93 Taurus - Leaking Headlight Housing

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Tony Sivori - 23 Sep 2006 22:09 GMT

I have a '93 Taurus with 160,000 miles that I've had for a year. Coming
home one night from work, in heavy rain, both headlights went out.

When I investigated, I found that both headlight housings had water in
them, and both halogen bulbs had shattered. The bulbs were dated "93" (!),
so apparently both housings only recently started leaking.

I want to avoid spending $100 for new housings. I've Googled, and found a
few recommendations of drilling a drain hole in the bottom of the
headlight housing. Has anyone had good results with this?

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Tony Sivori

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kevin.sparenberg@gmail.com - 23 Sep 2006 22:17 GMT

Tony:

I hd a 93 Taurus as well with identical issues. I did two things
actually.

First I removed the headlight assembly completely. This included
taking out the middle decorative Ford Logo piece, but I was not upset
by that. Then, I thuroughly cleaned out the headlights and drilled two
small holes (no more than 1/8") in each headlight at what I judged to
be the lowest points. Then I went through that put fresh silicon
around the entire perimeter, let it dry, and then (for added incentive)
I also put a line of electrical tape around everything, then put it all
back together.

The reason I removed the whole assembly is because it is pretty
difficult to get to the headlight mounts (spring clips) from the
interior on any of the LX or GL models.

I hope this helps.

--Kevin

> I have a '93 Taurus with 160,000 miles that I've had for a year. Coming
> home one night from work, in heavy rain, both headlights went out.
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
> few recommendations of drilling a drain hole in the bottom of the
> headlight housing. Has anyone had good results with this?

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Tony Sivori - 23 Sep 2006 22:24 GMT

kevin.sparenberg wrote:

> Tony:
>
[quoted text clipped - 15 lines]
>
> I hope this helps.

It does. Thank you.

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Tony Sivori

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Picasso - 24 Sep 2006 01:37 GMT

> kevin.sparenberg wrote:
>
[quoted text clipped - 19 lines]
>
> It does. Thank you.

I had the same problems with my 93 mustang, and yes i drilled holes in
the bottoms and had good luck with it for years after. i fortunatly
noticed this problem before the bulbs shattered, i noticed 1-2 inches of
water collecting, and drilled them out. i too had to remove the headlight.

Haha, on another note, i had water collecting in the door of my 02
ranger, and had to drill that on the bottom hahahha... man i still hate
that truck :P

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Mike Hunter - 24 Sep 2006 14:40 GMT

It would have been simpler to just clean out the drain holes. Haha

mike

headlight.

> Haha, on another note, i had water collecting in the door of my 02 ranger,
> and had to drill that on the bottom hahahha... man i still hate that truck
> :P

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Bob Urz - 24 Sep 2006 06:04 GMT

I had the same issues. Blew a few bulbs. Tried to seal the lens. Once
they leak, you cannot stop it. You can try to drill drain holes.
But, if its gone wet too long the mirror coating peals off the back
of the housing and even though you bulb is on and good the light output
will be weak. I just kept getting different lens out of junk cars
for replacements.

Bob

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Tony Sivori - 24 Sep 2006 20:01 GMT

> I had the same issues. Blew a few bulbs. Tried to seal the lens. Once
> they leak, you cannot stop it. You can try to drill drain holes. But, if
> its gone wet too long the mirror coating peals off the back of the
> housing and even though you bulb is on and good the light output will be
> weak. I just kept getting different lens out of junk cars for
> replacements.

I'm going to give the resealing and drain hole method one try.

This car is a high mileage back up vehicle, so I don't want to pour money
into it. But my time is important too, and if I haver to do the job twice,
I'd just as soon the second time be the last time. So if worst comes to
worst, I'll bite the bullet and pay $100 for a pair of new housings.

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Tony Sivori

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