Coolant Fogging Up Inside Headlight Lens

[JKO_ZHP]

Hey all, I was recently at SoCal Euro 2013 in San Diego and somebody messed with the car. Caused a CEL and overheated engine.

Long story short, the driver's side headlights are fogged up pretty bad and it's not with water - it's coolant. Is there any way to clear it up WITHOUT taking out the lights, baking them, and wiping the lens? I've been told to just leave them out in the sun but since the condensation's inside the lens, I doubt that would do anything since the moisture will just stay inside the headlights - it can't evaporate.

Would it help to get a big can of CO2 dust remover and let loose into an opening inside the headlight? Or with a hair dryer?

(How the coolant got in was probably through a small crack along the glue; had them both baked open and re-sealed a couple months ago for a project.)

Will have pics up later...

[Avetiso]

Pretty sure drying up coolant would leave a residue. You'll have to clean it, I think.

[JKO_ZHP]

Yeah, the entire engine bay's white on the driver's side. My priority right now is to get it to dry up, even a little - don't know if it's possible, but I don't want it to cause the light to scatter and blind oncoming traffic at night.

[Avetiso]

I'm sorry to hear. What the hell happened?

[Hermes]

You could open the covers in the back and pull the bulbs, then leave it in the sun to dry out. Not sure what else you can do without baking them. I wish I knew you were at the show, Gary and I were at the 2M booth most of the day

[SoCalZman]

Wow someone broke one of the biggest no-no's from the man code. Sorry to hear your car got messed with. Lesson for everyone else, check your engine carefully before putting down the hood and leaving any event.

[JKO_ZHP]

My coolant light had been coming on and off intermittently since a couple weeks ago. After checking it for the 5th time, I realized something was off but it wasn't serious, so I didn't do anything and put off going to my guy's shop to have it checked out. Starting then though, I carried a gallon of OEM BMW coolant 50/50 premixed in the trunk, just in case.

After the show, I drove for a little while and then the coolant light came on, along with CEL and the needle was in the red.

Checked under the hood, cap for the coolant wasn't there. Found it at the bottom near the water reservoir....coolant was all over the place in the engine bay (some parts were dry already, white powder-looking residue on the surfaces.)

Anyways, my guy said the O-ring was broken and after testing it 5 times, the pressure was still low/off/etc. But he pressurized it and got a new cap, and advised me to front $1,600 for a complete replacement of all the plastic parts that may have been damaged. (From a full-time student? Hell no...)

Drives fine right now, but this is the first time I can't do the recommended preventive maintenance....

No engine damage luckily - as soon as the needle dipped the first time, I turned it off, threw it in neutral and pushed it down the road to the nearby Starbucks. Waited 2 hours for it to cool down, refilled the coolant, put the cap back on, and tried to drive again, < 50MPH. Overheated at a T-intersection less than a mile after.

Had AAA tow it about 135 miles from San Diego to my guy's shop in El Monte and now here I am...
__________________________________________________ ______________________

Hermes, I'll probably do that plus a hair dryer to speed it up if that won't cause any harm.
How'd you like the show? Me and my buddy were thinking the entire time, all these guys' cars, all show and no go....was really disappointed to see three GTRs but none of them out on the track. Especially the 1,000+ HP Alpha9 GTR.
I know they're babied but it was just a straight line :facepalm

[danewilson77]

Diy will cost you $350ish

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S4

[sillieidiot]

was your hood open at the show? i walked by your car several times i think because i was parked near you. i remember seeing the condensation and pointed it out to my gf lol i don't think anyone messed with your car. it was like that throughout the whole show as i walked to my car every like hour lol

but you can just dry it up without opening it. but yeah like every said it's going to leave residue so you'll have to open it up sometime later anyways. if coolant can get it, water can too.

[JKO_ZHP]

was your hood open at the show? i walked by your car several times i think because i was parked near you. i remember seeing the condensation and pointed it out to my gf lol i don't think anyone messed with your car. it was like that throughout the whole show as i walked to my car every like hour lol

but you can just dry it up without opening it. but yeah like every said it's going to leave residue so you'll have to open it up sometime later anyways. if coolant can get it, water can too.

It was, but not for the entire duration - I know there was condensation in it already before I left for SD because I washed it but that was nothing compared to how it looks now, it looks like there's a storm cloud trapped in there. I could barely see the cutoff now from the Mini H1's earlier after work when before the trip, it was slightly blurred vs. the passenger side.

Doesn't seem like it's all water inside because the heat output should've dried it off faster than how it is now. I think I know how coolant got in now though - the cap for the low beam bulb has a hole on top, it's where I had it drilled to have a screw secure the ballast (no other room in that area).

Going to take the advice and remove the clutter, bulbs, and caps to have it air out and sit in the sun the next chance I get. Even if it leaves a white residue, that's still better than having it look all foggy & like a cheap HID kit with scatter at night.