Fog light bulbs exploded...

[Solorange]

Ok so we have been getting a lot of rain lately where I live. For some reason water got in both sides of my fog light housings and caused the bulbs to blow up literally. I actually really dont understand why the bulbs would blow up. I figured they would just stop working. So now I cant get the water out, I got broken glass inside the bulbs and I cant get the lenses seperated. So I just need to get new housings. Im not too trilled about ebay prices. Do any of you by some chance have both sides for fog lamps your willing to let go or trade. I got some other oem parts.

By the way Im not sure if you gen 1.5's know this but ebay has a lot of yellow or black fog lamp housings for sale. None for gen 1's.

[SolaraGuy22]

Yeah the same thing happened to me. I bought some new Nokya yellow fogs and because my housings were crap and had condensation it blew one. Man was I pissed.

I had a tough time searching eBay myself. What I ended up doing was search for Camry instead of Solara since they have the same ones on the 04's I believe. Much better results.

Good luck!

[Dawgz]

Ill buy ur old housings...hit me up on pm with a price.

[Solorange]

I dont have a gen 1.5. So I cant get camry ones. Dawgz Ill sell mine to you once I get new ones.

[Ruski]

same thing happened to me 2 times with Nokya yellows..
Take the fog lightsout, there two bolts holding it.. its a reali tight fit. 8mm wrench.. dry them with hair drier any method you please. then make sure th black rubber pieces on the back are point the correct way. this prevents water from getting in the fog light , if they are going the wrong way water will make its way into the fog

[aleki2424]

i dont know if this would work but how about taking out the whole housing like ruskimafia said, get the actual bulb socket out , then remove the rubber thingy surrounding it , and remove the shards piece by piece. hopefully might save u the $$ on the housings.
as for the ebay prices i cant beleive it myself. i keep looking and all the gen 1 stuff is waaay more xpensive than 1.5-2. lucky i got mine used for 20 bucks from a private seller. g luck

[Solorange]

Yeah Im seeing a trend here. I had nokya yellows too. I already order new yellow bulbs. This time im trying the luminics bulbs.

Anyway funny story for you guys. I look in my chilton's car manual to see how you get the fog housing out. No descrtion. So I undo the black plastic guard under the car and take a peek. I couldn't see much so I felt around and found no mounting locations for it. Then I start taking the front bumper off. Got every screw off except the clip on the driver side inside the fender where the air intake gets in the way. Then I took one more look and saw the two 8mm screws holding the fog lights. Got the lights out without taking the bumper off and had to put all back together so I could make it to work on time. Anyway I was looking to see if I could take the fog light apart but you cant. You have to take the front lense off. And I bet I crack it before I get it off. As far as the water thats in them. When I try to drain it out the hole in the back it all just goes behind the reflector and gets trapped that way. So It would take probably a couple of months for it all the evap out. And a long time with a hair dryer. Plus I have to go buy a hair dryer. Anyway if I did get all the water out. Im still not confident they still wont leak again. I guess Id have to seal them. But its getting too cold out now and makes me not want to work on the car.

Its ridiculous though. I just cant understand why the bulbs have to explode if water gets on them. I can see if it shorts them out. Does anybody know the reason why that happens?

[akora12]

I have minimal knowledge on this subject, but bulbs can explode for several reasons. Water can make the bulb heat uneavenly causing it to shatter. Water can also short out the filament causing it to break, and in turn, blow the glass. I don't know what the exact cause is for your bulbs exploding, but these are some possibilities.

[HID04V6]

Its ridiculous though. I just cant understand why the bulbs have to explode if water gets on them. I can see if it shorts them out. Does anybody know the reason why that happens?

Seriously???

Fog lamp bulbs operate at VERY HIGH temperatures- they get very hot when they are on. When COLD water splashes up on them, they shatter instantly. It would be no different if you put a drinking glass into a container of boiling water, took it out and then immediately dumped it into a container of cold water- it would shatter immediately. They explode due to the temperature difference between the bulb and the water. The water that hits the bulb basically "boils" on the surface of the bulb and causes the bulb to explode. Thats why some car windshelds shatter during the winter when it is REALLY cold and you blow the defroster up on them with hot air- same principle.

