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Headlight Condensation

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#181 · (Edited)
Here is what my Dealers head mechanic sent me ( TSB ) I picked my New SRT8 up last week on the 6th March 2013.

STANDARD PROCEDURE - LAMP LENS DEFOGGING

Some customers may report that on occasion, vehicle exterior lamp assemblies are fogged with a light layer of condensation on the inside of the lenses. This may be reported after the lamps have been turned on and brought up to operating temperature, turned off, and then rapidly cooled by cold water (such as rain, or the water from a car wash). Lens fogging can also occur under certain atmospheric conditions after a vehicle has been parked outside overnight (i.e., a warm humid day followed by clear cool night). This will usually clear as atmospheric conditions change to allow the condensation to change back into a vapor. Turning the lamps on will usually accelerate this process.

A lamp that exhibits condensation/fogging should be evaluated in a service bay environment by first drying all water from the outside surface of the lens and operating the lamp for 20 minutes. If the condensation/fogging has begun to clear from the lamp lens after 20 minutes with the lamps operating, this indicates the lamp sealing has not been breached, and the lamp does not need to be replaced.

If the condensation/fogging has not begun to clear after 20 minutes with the lamps operating, or the lamp has large amounts of water droplets visible on most internal surfaces, this indicates a problem with the lamp sealing that has allowed water to enter the lamp. In this instance, the customer is also likely to report that moisture in the lamp is always present and never disappears. A lamp that exhibits internal moisture permanently should be replaced.

I hope this helps you guys so there is no fix to date as far as I am aware of which is total bull shit.

It is similar to OUR Garmin Sat Nav not being enabled to except the use of VR commands to add a address, as Chrysler Australia claim it is a safety issue so you need to stop and add addresses etc while stopped. If this is the case why could you use the VR to change radios stations , make and receive phone calls etc.
Cheers
Geoff
 
#182 · (Edited)
geoff c said:
Here is what my Dealers head mechanic sent me ( TSB ) I picked my New SRT8 up last week on the 6th March 2013.

STANDARD PROCEDURE - LAMP LENS DEFOGGING

Some customers may report that on occasion, vehicle exterior lamp assemblies are fogged with a light layer of condensation on the inside of the lenses. This may be reported after the lamps have been turned on and brought up to operating temperature, turned off, and then rapidly cooled by cold water (such as rain, or the water from a car wash). Lens fogging can also occur under certain atmospheric conditions after a vehicle has been parked outside overnight (i.e., a warm humid day followed by clear cool night). This will usually clear as atmospheric conditions change to allow the condensation to change back into a vapor. Turning the lamps on will usually accelerate this process.

A lamp that exhibits condensation/fogging should be evaluated in a service bay environment by first drying all water from the outside surface of the lens and operating the lamp for 20 minutes. If the condensation/fogging has begun to clear from the lamp lens after 20 minutes with the lamps operating, this indicates the lamp sealing has not been breached, and the lamp does not need to be replaced.

If the condensation/fogging has not begun to clear after 20 minutes with the lamps operating, or the lamp has large amounts of water droplets visible on most internal surfaces, this indicates a problem with the lamp sealing that has allowed water to enter the lamp. In this instance, the customer is also likely to report that moisture in the lamp is always present and never disappears. A lamp that exhibits internal moisture permanently should be replaced.

I hope this helps you guys so there is no fix to date as far as I am aware of which is total bull shit.

It is similar to OUR Garmin Sat Nav not being enabled to except the use of VR commands to add a address, as Chrysler Australia claim it is a safety issue so you need to stop and add addresses etc while stopped. If this is the case why could you use the VR to change radios stations , make and receive phone calls etc.
Cheers
Geoff
Click to expand...
Hey nice work Geoff!
never noticed with the VR and addresses, don;t really need to use it around my city (canberra, its pretty small) but will keep in mind when i go interstate. I wonder if there is a firmware hack for it? there seems to be one for just about everything these days.

