Update: Turns out I did have blue painters tape... I put blue painters tape around the edges like Jon said and I filled every crevice with Silicone. I took a couple of pics to show the end results while my clear corner drys...

 

hmmmm.... did it and the condensation came back the first time it rained and has stayed in there almost a week now... I'll have to take it back out and make sure everything was sealed I guess...

 

^ you need to make sure you dried it out all the way. otherwise it'll come back.

 

Hey guy, my driver side light seemed to get this water on the inside, just a few drops but it hardly caused an issue, well the other day I went to a car wash, brought it home after a long day and noticed it was nearly a fish bowl!!!!, I got it off, and got the water out, and started reading, Probably going to do the silicone treatment, do you guys just add it to the gasket that is there?

one thing I have noticed is it looks like all my chrome paint on the inside is now cracking!!??!! is this a common issue?

 

bring it to a meet and we'll look at it. shin has my silicone if you want to use that to seal it.

 

I wish I was closer to seattle!!!

so whats the trick to get all the moisture out, I have had Light off of the car and in the sun on 80 degree weather, and just gets condensation and sits there. also I have used distilled water and white vinager and there still is some water spots where it has dried

anything I am missing???

 

You are missing a few days. Took my tails a few days to dry.

 

We should just take these taillights to nasa, and spend 10 years, $325 million dollars in research, to get a final DIY on there.

Or we can drill a small hole that you can plug if it really really affects your sleep at night. :p

 

take them off the car and dry with a blow dryer for 10 min. problem solved.

 

I got the same problem with my tail light last week but luckily i got rid of it with drilling holes..here's what u have to do.
Take out the light and then the bulbs. As soon as you take off the bulbs the fog inside the light starts to vanish leaving water drops. Turn the light upside down allowing all the excess water to pass out through thr bulb holders. Now, put the headlight in direct sunlight with the crystal facing the ground and the gasket facing upwards so that waterever water still remains inside evaporates.
It took around 6 hours for water to completly evaporate and offcourse it depends on climate condition and it may take longer.
Then i use the silicon gel to seal the gasket so that i can avoid same problem in future.

 

Nothing was working for me for a long time so I used thick 3M double sided tape as a gasket Haven't seen a drop of water yet

 

Did that under warranty.. guess what. It doesn't happen on its own (ie whenever it just rains) but when I wash the car with high pressure water it does. So annoying that Mazda uses bad quality products on expensive cars (as with the sun visors which I also replaced under warranty)

 

I had this problem with my driver's side headlight within the first year of ownership, and had it replaced under warranty. Fast-forward seven years later, and the moisture monster attacked my passenger side taillight... I ignored it for a bit, but going back and forth between sub-freezing and garage temps, it was fogging up badly.

I decided to tackle it last night... removing the taillight and pouring out a couple of ounces of water. I carefully removed the dry and dirty gasket and put the taillight, bulb-holes facing down, on one of my home's heater vents overnight to finish drying out. I cleaned the crap off the gasket and moisturized it with some leather conditioner until it was soft and pliable again, and this morning reattached it to the taillight with a bead of RTV silicone, and did the same when I re-mounted the taillight with the RTV between the car and taillight. I don't think rain/snow will be making it's way into the taillight anytime soon

Hope that helps...

 

just blackout/tint them wont see any water

 

Just live where it never rains ...problem solve.

 

After removing water from both tail lights I applied a thin layer of dum-dum sealant in a circular fashion around the gaskets and then put the tails back on the car. I did that early last year. They haven't gotten moisture or water inside of them ever since and there were plenty of heavy rains between then and now. Only problem is gonna be next time I have to put a new bulb into one of them, I'm probably going to have to use a crowbar to pry them off, cause that sealant crap is like crazy glue.

 

Brilliant! From the "electrical tape over the CEL" book of repairs : )

 

Fortunately, the bulbs come out from the trunk opening without removing the taillights... or I would have thought twice about sealing the **** out of the taillight assembly myself : )

As an update, we've had snow, sleet, freezing rain and rain this week, and zero signs of moisture in my troublesome taillight... so far, so good.

 

I had moisture in my taillights since I bought the car over a year ago. I took them off emptied the water out the best I could and used foam weatherstripping from Home Depot to replace the gasket (dried them out in the oven on lowest temp and now I wish I wouldn't have, its not that bad but there are small hairline cracks if you look at it from certain angles that are obviously from overheating them). It worked for about 3 months. The second time I did it I left a small gap in the weatherstrip at the bottom of the light to let the moisture escape. I put them back on with a little moisture still in them and it has since all dissipated and they look great.

I didn't have to drill any holes =D

 

Bought my rx8 and the first time I washed it had moisture in the right tail light. Took it off emptied it out dried it with hair dryer and put it back on never did it again. Then a couple months later the left tail light did it. Did the same thing and it got water in it the next time I washed the car.

Removed the taillight, put silicone all over the gasket, problem solved no drilling

 

Waited till the end of summer.. Took it apart and I could see where the water enters. Silicon and done.

 

Where do I find instruction on how to take the lamp unit out?

 

Pull the circle tabs out of the plastic piece, then pull the carpet away from the tail light. A couple 10mm bolts and connectors for the lights, and it comes out easy. Just look and it's easy to see.

 

Thanks for that.

 

Both lights have been foggy on and off since I bought the car in January.

Bought new carwasher and left side ended up with about 1/2 inch in bottom. Took the light off, used nice weather seal tape from Lowes and silicone..... Pretty sure should be great.

On the RHS previous owner had drilled tiny holes. Decided to do same routine. Cleaned out with soapy water then vinegar to get rid of marks inside. Still a few so sloshed a little isopropyl alcohol. Put on tape turned back over and half a dozen complete CRACKS top to bottom.

Not sure if rubbing alcohol or just the pressure as I was pushing on the tape combined with small holes (there was a v small crack).

Now have to find a second hand light and get it sent to Hawaii for a decent amount of cash.

****, ****, ****. Everything had been going so well and a small problem will now cost prob over $150. V pissed off. BE GENTLE with the lights esp if they have been drilled.

Looked on ebay and MazdaMart but expensive to ship. Where would u guys buy - pls PM or email me. V miserable. Off to finish audio install - wonder what will **** up there :-(