Moisture & condensation in headlight assembly
 

Over the weekend of hard rain and strong winds here in the northeast, my drivers side headlight developed moisture and condensation and has not gone away. There is no pooling of water anywhere just moisture beads and fogginess around certain areas. What can I do? Should I just wait a few days and see what happens or is there anything that could be done?! Thanks!!! I checked the assembly and do not see any cracks or anything like that.

Seeing that you have a 2010 Elantra Touring I'm guessing that you haven't opened up your headlight housing (baking and prying) at any point?

If you haven't done that, I would check all the bulbs to ensure that they're in tight. Then see if it goes away. If it happens again though take it to the dealer to make them fix it under warranty.

+1 on the dealer. Brand new ride, deffinitely shouldn't have a leaky headlight! Take full advantage of the warranty while you have it!

Thanks for the responses. A friend and I installed HID lighting last week and I already went through a car wash with no issues. We drilled a 1" hole in the back of the cap in order to fit the bulb and wiring through and there was no visible opening or cracks in that area. If I go to the dealer they will probably give me a hard time about the HID work and will surely blame that for the cause even though that might not be the problem.

Do yourself a favor then. Go to a hardware/autoparts store and get yourself a tube of silicone sealer. Seal around those HID grommets and you'll be good to go.

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If you didn't seal around the grommet that's more than likely your issue.

Alright then, what do I do with all the moisture inside the headlight. Will it dry out on it's own and then possibly make the lens yellow over time?? Sorry for all the newb questions but I am beginning to regret getting HID in the car even though they are great......I am also not very handy with the mechanical fixing in the first place.

There should be a vent that will allow the vapor to escape. If it's condensing still after a couple of days park it facing the sun, or use a hair dryer to heat it up enough to make it evaporate.

^Yeah. Sometimes even the lights being on for a trip will do the trick. Just be sure to seal those up before you get any more moisture in there.

What I'm thinking of doing is as soon as I receive a new set of dust caps, I will remove the HID kit and go back to stock. Then I will have the dealer replace the entire headlight and then go back to HIDs using the already drilled dust caps. Any thoughts about that?? So far there is still some moisture and foginess inside the lens and I'm getting a little annoyed.