Rear LED Lights Question.

[r2sma]

Hi, On the subject of the rear lights being changed over to LED fitments, does this take away the current problem of heavy condensation within the light lens that all the problems are currently being based on?
Ive fitted LED's into the Number Plate lights and they work a treat!
I will fit rear LED's at some point this year, (After the holiday!) as i see them being advertised for around £200 for the pair, however i notice a lot of the companies are selling them less the bulbs which seems pretty pointless!
Anyway, hopefully they might come down in price by the time i intend to buy!
Any advice would be superb on people who have them already!

[Guest 2]

I think the OEM rears are still affected by the condensation.

Remember they will need coded to Highline via VCDS or similar.

http://www.vwaudiforum.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?65817-A6-Rear-light-cluster-(-07)&highlight=Condensation


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2

[gazza57]

Good luck with that,
Ive had three sets of lights fitted all of them eventually filling up with water, Audi think its normal, what a complete joke, they obviously are either indifferent or ignorant of the fact that a moisture laden atmosphere corrodes all copper contacts plated or otherwise.
They made all the right noises, had the car in said it could not be done, their Master Tech said there were too many other issues and anyway franachises were under strict instructions not to carry out non standard modifications.
Given up now, it can be done have had a quote from Layzee days, fit reprogram MMI both front and rears £495 for rears £1395 for S6 Xenons.

My cars rear lights were full of water when I bought it, they promised to sort it out...replaced them with new ones with exactly the same design and surprise they filled up yet again, the problem was never sorted properly.

Gazza57

[Akash]

To add to the above - I have the factory fitted led lights and have had them changed about 5-6 times under warranty.
It did indeed happen again and recently, I removed both lights, cleaned the seal, dried them out fully with a hairdryer and fitted them back in.
To date despite over 200 hours of driving since I did the above in snow, rain, sun (sometimes all 3 together) - the issue has not returned apart from a very very small area in the corner of the missing reverse light.
You'd have to use a very good eye to see it though.

Not sure what or how I did it but it seems to have worked in my case

[gazza57]

Personally,
I have little faith in the dealers, no disrespect, but they just are not really interested or appear not to want to be involved in anything except changing filters and fluids and charging top whack rates for both parts and labour.
They told me there were too many issues around replacing my rear lights with LEDS, they couldn't get the codes,they weren't allowed to make non standard modifications, their master tech said it couldn't be done, yet I have seen it done and companies like Hayzee Daze say it is three hours max to fit including all MMI programming DRL for the front Xenons all fully guaranteed.
The result of which my lights are STILL full of water, and they really think that they can sell this as "Normal", they do not want opinions of their customerts preferring the ones who just drop the car off and pay the bill with no interest about what goes on in between.
I have decided to drill little holes in the inside cases in order to equalise the temperatures, this has been known to cure this, the seals are poorly designed, badly fitted and fail to seal properly, in short shoddy.

The dealers just want to service the cars of elderly businessmen with no interest in anything remotely mechanical, thats where the cash is, charging £16 a litre for oil and over £100 per hour +VAT for labour
Gazza57

[royclark]

Good luck with that,
Ive had three sets of lights fitted all of them eventually filling up with water, Audi think its normal, what a complete joke, they obviously are either indifferent or ignorant of the fact that a moisture laden atmosphere corrodes all copper contacts plated or otherwise.
They made all the right noises, had the car in said it could not be done, their Master Tech said there were too many other issues and anyway franachises were under strict instructions not to carry out non standard modifications.
Given up now, it can be done have had a quote from Layzee days, fit reprogram MMI both front and rears £495 for rears £1395 for S6 Xenons.

My cars rear lights were full of water when I bought it, they promised to sort it out...replaced them with new ones with exactly the same design and surprise they filled up yet again, the problem was never sorted properly.

Gazza57


Condensation in rear lights TSB.
TSB - http://uberlame.com/a6_tsb/Lights/Condensation%20on%20taillight%20lens.pdf

[Akash]

Mines still not come back a month on from the post above

[gupsterg]

Hi ya Roy :) ...



Condensation in rear lights TSB.
TSB - http://uberlame.com/a6_tsb/Lights/Condensation%20on%20taillight%20lens.pdf

The working solution if resealing the bulb holder, etc not work was drilling holes... Link:- My original post (http://www.vwaudiforum.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?65817-A6-Rear-light-cluster-%28-07%29&p=728010#post728010) Link:- The photos (http://www.vwaudiforum.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?65817-A6-Rear-light-cluster-%28-07%29&p=733856#post733856)

To date I've not had any issues of corrosion on electrical points or water in lens :fest30: ...

ATB
G

[bwoody]

Ive got a 2010 facelift A6 saloon with the led rear lights and have condensation in both rear clusters. Only seems to be in the clear part of the cluster.

I tried to take the left had cluster off the car last weekend, undid the bolt on the back of the light, but couldn't then get the cluster out. It seemed very tight on the left hand-side (body side of the car) but there was movement on the right hand-side by the boot opening. I didn't want to force it and break anything so just bolted it back on for now. Would like to get the cluster out to dry it our properly.

On a side note the right cluster doesn't seem to be as bad. The left one which is worse was replaced when I first got the car about 6 months ago as the one on the car was cracked. Makes me wonder if they haven't positioned the seal correctly when changing the cluster.

[Guest 2]

If you do a search here you should find Brycie's guide to removing the cluster on a pre-facelift model - shouldn't be too different for the FL.

I think Jim used some sort of plastic trim removal tool to give the cluster a bit of a push out of its gap.

I would be back to Audi with it only being a 2010 car imo.

[bwoody]

If you do a search here you should find Brycie's guide to removing the cluster on a pre-facelift model - shouldn't be too different for the FL.

I think Jim used some sort of plastic trim removal tool to give the cluster a bit of a push out of its gap.

I would be back to Audi with it only being a 2010 car imo.

Cheers Chris, I am pretty sure that they come out ok, probably just a tight fit and I didn't want to break anything.

I will probably give Audi a call about it as Its been annoying me for a wee while now.

[Guest 2]

Mine are steaming up again, service is due in 1600 miles so will get them changed then.

Also noticed this afternoon that my 2009 A3's clusters are starting to steam - due a service also (gonna be an expensive month!) so those will be checked too.

[bwoody]

Mine are steaming up again, service is due in 1600 miles so will get them changed then.

Also noticed this afternoon that my 2009 A3's clusters are starting to steam - due a service also (gonna be an expensive month!) so those will be checked too.

It defiantly doesn't seem to be something they managed to fix on the facelift models anyway. You would have thought that in this day and age, especially with a prestige make and model that they would get the basics right

[gazza57]

You are overlooking one thing, the presumption they really care in the first place, truth is they couldn't care less, to them you or me or any other punter are just an inconvenient encumberance that they wish to get rid of with the minimum of fuss and cost to them.
IMO Audi are INCAPABLE of designing a light cluster that will not fill up with condensation, despite cheaper cars like Hyundais who manage it. EVERY set of lights I have had on my A6C6 leak or sweat moisture the reversing lights on nearly every AudI I spot are likewise affected they have little or no interest in dealing with it.
Gazza57






It defiantly doesn't seem to be something they managed to fix on the facelift models anyway. You would have thought that in this day and age, especially with a prestige make and model that they would get the basics right