Trends in Motor Vehicles: September 2009

Mileage: 14,915KM
Do It Yourself: Yes
Difficulty: Easy

Good day, a nice weather today for a DIY (I'm living in apartment, rain is the worst enemy when I need to do something with my cars).

Early this week, it was rainy and windy here in my area. I've been driving my other car for a quite sometime and when I had a chance to check my Pug, here is what I found...

Water ingress into my tail light (can you spot my ghost image?)

I rushed to the nearest hardware store to buy a silicon adhesive to remedy the problem. If I'm going to lodge a warranty claim straight away, afraid that I might have a mini aquarium at my Pug tail when the claim approve. Maybe, if my first repair attempt prove unsuccessful, then I will visit BlueBox for a claim.

Another view of the ill fated tail light

Ok guys, here are the steps to dismantle the tail light. You have to follow the same ordeal even if you just need to change one light bulb.

Undo both plugs and pull the side trim downward. You can use the floor mat to hold the side trim

Pull the wiring from the socket (it is a bit hard since you can't see the locking ping, just keep pressing it). Then unscrew the black wing nut

A full view of the inner side of the tail light

The black colored material surrounding the bulb cover is the waterproof seal which is made from styrofoam. That is the only thing to prevent water from entering the boot, just imagine!

A close-up view of the tail light wordings

Rear end view of the car, you can see clearly here which area the black styrofoam suppose to cover

A view after the styrofoam removed from the light

If you wanted to change the light bulb only, just release two locking pins on both side of the centre black cover, then pull outward and you can see three bulbs. After that, just reverse the process for the installation.

On my left hand, there is a locating peg / pin. Make sure you did not break this as this will be the only thing to hold the light onto the side of the car.

I would say that the build quality of the light is somewhat not up to "conti" par. Looks more equivalent of those "Made in ROC" kinda plastic. I'm not sure how durable are the pins, locating peg etc. on the light, it might break off after a few years down the road. If I'm not mistaken, the MK1 has a better tail light material quality.

Start from the top middle of the tail light, work slowly along the edge

I'm suspecting that I've a gap somewhere at the top right corner of the tail light because of a few drops of water came out when I shake it.

There are at least three type of silicone easily available in the market. The black silicone which is more popular for repairing housing roof, automotive windscreen etc. The white silicone which is more popular for repairing wall tiles, wall gaps etc; and the one that I'm using is the clear silicone. It is more suitable for glass or clear plastic. Make sure you have a good adhesive type of silicone which will stick on to the gaps easily.

I just leave about half of inch at the bottom of the tail light as the breather hole

Overall view of the tail light after the sealing operation

I need a few bright days to remove the water from the tail light so that I can test the solution. Hopefully it will cure the problem else I've to meet the SA to get it replace.

Part two of the DIY project. Actually, it was done yesterday. Took a day leave as waiting for next weekend is a bit too long. I can't afford to have my car dismantled for a long period of time, afraid that I might forget which screws or bolts go to which nuts.

Here is a video of me checking (aka QA) the system. It was done today morning after I spent some time to bleed the air from the radiator system yesterday evening.

Here are a few photos snapped during the installation process.