As for the headlights, i am still waiting for my replacement! driving around a one month old 300C with one damn headlight! it sucks! do you have the TSB number (or if you could forward the official tsb to me, that would be awesome!) so i can let my dealership mechanic know when i go there next monday?

Cheers Geoff :)

hows the SRT8 treating you besides the VR and headlight condensation?

Going off what your mechanic said, i am gonna be having a lot of that during winter here, if it becomes a problem....i will need to get them to sort something out and if they don;t i am gonna have to think of what to do next because it gets damn cold here
 
#183 · (Edited)
MMM said:
Hey nice work Geoff!
never noticed with the VR and addresses, don;t really need to use it around my city (canberra, its pretty small) but will keep in mind when i go interstate. I wonder if there is a firmware hack for it? there seems to be one for just about everything these days.

As for the headlights, i am still waiting for my replacement! driving around a one month old 300C with one damn headlight! it sucks! do you have the TSB number (or if you could forward the official tsb to me, that would be awesome!) so i can let my dealership mechanic know when i go there next monday?

Cheers Geoff :)

hows the SRT8 treating you besides the VR and headlight condensation?

Going off what your mechanic said, i am gonna be having a lot of that during winter here, if it becomes a problem....i will need to get them to sort something out and if they don;t i am gonna have to think of what to do next because it gets damn cold here
Click to expand...
I do not have a TSB Number the mechanic only copied and pasted the official TSB without the number but it is the latest one they have. He has been really good doing things like this no other dealer seems interested. I am like everyone else here and now the same applies to us here in Australia ( just put up with it.) well no I won't. It has been around the 27c whats that approx 84f here most days and if you see this now, I can not wait till winter. You will have fun down there in Canberra with it been closer to the snow, you have to love quality control don`t you ?. Especially considering the sort of dollars we pay for these cars over the Americans price wise they are so lucky.

I am still pushing Chrysler in regards to the Nav they are not going to get much rest from me nagging, plus the more of us that make a case and have it lodged with them we should get some reaction. Like you i don't use the Sat Nav much but if it is suppose to work with the VR I want it too work. Last of all piggy from Syd, has the same issue alsong with one of the guys in Canberra bigfella they both have lodged complaints to Chrysler as well.My car is less than a week old and it is the only 2 things that are pissing me off. Other than that its a great car the SRT8 has some great features and goes fantastic too lol.

Cheers
Geoff
 
#184 ·
This may be off topic, but, Geoff, are you saying that navigation system does not work via voice control at all? There is whole section in Uconnect manual about controlling navigation via voice. That is not implemented?
 
#185 ·
753951 said:
This may be off topic, but, Geoff, are you saying that navigation system does not work via voice control at all? There is whole section in Uconnect manual about controlling navigation via voice. That is not implemented?
Click to expand...
That is 100% correct it works with Radio & Phone commands etc. but will not allow Nav commands via VR. I understand it has something that Chrysler has disabled here in Australia. Like you I dont want to get off topic and least of all upset anyone for doing this .
Cheers
Geoff
 
#186 ·
Has anyone ever considered that maybe the Headlight was sealed to tight? Right now I've installed Hid's on my headlights. Doing that I has to drill holes in the back of my caps. On my driver side i had used a rubber grommet and silicone to seal it properly but on my passenger one was replaced but was not given a grommet to use. So in the past 3 weeks since i washed my car they both fogged up but only took my passenger one a day or to to clear up and its been pretty consistent since and my diver still foggy.
 
#187 ·
OEM bulbs for headlights have rubber seals, check the seals on the bulbs for tightness.

