Thats bullshit. It will only take Mazda about 2 days to get them.

Sounds fecal to me too...
Is there another dealer around to see?

Well they called today to say my "parts" are in (I'm getting the PCV TSB done too), so hopefully this means they do have the tail lights. My appt is for this Friday morning, so we'll see.

ive had this problem twice already in the last few months...i just took it back to the dealers and they replaced it for free within 3 hours. thank god i live never by the dealership.

just went to the dealer for this today! had a lot of condensation in the both tail lights, the dealer didn't ask any questions, and just replaced it both! they said it is a problem and that it is delt under warranty!!! BEST DEALER WAYNE MAZDA!!!

Chris,
I there's a TSB on this. I had mine replaced only after a few weeks and it wasn't as bad as yours sound. I only had light fog after I washed the car, and that was enough for Mazda (I had to present the TSB) to replace both of them. Try it?
:Peace:

Oh, sh!t! Almost forgot. BTW, Chris...can you post a pic of your slotted/dimpled brake rotors on this thread for me?

I wash my car a few days ago and there is still water in my drivers side tail light. Maybe I should take it to the dealership?
But I bought my car used at a Ford dealership- there is a Mazda dealership right across the street- should I goto the Ford or the Mazda dealership? huh....

Dave

Is your car still under the original warranty?

Yes

Too bad my car is out of warranty. I just bought it on Sunday (21st) and I noticed the water before I bought it, but didn't realize it was such a huge issue.

I've pulled the light and can't find any signs of a leak, but it's obviously getting in somewhere because my light was almost half full with standing water.

I'm going to try and dry it out with a heat gun and see if I can't find the leak and seal it.


...

ive got 5 sets here that weve warrant'd for customers, from what i can see a seal cracks in the tail-light.
your best bet is to buy a new set off ebay or here. they are quite plentiful.

I got the light out and most of the water out, now there's just a bit of condesation left.

Lookin at ebay now. Thanks.

Ok, got mine replaced last Friday with a new assembly. All is good!

I've had off and on problems with my driver's side taillight. Mazda wouldn't replace it cause I have a large speaker box in the trunk. the box installer pulled the taillight out in 3 mins, left the taillight out for a few days, reinstalled it, and I havn't had a problem since.

This is a condensed version, the real happenings are much longer and involved.

-Steakboy

i had the same problem as well.. The dealer has to take care of it.

I had the same problem too (condensation and water in the tail light).

The problem was the seal of the tail light didn't contact everywhere on the frame of the car at some places. And at those places when it rained the water would go in the tail light.
I got tired of changing it so this is what I did (did work for me).

I removed my tail light
I took some petroleom jelly ( yes! Vasoline) and put it on the back of the tail light. Put the jelly all the way on the seal of the tail light, why??? Read after.

After doing this take your tail light and place it back to your car but this time push on your tail light (not too hard) just enough for the vasoline to mark itself on the frame of the car. Remove your tail light again and look where the seal didn't contact the frame (no vaseline mark on the frame).

If there is some spot the frame where the vaseline didn't leave a trace well you're problem is right there!!

From the inside of the trunk place a block of wood behind the missing vaseline spot and GENTLY hit the piece of wood with a hammer once or twice to push the frame back to its place.

Try your tail light again on your car, push it again against the frame and remove the tail light to see if this time the seal made contact with the frame at that spot.

If not, repeat until it make seal contact to the frame. After that you will not have any problem with water or condensation again!! It work for me.

Frank.

Nice Frank, ill try that on my passenger side.... just got my driver side replaced... such a pain in the neck..... i guess its a normal occurance on certain 8's.... damn mazda

I had it pretty bad when I got my 8.. Dealer said nothing could be done of course.... Now shes out of warranty.. A friend took them out and drille d tiny holes in the bottom which seemed to help. If it rains really hard then I still see a little condensation but otherwise its good.

ya i had the water thing happen in my passenger side to and they just fixed it no cost

I am having the same problem in my passenger side tail light. It all evaorated the first time. Now it's back, and it seems like its here to stay. So I will call the dealership tomorrow. I am also having a problem with the front brakes squeaking. I have noticed that it only squeaks when I first drive the car. Does this sound accurate? because I hope that it doens't mean I need to get new brake Pads.

