So I was doing the RTV fix for my tail lights, but I also have a problem with some sort of residue built up inside my driver side tail light.

I bought this Rx-8 a few months ago and it came with this issue lol.. I figured I'd knock it out while I was resealing my gaskets. Does anyone know how to go about getting this cleaned up?

 

That looks like dirt from the trunk jamb build up. Try rinsing it with distilled water.

 

You might need to open up the light to really get it out, but just a thought - try a solution of CLR. It looks like dirt or scale of some kind, and having such a sharply defined area, looks like it was in water. The car wasn't flooded right?

 

never use clr, it will eat up everything, just rinse it with very hot water, and blow it up with air, and you can also try the krown cleaner it works good without damaging the lens or seal

 

CLR will quickly eat away the chrome reflector coating and two LED side lights...

 

I'll give that a shot, thanks. I'm just going to have to wait until the silicone completely dries before I do that.. it's already been applied and I don't want to jeopardize the integrity of the seal at this point. I had the same kind of buildup on the backside which was caked up pretty bad. I had to use some armorall wipes and elbow grease to get it off. So I'm probably going to have to disassemble it.

Any tips on how to get it completely apart? When I google it I only get results on how to get the lights out of the trunk.

The car wasn't flooded. I was just having trouble with rainwater leaking into the lights (and probably sand because of the environment here in florida)

 

update:

The residue was sand and grime built up on the trunk jamb, the panhandle of Florida is notorious for this kind of gunk. My 8's previous owner decided to drill 2 holes in the bottom of the tail light, and only the one tail light... I mean why would he only do one, why not both?

That and he melted the main brake light's hole in the other tail light so that was a witch's tit trying to get that light out without breaking the bulb.