Tail light

[Thomas Hardesty]

My 2019 Expedition Limited gets moisture in my rear tail light housings. From what I have read, and even called Ford customer service, they tell me it’s normal, and will do nothing about it? I have NEVER owened a vehicle that it is normal for the tail light housings to contain moisture!!!
Ford has an issue that they don’t want to admit is a fault in the design! At some point I will pull the housings, mask off the lenses, and spray a clear rubber sealer onto the backside of the housings. I will also use a silicone caulk along the seams! It is NOT normal to have moisture in a light housing!!!

 

[RaganC]

Our 20 has condensation in both tail lights, we noticed it after driving off the lot there is also a piece of human hair in the tail light?!? Um.... I guess a lady with blonde hair assembled our taillights.
I will be taking it to the dealer that is not normal

 

[Lou Hamilton]

Our 20 has condensation in both tail lights, we noticed it after driving off the lot there is also a piece of human hair in the tail light?!? Um.... I guess a lady with blonde hair assembled our taillights.
I will be taking it to the dealer that is not normal

The YouTuber, AutoVlog, has a 2021 F-150 that has a hair in the headlight.

 

[5280tunage]

My '19 has a crazy internal crack in the taillight. It's been inspected several times and Ford is finally replacing it. We had to "prove" that it was internal and not from an external impact, but it started as about 1" crack, and it's now close to 2" so it's growing. But it's 100% internal, only noticed it when the sun was just at the right angle.

 

[aggiegrad05]

Per the manual, the light is designed that way to accommodate pressure changes (I know, I know, I'm sure we all know better than the engineers who designed the thing)



These are LED taillights, not incandescent or halogen, so heat is not an issue. Typically you worry about moisture in a light housing because: 1) it can interfere with or degrade wiring over time; 2) it can corrode the bulb housing, or 3) it can damage the bulb because of the heat differential (cold moisture touching hot bulb is a recipe for disaster). But...the LEDs do not heat up so you don't have that worry, the wiring is all behind the "red part", aka the wiring is isolated from the moisture, and there is no traditional bulb housing.

These light assemblies are like $1250 a pop and cannot be repaired, they have to be replaced as a unit. You can be sure Ford would have spent the $0.13 to seal the unit if it was warranted rather than having to replace a slew of $1250 light assemblies if moisture was a concern.

Bottom line: new LED lighting assemblies do not function the same way traditional halogen or sealed-beam assemblies once did.

Now, as the manual said, if you are seeing droplets or pooling rather than just condensation, that's a different story.

And as far as hair goes...that's just nasty. Haha

 

[5280tunage]

This explanation also doesn't make much sense. Especially in a non-serviceable unit, to reduce issues with pressure differentials, you should either vacuum seal it, or pressurize it with something inert like nitrogen. Certainly for $1250 for some non-cree LED's and a bunch of IMP, you should be able to do that. As @aggiegrad05 said above, moisture is not a friend of anything electronic. It will cause corrosion, regardless of whether the contacts and components are copper, aluminum, etc, buildup and/or corrosion will take place. So for folks in super wet places like the northwest, they may NEVER dry out. With salt in the air, does that mean that when those LED's fail after 36months due to corrosion/condensation it's not covered? Wow. I sure hope some aftermarket ones become available for half the price.

maybe some of us should start a business rebuilding these parts and putting them on ebay.

 

[lv2drive]

- isn’t there an incandescent bulb in there for the reverse ?

if so - isn’t there a way to access the rear of the assembly to replace that incandescent? wondering if i can dry them out and close them back up or if this will constantly happen.

both of mine are so bad it’s pathetic,
the entire housing fogs up. i think it’s from pressure washing / washing - once it gets in, can never escape.

 

[5280tunage]

Sounds like my rear liftgate glass. I've already had the gasket replaced around the glass opening, but every time I pressure was it good, i get drips inside the window.

 

[lbv150]

Sounds like my rear liftgate glass. I've already had the gasket replaced around the glass opening, but every time I pressure was it good, i get drips inside the window.

That is because you are not supposed to use high pressure spray around gaskets and other parts...

 

[5280tunage]

That is because you are not supposed to use high pressure spray around gaskets and other parts...

So never take a car through a car wash? that's sounds ridiculous, sure hope you're kidding. Sorry, but I've been using the exact same gas pressure washer for about 15 years, and never had tailgates/liftglass leak like this, certainly not after 1yr of ownership. It's more like fitment issues and poor installation.

And to be clear, the gasket for the liftglass is completely covered by the glass, it's not a direct spray under any circumstance.