I just noticed today, while washing my car, that I have moisture trapped in the reverse light and the turn signal. How does it get in? And, more importantly, how can I fix it? Any long term damages?

Thanks, dudes.
-a Naive little TL driver

 

i had moisture in the taillights of my old accord, and it ended up rusting all the sockets for the bulbs....

 

open it up and dry it make sure check for any cracks and make sure the bulbs are in nice and tight if the bulb is not as it exactly supoosed to be even a pin hold can cause water 2 get in..and yea u dont want it to rust because it will cost u money and maybe even worse it looks bad............good luck peace

 

I agree, something isn't sealed all the way. Was your car hit from behind at all? This can beak the seal even though it can't be seen.

 

Warranty

 

Come to think of it, I actually did get rear-ended in the Fall. I live in Iowa and the winters here aren't the nicest, but I never noticed anything until today. So, how do I go about removing that taillight cover? Is that difficult? Or should I just go to the dealer...


Also, with my HID lights, how much are they to replace if you buy them from Acura and have them installed?


Thanks guys!

 

There is a foam gasket between the taillight assembly and the body. That could just be old, or could have been damaged in the accident. I just removed my left taillight assembly (2000 TL) for a different reason. Here's how:

- pull away the trunk liner on the side that seeing the moisture (there are instructions for doing this, to replace taillight bulbs, in the owners manual).
- disconnect the two wiring harnesses that go into the two gray plastic boxes on the taillight assembly. It is not necessary to remove the bulbs at this point.
- there are either 6 or 8 (I forget) 10mm nuts holding the taillight assembly to the body. Remove them.
- pull the tailight assembly straight out.

I would guess that you can tell if the gasket is bad, or the assembly cracked, just by inspection. Good luck.

 

It depends on whether you need a new ballast or just a new bulb. I suggest you staying away from the dealers if you just need a new bulb, which can be found for a lot cheaper if you shop around the net.

 

I think it's more or less the ballast. The light still turns on, but it's a lower hue than the other bulb. When looking at the car, the one light is more yellow than the other light, which is a definite white.

As for the taillight fix, maybe I'll back it into a pole to undo what I've done. I'm lucky I know how to start my car...

 

In the old days when one headlight is dimmer than the other one it meant that voltage regulator was going south. In the really old days the regulator was mounted outside of the alternator, that's not the case anymore and also why alternators jumped from $30 to $100 in price. That's probably what happened here. Not enough voltage is going to the dim bulb.

 

Thanks, Tom! I'll go and see what I find out. I appreciate everyone's help. Thank God for forums like this for TL owners. It's a lot cheaper than listening to a Service Rep. for hours at end.