Condensation in rear light cluster

Update

Went up to see the dealer today to try and save my missus the hassle tomorrow and spoke to general manager. (noticed yesterday car had 6" scratch and chips on edge of door). Fair play to them they are going to sort that out and have a car for my wife tomorrow for her finishing work.
The light clusters are on back order but 13 of them are coming into the UK either Friday or Monday, if these are all used up for jobs, and probably will be :roll: , they will give me a set of lights out of their demo car. Or the ones going to Hillington :P
TBH im not that bothered now as they are giving my missus another new Z while ours is in(hope its a 35iS :D )

So hopefully all ends well
:thumbsup:
 
onlY kidding. Wifes just home in loaner 10 plate in black with crappy cloth and no extras whatsover:(
still weathers good for weekend so can get roof down and put miles on their car rather than ours. :thumbsup:
 
Finally got round to getting it fixed today - been overseas on business. :D

Seriously unimpressed on this occasion at levels of communication from the dealer service department and actually emailed the Dealer Principal last week after they didn't return my call. :evil: Have to give him credit for his immediate response to my email and getting things sorted the next day. A good kick up the ar$e often gets staff motivated. :poke: :P

They even took photos at the dealers to attach to the job sheet and return to BMW, since its a warranty issue... :?

Photo of light with water:

attachment.jpg
 
Z4 Beemer, glad you got it sorted :thumbsup: Shame you needed to give a bit of a kicking, but good to hear the principal manned up!

Have they fixed the problem or just replaced like for like? Hope it's sorted.
 
Thanks PawnSacrifice! :thumbsup: New light cluster has been fitted. They took about 10 photos of the rear of the car and attached them to the job sheet!
 
I had both fitted as you know. Roughly same amount of water in right side slightly less in left. Must be a problem as that's a few now.
BMW take note.
Not driven ours much since we got it back but they never fixed scratch behind door or chip at edge of door both done at dealers when in originally. Now have first parking scratch and a few stone chips on front edge and a couple behind front wheels. Mudflaps may be an option!!!!!!!!!
And a decent detailer in glasgow if anyone knows any??
 
Don't be ridiculous :roll: :D - fixing chips and scratches is a "bodywork department" issue, fixing the light cluster is a "service department" issue. Two different services, and for them to deal with everything in the one visit would require joined-up thinking! :fuelfire:

I just hope mine doesn't need to go back in till the first service in a years time. Next time I think I'll go to Kyle Street.

I've PM'd you details about a Glasgow Detailer. :thumbsup:
 
Got it thanks!
Kyle street, is that Townhead? If it is that's the one I went to. :?
 
I also found a very few droplets of water inside the right clear light compartment. Nothing found on the left rear light. Should I start worrying about it now? Or is it just because of the recent extreme low temperature? Will it eventually evaporate when the temperature rises again?
 
Mines originally happened when parked at manchester airport in the snow last feb. Went faulty driving home to Glasgow after week in the carribean!
Could be ice/snow getting past seals. Would get them to have a look in case it gets worse
 
ksher said:
I also found a very few droplets of water inside the right clear light compartment. Nothing found on the left rear light. Should I start worrying about it now? Or is it just because of the recent extreme low temperature? Will it eventually evaporate when the temperature rises again?
Click to expand...

I've actually now got a few droplets at the very top of the light cluster that was replaced earlier in the year! :headbang: This happened once before on the other cluster but they eventually disappeared.

I'm hoping they will clear up when the temperature rises. If they are still there when the 2 year service is due in May, I'll ask them to look at it again.
 
Z4 Beemer said:
attachment.jpg
Click to expand...
I found very very few small droplets within the clear light part (similar to your picture, but much less serious). Does it have any functioning light inside?

Anyway, VW had the following response regarding condensation within their headlights.

"Air humidity tends to settle on cold surfaces. When switched on great heat is created in the lamps which is released via the vents (open system). If the lamps are switched off, they cool down and cold, humid air is sucked in via the ventilation. The air settles as condensation on the coldest point from the inside on the glass. On the lamps this is mainly the glass. This is a normal physical process.

This has always been the case, but has been less or not at all noticeable on the old type of glass.

In stationary or when driving the condensation passes off.

But the condensation may recur.

Whereas the light passage area of the glass dries quickly when the light is on and especially when driving, this takes sometimes longer around the edge and the customers suspect a fault.

Technically this remaining steaming-up is insignificant.

But what are the reasons for this slow thawing?

On modern lamp systems with clear glass the light is not aligned by the lens any more but through a lens system and a reflector. The light beam hits the centre of the glass and it takes therefore longer this the edge of the glass warms up. As a result, the thawing is slower towards the edge of the glass.“

Agree?
 
Ok for a droplet or two but not over an inch of water like I had and in the photo above 8)
 
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