New but fogging headlights?

[MarkIIRx12]

Hi

i just bought 4 new healights for my mark II.

i got a bit puzzled when i put them on, have lights on and let them heat up, turn them off and the reflectors gets a bit foggy, their not wet, but u can see the fog or whatever it is is on the reflectors. it goes away when they get cold and i cant see any moisture in them tho.

i took them off and checked them for leaks, and put additional silicone on them to make sure they are not leaking, but still they get foggy. the rubber seal over the bulbs have some vents on them, are they supposed to let this fog out or something? i wonder if the vents should point up or down to let the air out?

i dont really understand if their supposed to be like this, or whats going on with them, since i cant find any leaks i have to assume the lights are fine, wich they should be since their brand new.

anyone experienzed the same and can tell me if this is normal or not?

thanks in advance for ur help

[barned01]

ok please note this info relates to a soarer (z30 series) so it will either help you or not be of any use at all.
if there is moisture in the lights to begin with it will just evaporate and fog up as you mentioned when a bit of heat is applied in the 'sealed' cavity.
What i did was to go to the supermarkets to get a product that removes moisture from the air. Normally it goes in the back of a linen cupboard or something to remove moisture and mildew. it comes in a container of little white powdery beads and doesn't cost any more than a few bucks (in the laundry cleaning section of your supermarket) i think it is like the silica gel you get in lots of packaging to avoid moisture in the packaging.
Chuck that container in a box along with a light and seal the box up with sticky tape.
chuck the box under a heat source to help the 'drying process (a good hot sunny day will do or a desktop lamp or something), then at the end of the day it should be nice and dry on the inside.
the soarer's lights has 2 vent holes at the back. i found that if i put the globes into the lights in and blocked off one of the 2 vent holes and blew into the other one that it was indeed sealed, if i got a leak, it was around the lense area and i just put a bit of silicone in that area.
once that was all done, i never had an issue again with fogging lamps.

each light only took 5 minutes to prepare, but i had to wait the day per light for the moisture sucking thing to do its bit.
Note it used to also condense up after a rain shower or car wash but it doesn't do that now either.

[oldcorollas]

just to note, the white stuff might not be silica gel, as that is usually round beads that are clear or translucent.. like in the small packets you get in new shoes etc
silica gel can be heated to dry and reused. the other ones are more chemical driers and may not be able to be reused.

the fig might go away with use, but drying like Barned suggested above is probably a better way to start them off