Hi all,

it currently quite cold in Germany, constant around or below 0°C.
After a longer Sunday run, I was checking the car and realized that there was kind of "condense" water in the LED headlights.
About a small finger wide on the lower tip.

This was to different extent on both front lights.

I remember that there was a thread earlier on a comparable issue with the Xenon ones, but did not find it again.

Any experience / recommendations?
Could this be intentional to compensate for temperature within the headlights or is this clearly an issue for warranty claim?

I will get in contact with my dealer in parallel, but appreciate your feedback and experience.
Car is a MY2018 Coupe with first registration in July 2017.

Thanks in advance!

 

You should expect them to be replaced under warranty.

 

Or open a cover on the back and warm the headlight up with a hairdryer. I've had to do this on a number of cars as well as several gauges on various motorcycles. (But not on the F-Type yet)

 

Do you mean there is a finger-sized amount of water in the bottom of the headlamp, or that there is a finger-sized area of condensation visible on the inside of the plastic cover?

If the former they will be replaced, but if the latter then as long as no water marks are left in the part of the cover where the light beams exit, and it evaporates when warmed up, it is considered normal. I don't recall owning any car that hasn't had condensation in the headlamps at one time or another. It usually forms around the edges of the cover where the light beam doesn't hit it, and seems to happen more with LED lamps because you see it in the clear parts of almost every rear lamp cluster this time of year. (I guess because they run cooler?)

There is a good guide on Jaguar's TOPIX website that gives photo examples of what does and does require a warranty repair (needs a document subscription).

 

Hi all,

many thanks for your reply.
I will monitor this issue and see how it is evolving and also report it to my dealer when it goes in for oil-change soon.

As far as I have seen it, there is a small-finger sized area of condensation visible on the backside of the lower part of the headlights in the area where the light does not hit the plastic cover, but basically below where the light gets more narrow / pointed.

 

This is a theoretical answer... assuming that the headlight is not 100% sealed, then it is possible that high humidity air can make its way into the headlight over time and when the temperature drops below the 'dew point' then you get condensation (just like dew) inside the headlight. It may be that a few warmer days will evaporate the water and it will leave the housing and the housing will equalize with the outside air.

If it were the case that the headlight is 100% sealed it would have to be filled with very low humidity / dry air at the time of manufacture, or this would still happen.

So, it seems to me this problem can occur with any lamp which might get high humidity air inside it that cannot quickly equalize with the outside air.

If it were possible to put a small silica gel pack (dessicant) inside the headlight temporarily, it would absorb the moisture, but I don't know if this is even possible with the LED headlamps...

 

the silica gel wouldn't necessarily help long term as its a reversible reaction

 

Yes of course, put it in, posibly heat headlight with hairdryer to get the moisture in the air as vapo(u)r, let it work, take it out (day or two max). I had some once that had an indicator dye, blue when 'dry', pink when 'wet'.

 

Replacement lamp units do not solve the issue;

Remove the large round rubber caps on the back of the headlight units.

Drive the car around in the dry weather with the headlights on until all of the condensation has evaporated.

Dry out the silica-gel bags, by either peeling them off the rubber caps and putting them in the oven on a low heat for an hour or so, or just pop the caps with the gel in an hot clothes airing cupboard for a while.

Pop the rubber caps back on, and if you struggle to do the side that has the jump start connections, remove the two screws and swing this unit out of the way to get better access.

It's a crap design that such a unit lets in moist air or allows moisture to build up, so much so that JLR have to put silica-gel inside to help alleviate the issue, which of course it can only do for a limited time.