We haven't had much rain here in Austin since I installed my DEPO headlights. I've driven in the rain before and not noticed any problem. Today when I got out of my car I noticed that both headlights had condensation on the inside of the housing - it's been raining off and on for a good portion of the last week, but this is the first time I've noticed it. Has anyone else had this happen? Any ideas on a quick fix?

It's supposed to keep raining off and on all weekend, so I'm going to keep an eye on it and see what happens. Once it was in the garage, the condensation went away within an hour or so. I'm mostly worried that if the headlights aren't sealed right, it's gong to eventually kill the bulbs (HID kit). I'm driving to St. Louis next week and I don't want to have my headlights suddenly crap the bed in the middle of the Ozarks.

 

Two places you can get water ingress, the first is the seam between the headlight lens and the reflector assembly, the second is around the bulbs themselves. With normal halogen headlights the heat put out by the bulbs can dry the lights out in short order, but I'm not sure how warm the HID units actually run.

This is the first I've heard of moisture problems with the DEPO lights, but if I were going to place a bet on the cause of the problem, I'd check around the HID units to make sure you're good and sealed.

 

I'd check first to make sure you got the HID seated in properly first. Also check to make sure one of the old gaskets from the headlight bulbs didn't stick when you removed them. That's shouldn't be an issue, and it would make installed the HID's difficult with an extra gasket there, but you never know.

If those are seated, hard to say from there. But sounds like the lense to reflector might have a leak someplace. Hard part is finding it. But they make a clean sealant to use for windshields that is very liquid to fill spaces, but be careful to not get too much on it or it will look like crap after.

I've been curious about these depo lights and how well they are actually make. Aftermarket lights can be a hit/miss thing. But start with the bulbs and make sure they are seated.

 

You can check the integrity of the seal by using an ultrasonic emitter and probe, if you have access to one.

 

No access to an ultrasonic emitter...

I made a point to make sure the bulbs were seated all the way when I installed them, but that was several months ago so I'll pull the fender liners back and check it out at some point. Man I wish the lights were easier to access...