what i have read:
If you have moisture, as in the image just above
A Hair Dryer used where the Bulbs are inserted, is the best way to dry the head light out.
Some ppl mentioned inserting DRY Packs in the housing, but i have not looked at how that would work

 

[joelmic]

Any actual water would have to enter at the face of the headlight, where the clear lens meets the housing.

That was exactly where I might have found evidence.

 

[etbrown4]

Best of luck with the silicone. I carefully siliconed my 2016, twice and could not stop the condensation.

Tried the bags of desiccant, no luck.

Ended up buying projector style Akkon brand on Amazon for around $125 each.