Tail Light Leak Fix
04-27-2010, 09:52 PM
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Tail Light Leak Fix
New to these boards, just bought an 05 Blue RX8 and had to deal with the unfortunate tail light leak. So after reading on here on how to solve the problem (Drill two holes and Black RTV/Silicone) I decided to go to Autozone and buy a roll of gasket material made out of rubber and cellulose and a small tube of Black RTV. http://www.autozone.com/autozone/cat...ndName=Fel-Pro
Check out the link and see if they have it in stock but it's $5.99 for the roll.
All I did was took the crappy gasket that Mazda put on the taillight, traced it onto the sheet and was able to get 6 gaskets out of it. I used an exacto knife but the gasket sheet was pretty thick so I ended up using a boxcutter. Once the "new" gaskets were cut out, I put Black RTV on the inside of the old gasket so it would seal against the tail light. The next part is up to you, you put however many gaskets ontop of the old gasket to prevent any water leaking into the light. I was tired of taking them off and blow drying them several times. I put three on each and its been raining the last 4 days and so far no leakage!
Thought I would share my solution to help out others with this problem!
Check out the link and see if they have it in stock but it's $5.99 for the roll.
All I did was took the crappy gasket that Mazda put on the taillight, traced it onto the sheet and was able to get 6 gaskets out of it. I used an exacto knife but the gasket sheet was pretty thick so I ended up using a boxcutter. Once the "new" gaskets were cut out, I put Black RTV on the inside of the old gasket so it would seal against the tail light. The next part is up to you, you put however many gaskets ontop of the old gasket to prevent any water leaking into the light. I was tired of taking them off and blow drying them several times. I put three on each and its been raining the last 4 days and so far no leakage!
Thought I would share my solution to help out others with this problem!
04-28-2010, 09:23 AM
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My 8 looks like a Smurf
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Just FYI Mazda does have a revised gasket which fixes the problem.
More expensive than your solution obviously
But less work.
No need to drill holes in the lights if you have a good gasket though.
More expensive than your solution obviously
But less work.No need to drill holes in the lights if you have a good gasket though.
10-25-2010, 09:05 PM
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I couldnt find anything exactly like that "RTV" would this work?
http://media.tractorsupply.com/is-vi...initialFrame=0
http://media.tractorsupply.com/is-vi...initialFrame=0
10-25-2010, 09:48 PM
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I couldnt find anything exactly like that "RTV" would this work?
http://media.tractorsupply.com/is-vi...initialFrame=0
http://media.tractorsupply.com/is-vi...initialFrame=0
I wouldn't use that but it will probably work. Black silicone or red RTV silicone can be had at any autoparts store or walmart. Just cover the lines of the OEM gasket with a thick bead of it and you will be fine. I think where you live plays a part in this issue.
10-26-2010, 09:36 AM
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This is exactly like the what I did the first week I owned my 8. I went to a local arts and crafts shop and bought a sheet of rubber for $1.99. Traced my leaking gaskets, cut them out and added RTV. They've been leak free for a couple months now and I have extra money in my wallet. Win-win
09-15-2011, 01:50 PM
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I did the same with tracing a new gasket on a piece of gasket material and applied some RTV silicone to keep it sticking. So far so good :D I did the drill fix too, but the humidity here is so bad, it starts to condensate overnight. So now I closed that hole with silicone.
03-24-2012, 01:51 AM
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Read the DIY, removed and dried out tail light, cleaned the foam gasket, applied a thick line of permatex red RTV silicon on both sides of the gasket and re-installed everything. I let it set for a little over an hour.
Drove around for a bit, then parked it, and after a few mins or so, I notice the dreaded condensation forming in the light again, FFS!
03-30-2012, 08:24 PM
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Update.
There must of been some moisture left in the tail light when I placed it back in (which is why the condensation had returned). So what I did was parked the car with the tail lights facing the sun the next day, and removed the parking brake light to air out the condensation for about 8 hours. I also drove around for a bit (the brake lights heat up the assembly and will evaporate any moisture in the tail light). Placed the brake light back in at night.
It's been a week now, and no more condensation.
There must of been some moisture left in the tail light when I placed it back in (which is why the condensation had returned). So what I did was parked the car with the tail lights facing the sun the next day, and removed the parking brake light to air out the condensation for about 8 hours. I also drove around for a bit (the brake lights heat up the assembly and will evaporate any moisture in the tail light). Placed the brake light back in at night.
It's been a week now, and no more condensation.
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