Condensation usually happens when there is either poor headlight seal or bulbs not making tightness to the headlight housing :yup:
 
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#189 ·
I just picked up a 2013 yesterday afternoon (my first post!) and I noticed that the bottom half of the housing had condensation in it. I made a point to check since the loaner 300S they gave me to drive while they had my car brought in from another dealer also had the issue. Out of curiosity I walked the entire row of 300's, 12 in all, to see how many of them exhibited the problem and every single one had the condensation. I'm in the Pacific NW, and it's obvioulsy wet and cold this time of year. I mentioned it to the salesman and his response was "yeah, they all do it!". I'm not interested in attempting a fix until there is a fix. My first thought was to find a forum to see if this was a common problem, and look a 19 page thread!
On other cars I have owned I opened the bulb cover on the back to vent the housing and placed a halogen shop light (on a tripod) a few inches from the lens and left it there for 30 mins or so (keeping an eye on it of course!) which would "burn" the condensation out of the housing. I'm not sure if this would work. Others have used the same "burning" technique, but it sounds like it will just come back. I may give it a shot on mine since its a cost free fix. I'm a little bummed that my $50k (stickered) car has an issue like this. I thought I'd take a break from spending my usual $20k more on an equivalent BMW for a few years. I hope I'm not disappointed.
 
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#192 ·
Since a few here already reporting the same problem with 2nd gen headlamps, I would say the problem is pointing to a potential mass manufacture defect?

Might be worth checking to see if any bulletin has been put up for any recalls regarding any headlight issue? Sorry :(
 
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#193 ·
When I took my car in last year for this, the service manager explained Chrysler's procedure for investigating or troubleshooting this issue. The technician brings it in and runs the car for 30mins with the headlights on, and if the fog clears up in that time, all is well and nothing else needs to be done. He did advise me that if it still an issue, he'll swap out the lights, but he didn't guarantee that would solve the problem.

I've had the car now for over a year now and my lights have been pretty fog free for awhile now...
 
#194 ·
I too live in Florida and have had this problem with the condensation buildup on the inside of both fog lights. My fix was easy and I hope this may help anyone out there.

DON'T BUY KNOCKOFF BULBS!

As you will find they do work and work well but it all goes back to the gasket that seals it up, it somehow let's moisture into the light housing. I purchased some knockoff bulbs from China or Korea to see what they were like and use those replacing the OEM's. Sure enough I got into the condensation issue. So I spent the money and bought Oracle Lights, wouldn't ya know... problem went away.

Either way good luck. :AR15firin
 
#195 · (Edited)
Hey guys, i was looking for a thread of this matter, and well looks like there is no permanent solution to this condensation. I just bought my 2013 300 S with V6 RWD, and Light Package. I had odee condensation the day the guy brought it out to show me on the dealer lot. I asked what it was they said it will go away, they said if it is a problem to not worry because its under warranty. It has been about 5 days i have it now.

Image

Image

please check out.

http://www.300cforums.com/forums/30...ums/300-eye-candy/108657-photography-my-my-new-2013-300-s-v6-2.html#post1195842


 
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#196 ·
wish I had the 20in RIMs on the RWD model, anyways... my condensation issues looks to be gone, I've had it for 4 months now and 3k miles. But this is April and we expect a lot of rain here in Michigan so I will update this forum after I drive through a big rain storm.
 
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#197 ·
hainesm said:
wish I had the 20in RIMs on the RWD model, anyways... my condensation issues looks to be gone, I've had it for 4 months now and 3k miles. But this is April and we expect a lot of rain here in Michigan so I will update this forum after I drive through a big rain storm.
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it does look nice. get some vossens !!!! well i will in a few months holy moly 82 degress in NY right now !
 
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#198 ·
Ok...i am pretty ticked off (trying to keep my language toned down). My headlight (passenger side) died again from condensation. It is the same one as last time and it took them 2 months to get me the freaking replacement! Its been about 2 months since i had it fixed and its dead AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So track record, had my 300C brand new for one month, head light died, waited 2 months to get it fixed, worked for 2 months and dead again! Its been raining for almost 2 straight days (very similar to last time) and its blown! I am extremely annoyed (again trying to keep my language down)

I will be ringing the dealership tomorrow to get it looked at. Is there anything additional i can tell them to look at besides a replacement? Like extra work or checks or fixes?

Its a car that's less than 6 months old and this issue is really annoying. If it rains every time and the headlight blows its gonna be an issue (mainly with the cops).
 
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