Simple fix to this problem- Don't drive with your fog lamps on unless it is foggy. I don't think I have ever turned them on in my car, and Ive had it for 3 years.

[r0w]

same thing happened to me 2 times with Nokya yellows..
Take the fog lightsout, there two bolts holding it.. its a reali tight fit. 8mm wrench.. dry them with hair drier any method you please. then make sure th black rubber pieces on the back are point the correct way. this prevents water from getting in the fog light , if they are going the wrong way water will make its way into the fog

did you ever take the fogs out open em up and try to get ride of the discoloring? I have the same problem, the owner before me had bulb exploded in both headlamp and fog lamp. I don't mind taking it out and doing the work if I can get rid of that ugly discoloration! I also have Fog Lamp tint i would like to put on but i wanna try and clean up the fog lamp first don't wanna waste my good tint

[Ruski]

I had discoloring on one of my headlight housing that i bought from a member i took. shop cloths and wrapped it around flexible screw driver and stuck it into the housing and staring working around getting all the rust and build up off the housing inside. Solaraorange take a bunch of paper towels roll them into a noddle shape and stuff a bunch in there.. then take a light an desk lamp for example .. and put it above the housing so it shines down into the fog light and leave it on over night, then the next day pull out all the paper towels out and repeat if needed. YEs its ghetto but it works , and once again check the black two rubber pieces in the back.. and see what way they are pointing. theres arrows on the back of the fog light showing which way they are supposed to go

[Solorange]

I had discoloring on one of my headlight housing that i bought from a member i took. shop cloths and wrapped it around flexible screw driver and stuck it into the housing and staring working around getting all the rust and build up off the housing inside. Solaraorange take a bunch of paper towels roll them into a noddle shape and stuff a bunch in there.. then take a light an desk lamp for example .. and put it above the housing so it shines down into the fog light and leave it on over night, then the next day pull out all the paper towels out and repeat if needed. YEs its ghetto but it works , and once again check the black two rubber pieces in the back.. and see what way they are pointing. theres arrows on the back of the fog light showing which way they are supposed to go

There is a metal guard that would block paper towels. Ill see if I can take it out. Good Idea though

EDIT: Taking a second look I got the rubber seal off the back of the light that I thought was glued to it. Its not so I pulled that off and was able to drain the water out. Then I kept rinsing water threw it and got most of the broken glass out. Unfortuantly there are still like three pieces of glass I can't get out that really bugs me, but I get over it at some point. Now I have a box fan blowing them dry. This weekend Ill borrow my finance's hair dryer to finish the job. And since I'm still clueless on how water got in the light, because I checked to see if water can leak out, which it doesn't. The only way it comes out, is through the bulb hole. So I bought some silicon sealant anyways. Just to run a bead around the light were the housing and lens meet just in case. I have the light out might as well fix it all at once!

[r0w]

sounds good for far bro good luck keep us posted!

[r0w]

I had discoloring on one of my headlight housing that i bought from a member i took. shop cloths and wrapped it around flexible screw driver and stuck it into the housing and staring working around getting all the rust and build up off the housing inside. Solaraorange take a bunch of paper towels roll them into a noddle shape and stuff a bunch in there.. then take a light an desk lamp for example .. and put it above the housing so it shines down into the fog light and leave it on over night, then the next day pull out all the paper towels out and repeat if needed. YEs its ghetto but it works , and once again check the black two rubber pieces in the back.. and see what way they are pointing. theres arrows on the back of the fog light showing which way they are supposed to go

ok thanks ill try that and see if it works, ill have to see this weekend and try n get that f*cker out! lol look hard ill keep you posted:D

[Ruski]

Solaraorage Duh lol you have to push the paper towels around the shield . Or you can shake the fog light violently till you get all the water out that works to the paper towel things works ive done it about 3 times