[Andy C.]

I had a motorbike run into the back of my GTR. Its been in a body shop where the bumper, carrier and light cluster were replaced. I had to wait ages for new parts coz they would'nt let me supply them. The car has been back several times for a water leak running over the back of both light clusters
Have any of you had problems with this?
Oh and the garage necked off several 8mm bolts, on the new lamp and the finisher between the lights :chairshot
I could have done a better job myself but i dont paint :nervous:

 

[ru']

How've they sealed the light clusters? Should be lots of black mastic-type stuff, which never really 'hardens' (i.e. stays sticky).

 

[mava_rules]

as above, i find roof and gutter sealant best as unless you spend ages you would never get all the old sealant off and aslong as its clean, the gutter stuff sticks to anything

 

[Fallout]

My driver side rear light cluster leaked too. In fact, my front right indicator has started doing it also. I bought some (damn! I forget the name!!) black water proofing sealant, and a heat gun. Heat up the light till the old stuff loosens, take off a few bolts from the inside, and the light comes out with some persuation. Apply a liberal amount of [insert name I've forgotten here] absolutely everywhere you could consider a sealing point, then stick it back in. Worked fine for me.

.... arrghh. Brain too tired to remember.

DUM DUM!!

Ironic that. Both the name for the sealant and me.

 

[CSB]

yeh i'm starting to notice some condensation in the front lights :chairshot

might try that

 

[SiR33]

when you take the light clusters out to put the new mastic on make sure you clean all the old stuff off so it makes a good seal

 

[ru']

Good luck with that! Horrible stuff...

 

[Andy C.]

Hi, thank's for that but it looks like the water is coming in above the lights and running down. Before the snow came i'd sealed up cracks in the gutter channel sealant under the trunk hinges with silver paint temporarily, that area underneath seems dry now. I'm not going to leave it like that, i have some grey body shop sealer in a mastic tube to replace the old cracked sealer. I'm planning on digging the old stuff out when the weather gets better. I dont suppose water could be coming in under the std boot spoiler and running along the inner pannel and dripping on the light clusters?

 

[Andy C.]

Fallout- polyurethene sealant?
Careful with this it contains solvents.
It's ok but dont use it on painted surfaces, it reacts with the hardeners in paint and swells the pvc coating on window seals etc. This mabe why cars rot behind windscreens. Ok for lights and hard plastic components.

 

[freakazoid3]

Yes water tends to come in through the spoiler holes in the bootlid
Even the std spoiler can fill itself up with water...

 

[Fallout]

@AndyC thanks. Good advice. I've not used it to seal anything other than the light, but I have 3/4 of a pot left, so I'll be careful where I use the rest of it. Since these cars appear to leak like a sieve, I have no doubt it'll be coming out again soon.

 

[Andy C.]

Ah... thanks Freekazoid, ill mabe pull it off this weekend. Ha ha, and the spoilerlol. I'd been thinking of removing the spoiler for a look but havent had the balls to do it yet.

Fallout- yes its tempting to try and use it up coz it goes off quite quickly in the tube, but no dont do it...

 

[ru']

best thing to use imho is the 'proper' sealing strip stuff; comes rolled up, like a long bit of very sticky black plastacene.

 

[Dr Meat]

Hi, that are two proper ways to seal the lights.
One is to use Arbomast,it comes in a mastic type tube and is very easy to apply but have a oil type cleaner handy as can be messy, also it never sets so you can remove the lights at any time with no probs. The seconed is to use poly butyl tape which is offern referred to as tremmy or temco,this comes a strip form and would be a little bit tougher if you ever need to remove the lights again.
Do not use polyurethene sealent(windscreen glue) as you will never be able to remove the lights, and any sealent/mastic that is not designed for the automotive trade will slowly eat into the paint and cause rusting.
I hope this helps:thumbsup:

 

[nori41]

i had the same problem with one of my lights, to remove use a hairdryer for a few minutes. to clean the bitumen off i used a blunt knife and some petrol, this gets a bit messy but does'nt take too long, then clean it off with detergent. i bought some gutter sealant but never used it as i found a roll of bitumen tape in my garage.....hey presto no leaks!!