I know some others have been nit-picking the RX-8 for little things, but I wonder if anybody has gone in to claim warranty work yet on anything?

I have 3 issues that are hopefully being brought up to the Mazda training rep. from Orlando, FL (visiting Virginia) tomarrow.

1. I have a D/S door seal that ripped at the anchors. The one that seals the front to rear doors. The seal is in a position to catch on things (like coats or other things on people as they exit the car). It's attachment system it made up of little dagger-like anchors which easily catch then rip with what seems like minimal force. Most weather seal anchoring systems have discs as anchors which are much more durable. Hopefully Mazda will catch this.

2. The little sheet-metal door strip that says "RX-8" on the drivers side door sill dented and now the adehsive is coming off. Again, the dealership will replace this no problem but it's still an area of concern.

3. Lastly, I found out after washing my car that both headlights leak. Not real bad, but moisture is defnitely working its way in there at the same exact spot in each headlight. I'm waiting to replace that until Mazda finds out and improves on the design.

 

I can't speak specifically for the Mazda, but similar headlight assemblies on many other vehicles (Audi S4, Audi TT, Volkswagen Passat, Porsche) are not sealed; it's perfectly normal for moisture to seep in and it will evaporate when the headlights are used and heat the air within the assembly...

 

I can't imagine that it is perfectly normal for moisture to seep into the headlight housing. And the headlight assembly should be sealed. I know my buddy's old accord had moisture in the tailight housing and he couldn't pass inspection.

It can't be good for the long term life of the HID bulb either.

 

Well it's true. Audi sent out TSBs mentioning that headlights were not to be replaced for moisture in the assembly. Porsche has sent out one in the past as well.

At least on other vehicles, the assembly is not hermetically sealed and as I mentioned under the right conditions moisture will likely get inside; it will evaporate once the headlights are used for a few minutes anyway as the headlights heat the air within the housing.

 

There was an old car across the street from me last year that had a rear light full of water whenever it rained. This was a fault of course but you really could have kept a goldfish in there and it was highly amusing to see it all sloshing around as the owner drove off. What's amazing is that the bulb kept working despite being under water.

 

I had to replace both of my headlight casings in my 2000 Celica. The dealer told me that they were not supposed to change the lights but I made a fuss and they replaced them. This was one item in a laundry list of problems with that car.

 

Couldn't you silicone seal the housing?

Not like you should HAVE to, but...

 

They may be made that way by design to allow the housing to "breathe" with expansion/contraction caused by heating and cooling.

If it's a small amount of moisture, it's likely just condensation, not rainwater pooling in it.

You definitely don't want to seal the headlights up if there's a reason they're not sealed. It's always a good idea to understand the rationale behind the design before modifying it .

Dale

 

I'm all for trusting the engineers (and at that note, only silicone it if you come to find out it's a problem and not just the way its designed), but it'd be nice if somebody could offer a more concrete explanation supporting other peoples claims that this is common for say, hid housing, than just speculation (light housings in the past didn't 'need to breathe'?). I guess I can't say I've ever noticed it just passing by parked porsches, bmws, etc, which is good, but moisture in a light/both lights can take away from an otherwise clean look.

 

TSBs are unfortunately hard to find on the net, but here's one I found that addresses the headlight moisture issue on the PT Cruiser...