slavito

I have a problem with my LCI headlights - cold and wet weather is Steamy lights.
Is there a solution of this problem. Help!!!

vishpol

You definitely have a leak either by the headlight seal or the bulb unit. You may have to remove the headlight and inspect the seal and if any leak found you will need to purchase some type of good plastic bonding adhesive to put in the channel.

Dandle

Its not a leaky seal or anything. The headlight has a breather on the back and is open to the atmosphere. I had a set of headlights fitted under warranty when the car was a year old as they were misting up, they were worse than yours though and had drops of water on the lens inside which left water marks on the lens. The new headlights still do it under certain conditions if its really damp out, its condensation forming and when the lights are left off for a while it will evaporate away again.

This was my original lights before they were replaced. Dont have a closer shot though which showed the water inside.

Snitzl5

this might be a dumb idea (cause honestly i think it sounds funny) but you know those little packets of pellets that come in your shoe box when you get new shoes? the little packets that soak up condesation? the silica gel packets. I wonder if you could put a couple of those in the headlight somewhere...somewhere as far away from heat as possible. I wonder if it would help any?

here's a reference link

http://www.silicagelpackets.com/silica-gel-packets

sanjsanj

[font="'Comic Sans MS"]Yep, that should work. I think I read someone doing that somewhere else as well...[/font]

turboawd

on a nice dry day, remove the caps on the back of the headlights, and let them air out.

iamnatio

+1

Very interesting idea. This hasn't happen to me, but if it does I would give this idea a try.

Snitzl5

so i googled this last night and man there are tons of car forum posts where folks have done this. One guy said and i quote "i recently go the silica gel packs and threw one in back of each headlight and i haven't seen a drop of condensation since". i was surprised to see so many people doing this already haha

aristent

I have the same problem with my LCI xenon headlamps,show dirty and I can not do something to clean them,but
is only visible to the lighting of the xenon:


.....i think the problem is only on LCI owners......
started like this:


.....the M5board, say just ignore the problem and enjoy the vehicle........ was not something serious .....

....but I can ignore.....

markrl

I have an LCI E60 that had the very same really annoying problem although the lights are the low spec halogens. I could find absolute nothing wrong with the lamps or seals but as pointed out there are two rubber elbows used for ventilation at either side of the headlamp unit. The ventilation tube behind the indicator seems to be in a really poor position as its right next to the drain channel from the bonnet (or hood) wing closure joint. Water is channelled right next to the vent tube which means its always very damp there and in wet weather moisture can very easily enter the headlamp via this tube. It then condenses inside the headlamp lens after the lights have been turned off and cooled down. This is why I think so many BMW E60's have this rotten problem. BMW of course tell you that its normal but it really annoyed me. My solution was silica gel. On the Halogen models you have a very nice main beam bulb access cap into which a 50 gram bag of silica gel fits very neatly. I stuck it in place with an exterior very strong sticky pad. Refit the cap and since then no more condensation as the pad controls the headlamp humidity. For people that doubt this solution quite a few manufacturers put a bag of silica gel into the headlamps as standard, both Honda and Land Rover certainly do. The beauty of putting it into the bulb access cap is that you can always easily retrieve the bag should the silica gel become exhausted and either replace or recharge. Silica gel is readily available from packing companies on ebay and after experimenting I found that 50 grams is the perfect size to fit snugly into the BMW bulb access caps. I only put it into the main beam cap as it then has lots of clearance from the hot halogen bulb and the cover on the dipped beam is of a slightly different design and too near to the hot parts. Doing this solved my condensation issue.

BTW great forum and first post so please be gentle