Condensation in Tail light
 

:sadwavey: I am having the same problem in my passenger side tail light. It all evaorated the first time. Now it's back, and it seems like its here to stay. So I will call the dealership tomorrow. I am also having a problem with the front brakes squeaking. I have noticed that it only squeaks when I first drive the car. Does this sound accurate? because I hope that it doens't mean I need to get new brake Pads.

Had the same thing happen to mine from new. Finally got them to replace all the Lenses, 2 Rear and both front Headlight assemblies as well because they also had condensation. I'm a bit choked tho because they replaced them under warranty without a fuss, but I went fro a drive last night (first Night drive since they were replaced) and the light are pointing all over the road. Is it not just common sense that when headlight assemblies are replaced that a full aiming needs to be done ??? I guess because the service advisor put "Replace Headlight and tail light assys" on the work order, thats all the got done. Absolutely retarded. Mazda head office will be hearing about this meadiocre sort of attention to detail.

I must have a really nice dealership that I work with because they replaced both of mine under warranty. They actually told me that Mazda had made some different ones that were supposed to fix the problem.

Noticed condensation in mine after the 50k point and mazda wouldnt cover them. After the second time of having them off to dry with a hair dryer, I used some clear silicone sealent in and around the seam of where the clear front meets the black back. After two days of cure time on vehicle I tested them at the car wash on high rinse and no moisture. Its been almost a month here with a few severe thunderstorms still nothing. No way to paying around $250 per side when a $3 tube of sealent fixes the problem with no visible change in appearence.

Nice solution browndawg320. I'm going to try it myself on my passenger side. This is a very logical solution for those of us whose warranties have expired.

If you want pics I can pull them out and take a few for ya. Well hell its self explanitory when you start doing it. One tip though, keep the nozzle tip small and constantly against the plastic and squeeze the silicone down into the slots. Good Luck. Pretty simple though. Want pics let me know.

Pics please. DIY would be even better, if you want...

Yes, if you do get time, a DIY would be really helpful, browndawg. My driver side tail light just started getting condensation in it over the last week or so. I'm long out of warranty.

I can't even figure out how to get to the tail light! So, any pics or step by step instructions would be so great! Thanks.

Both OEM tailights on mine was replaced with OEM and no further problem.

i had the same problem on the driver side. I goes to the dealer and they replaced it. But 2 weeks later, i had condensation again. I decided to look at it...I removed the tail light and i found the problem.
i don't took any pics, but i found 2 on a threads,,,,,,,I removed around 1/16" of the plastic part you can see in yellow in the second pic. this was touching the body (in blue on first pic) before the gasket was crush in place.....
it' ok now

This is an easy fix. If theres standing water drill a tiny hole on the outter edge of the light to get all the water out. Let it sit in the sun all day to make sure all the condensation is out. Take off the gasket and put a 1/4 inch high bead of silicone on the areas that come in contact with the light and put it back on. Do the same on the other side of the gasket that comes in contact with the car. Dont forget to silicone the hole you drilled. By silicone i mean like a caulking type silicon not lube. Whats happening is the truck drip area when it rains is running down on the light right on that gasket and getting into the light. Really simple fix...took me 30 minutes to do not including drying time out in the sun. Problem is they didnt use a good gasket. Its made of foam and should have used a rubber type gasket.

*sigh* ... people are too lazy to use the search

and theres a DIY section in this site .... my god people ...

Does anyone know if this is covered by the 36 month warranty? I just noticed mine and its a 2005 model.

