Gen 3 Clouded Fog Lamps

[dino]

Just playing with my 06 this weekend which has 2600 miles and lives in the northeast in a well monitored climate control garage. I noticed that both my fog lamps have clouded completely where I can no longer see the inside of the lamp like before. The headlamps are perfect. The vehicle has never seen rain or water as a matter of fact. I have searched the forum and can't find any other discussion on the lamps. Is anyone aware of a recall or a discussion on the subject?

Dino

 

[MoparMap]

That is interesting. I have 130,000+ miles on my 04 with what I think are still factory fog lamps (I've never replaced them at least and I bought the car with around 40,000 miles on it) and mine are still pretty clear. I think most light housings tend to have a vent on them somewhere though, so I wonder if maybe that got clogged? The lenses are glass as far as I'm aware and can remember, so it's not like they will haze and yellow or fog like plastic light covers. Do the bulbs still work okay? The other thought I had was if a bulb had popped I think sometimes the gases inside might coat the lens, but that's a long shot. I'd look for a vent first and see if there's anything obvious there.

 

[dino]

With a picture:

 

[MoparMap]

Wow, that is something. Don't know that I've ever seen that before. Now I'm tempted to poke around my lights and see what the housings look like. I'm half tempted to suggest taking a hair dryer or something to them to see if heat changes things at all, but I'm not sure that would really do anything and I'd hate to get the paint around them too hot. Kind of looks like a condensation issue, but hard to tell. Does the light still work? Have you ever replaced the bulb? I guess if you weren't going to drive it for a while you could try pulling the bulb out and just leaving the housing open for a bit to see if it cleared up at all. Could also maybe reach in with a shop towel on the end of a socket extension or something and see if you can touch the back of the glass to see if it's more like a film or coating or if it just wipes off easily.

 

[dino]

Sorry for the delay in my response. Lights do work. I actually needed to look for the switch as I had never tried them before. Haha. It's not condensation but rather looks faded from the outside. I'm going to remove one lamp and try using a plastic polish to see if they clear up. BTW, I also found a set of nos replacements, just in case they don't clean up, but they were pricy and becoming scarce.

 

[my427cobra]

Here are some thoughts on the subject. First two questions.

1) Is it a sealed beam fog light or a replaceable bulb type light?
2) If a bulb type, is the bulb sealed to the back of the housing with a rubber "shower cap"?

On my 65 Shelby Cobra, the Lucas PL700 headlites had a removable bulb and a rubber "shower cap" sealing the bulb to the back of the housing. For 20 years I have had no problems.

But, I had a spare brand new NOS set on the shelf and when I checked them recently, the lense, bulb assembly with the rubber "shower cap" in place, the inside of the PL700 housing and lense was all milky white/cloudy.

The rubber shower cap had outgassed/deteriorated and caused the cloudiness.

Lots of cleaning with q tips and a warm dishsoap water solution to clean them.

So, is there any rubber seal on the back of the fog light/bulb that could have outgassed/deteriorated?

Cheers
Greg

 

[MoparMap]

Hmm, interesting. I believe the design is a replaceable bulb, but I think the lens is also glass, so wouldn't think it would fog/deteriorate on the outside. Not that you can't still polish them, but I'm leaning toward some kind of buildup on the inside. That being said, I would still think you should be able to clean it off. Glass is pretty tough stuff and most things don't like to stick to it very well unless you get it really hot. If you haven't run the lights much at all I would guess you should be able to more or less wipe off any buildup.

 

[dino]

It is a removeable bulb, and you have an interesting theory worth looking into. Tx