HID headlight issue!

[LesFarq]

Update: The DRL is working again after drying everything again. There is still a little bit of condensation in the lens but overall the light has been functioning well for several months. For me, it seems, is keeping water from collecting in the bottom of the headlight assembly and using a heat gun on the ballast and wiring connections to possibly evaporate any moisture inside the ballast and connections. I guess this will become a routine maintenance procedure for me until it doesn’t work anymore. It’s still better than replacing for $2k a headlight on a 10 year old car!

 

[LesFarq]

Another update: (Long) During our drought the hid headlight dried out completely and worked fine. What I noticed however, was that while the car was parked and had not been driven, the headlight had liquid in it after a single heavy rain. This told me the water must be coming in from the top of the headlight. So I decided to pack the channel at the top the headlight with mortite caulking cord and test with a heavy dose of water from a watering can. The headlight stayed dry on the inside. Water did collect on the top of the bulb access cover (but no water collected inside) so I tried to create a channel in the caulk to increase the depth of the flow channel. The same situation re-occurred (dry headlight, car not driven, heavy rain) and again there was no water accumulation inside the headlight but still some water on the access cover. This may be an easy and cheap remedy as long as the lights are still working. Attached are a couple of photos. I hopes this helps and please feel free to comment about the water collecting on the access cover if you think it may be a problem.

 

[Ticks]

2014 Regal GS with HID lamps. Water collected in the driver side housing. Started with just some condensation, then after some time including some rainy days and a car wash or two there was more than an inch of water in the housing. Did some reading online and here are a few things I learned while researching and fixing the issue.

1) New housings are expensive. A HID unit (the entire housing) for one side was $950 or more. If the car ever had front end damage from an accident where both housings require replacement I bet the insurer would total the car. Regular housings (halogen) were much cheaper but I do not believe they are interchangeable if you want to keep the Xenon HID lights.
2) Removal was not a big deal. two electrical plugs, three screws in the wheel well and six or so across the top radiator support provides enough space to wiggle it out. The front faring does not have to be removed from the vehicle. You don't even have to remove the wheel, just turn it to the side. Two different size torx bits are required.
3) I poured out the water, dried it as best as I could with a hairdryer on low heat and tested for the source of the leak. Drilling a pin hole in one of the access covers and applying low psi air immediately showed me where the seam had lost it's seal.
4) Someone suggested silicone with a syringe. I call a party foul here, there is no way silicone will flow through a needle. I actually tried it. Possibly a baby medicine plunger, but I did not need anything of the sort. I cut a cone for the silicone tube to it's finest point and opened it up a bit with a medium size nail. Had no problem getting the silicone where I wanted it although it does take some hand strength to make it work. if I did it again I would use a caulking gun over a tube. The silicone filled in the space between housing halves and dried but did not make a good seal. After testing with air the next day the leak was better but still there. I cut out the silicone and used 3M super weather strip adhesive, this worked awesome. Wish I had started with this stuff. Sealed the pinhole in the cover with a piece of tape and made sure the one with the hole was not on top (water collects on that cover due to drainage design).
5) The bulb was not working, so before reinstalling I swapped bulbs. No luck, swapped the ballast to confirm it was the ballast that had shorted. Note HID bulbs are $130, and a replacement ballast was $30 on amazon.
6) All fixed for about $50 and a few hours of my time.