Yes. Or at least my dealer covered it.

there is a new (4/13) service bulletin. Mazda will dry the lens and replace the gasket.

http://www.finishlineperformance.com...14-07-1795.pdf

Yes. They dried out my lens and replaced the gasket over a month ago. I was skeptical, but it has rained numerous times and inside of lamp is still dry.

I had one complete unit replaced and it, plus the other OEM, have been fine since.

I had condensation, followed the directions here to seal the gasket with silicone grease, and so far, so good. My car's out of warranty, so this was much cheaper than a new headlight. And when I asked them a month or so ago, they said the new gaskets referenced in the service bulletin were on backorder.

I just noticed water in both my taillights. I was rear ended 2 weeks ago, and thought it was due to that. Well, the insurance agent who was looking at my car to appraise the damage (just took it in today to get fixed...not a lot of damage) and he said that the taillight water isn't due to the accident, it's the trunk seal.

I live in Cali so it doesn't rain much here, but I've never had this problem even going thru the car wash. My 8 is a 2004, but purchased in 2003. Will the dealer still cover this under the warranty? If not, how much will it cost to get this problem fixed? I would hope they'll still cover it since I didn't notice the phenomenon til after the warranty expired, but it has probably been a problem from the beginning.

tell that dude its NOT trunk seal, the light has its own gasket.

the gasket itself cost like 20-30 bucks, no big deal. but what Im afraid is that your rear end might have some sort of *bent* somewhere, so the gasket cant hold.

My car is out of warranty, but I talked to my dealer and they will replace both of my tail lights for $120 (including parts and warranty). Is this a good deal? They also said that they would add a seal of silicone around the tail lights to prevent any future leakage.

My taillights have NOT dried out yet, and its been a few weeks. And there's grime and dirt in the bottom too. Yuck!

I got this condensation as well, so I took out the bulbs and left the light dangeling in the sun to let the condensation dry out . After it dried i re-tighten the screws and I never have gotten condensation agin . Georgia weather rain , and car washes no problems in 5 months so far. leads me to belive the did not tighten the dam bolts enough in the first place.

hmm i might have to try what the above poster said, because my passenger side tail light has a shit load of condensation in it. So bad you cant really see anything but the water in the parts other than the red brake light circle. Odd that i have not seen anything in this thread about the passenger side being fucked up.

My car is out of factory warranty now and into an extended warranty that said is was pretty much a bumper to bumper protection so i will see if the dealer will fix it for free first though.

I just had my dealership to replace both of my rear lamps *again*

Cuz Im sick of taking it out to dry it.

Well, Still have warranty. enjoy it while it last :)

"So if it's normal Mr. (dis)service tech, then we can go out to any of the other 8's on the lot and find condensation in them too right?"

+1 on that sorry but can't see how condensation in a tail light is "normal" or "desgined" that way. I honestly think the tail light design is the worst I ever seen since the actual bulbs aren't even sealed to the housing.

I think Mazda underestimate the world's pollution rate.

The reason why the lights condensation was because of dirt build up, and finally up to a point that it allows water to go in.

Just as my warranty expired last month in Sept. After a rain/snow up in the great north I noticed there is condensation in my rear lights. Do you guys think it will still be covered under warranty? If you have any experience please share it. Thanks.

When the warrenty is up, taillights are not covered.

if you have issues now, take off the light and wash it out (get the dirt out). At this time, take a bit (not a lot) of windex or other glass cleaner and spray into the light.

swish it around to make sure you get all the water spots off the lense, then drain.

use hair dryer to dry, have to rotate openings.

once that is done, wash the filter (it is foam rubber, so be careful you dont rip it).

use silicone (household silicone glue works) and seal the openings and replace gaskit (while still pliable).

use silicone again on the outside of the gaskit and let set till no longer sticky to touch, but still pliable.

replace.


The silicone forms a seal that the gaskit is no longer covering and then it is form fitted when you replace.

did this with my passenger side and so far no condensation. (live in florida and it rained every day at 4pm for 2 months).

hope this helps

yep +1 on that, if you are out of factory warranty you are not covered. Thats a damn shame. . .