alright so today i went to the dealership (browning mazda in cerritos) to get a routine oil change. and it turns out i have water in my passenger-side rear taillight...go me. being out of warranty i just thought i'd ask and see what they would do/say to me about it. i wasn't expecting them to fix it cause i figured they wouldnt, just wanted to see what the service rep was gonna tell me.

the service rep does an initial inspection of the car then, and thats when i bring up the tail lights. he begins by telling me that he was gonna go ahead an put a work order to fix it until he looked at how many miles i had (i have 67k) and said its unfortuntaly out of warranty.

i keep poking at him and try to tell him that there is standing water in there, which there is, and its not just your normal condensation.

then this when it gets kinda rediculous. he then goes on to tell me that there is nothing they can do about it simply because its not anything wrong with a gasket or theres leak, but because the bulbs in the tail light that cause the condensation...im thinking, the bulbs cause this? then he goes on saying how over time, it will dissapear, and how they'll replace it only if there is standing water in it. then he said mazda sent them a memo recently saying that they didnt want them to replace taillights anymore because people keep coming back saying that it never goes away (bs? i think so) so then i point out the apparent puddle of water in the tail light, then he says the only they would do it is if the entire tail light is filled...

i then just forget about it and continues inside the dealership.

i'm not particularly upset about not replacing the taillight, but just out the dishonesty or lack of knowledge, to make up an excuse for not replacing it.

sorry about the rant...just thought it was amusing to see what the service rep would say...

 

If you want to fix it yourself, here is a DIY fix to tailight condensation that I posted earlier today.

https://www.rx8club.com/rx-8-discussion-3/how-stop-tailight-moisture-169344/

 

thanks, yeah i was planning on doing it myself.

i dont know what to do though. should i buy a new gasket or do the other way?
anyone have any input?

 

Well a new gasket is around $35...the way I did it is about $3

 

defintely, a lot better savings!
oO where can i buy that sealant stuff?

and how has it been?
have you gotten the condensation back at all?

 

It has been 2 days now and it's still good. You can buy it at any auto parts store...or even Walmart should have it.

 

whatever you do... please don't drill holes.

 

^+1^

 

hhaha...defintely not gonna drill holes!