a couple months back i cleared out my tails on my 97 at home usin the oven method. Well i got everything done and when i went to put the lights back in there was a gap between the light and the body of the car. And i tried pushin them back and i reheated the lights and pushed them together but theres still a gap. Has anyone else countered this problem?...If yes, how did you fix it?...thanks in advance

anu

 

Try tightening the bolts mroe to pull the tail light housing closer to the body. That black sealant stuff might be keeping the tail from touching the body....

 

i agree

i've done like 10 sets of red/clear tails and had something like that a couple of times, it was fixed by reheating them and tightening them up more and more.. if you noticed, you can keep tightening them for a while, although i don't suggest going overboard, it might help cure your problem..
however, i wouldn't call it a "gap"
they are just protruding slightly.. not that noticeable..
although your case may be different.

 

It helps if the temps, the car, the light housing are warm. What's preventing the light from getting closer to the body is the tar like sealant. In warm weather, it is much softer, and also seals MUCH better.

 

same problem here....tryed reheating em, and it got better, but guess what...you warped em

 

OUCH!!! I hope that. Let's just say I'm glad I did the boiling water method.

 

I've encountered the same problem. The lense is not correctly seated in the housing all the way. Reheat, remove the lense and reseat it back down. You'll know when it seats correctly and the gap will be gone.

 

also I found that reheating the light assembly back up and pshing the 2 parts back together first.. then once the gap is gone then screw in the screws

 

hold up, everyone's talking bout the tail light piece itself, meanwhile, unless he had a typo...wrote theres a gap btwn the light and body of THE CAR...meaning the tailight wont go back in all the way into your trunk and theres a gap btwn the actual entire tail light piece and the car?? or is it wut everone else is saying and u make a mistake in your post? explain yur problem clearly and in a bit more detail, and we should be able to help u

 

yes i'm talkin about a gap between the lens itself and the car. Theres like a 1/4 of a inch gap and it is noticable. I'm gonna just take them apart this weeknend and try again and tighten the bolts a little tighter, i'll post if it works out. Thanks for all the help


anu

 

alright kool good luck Mr Patel, im guju too by the way

 

I have the same problem on my right clear light

BUT i broke a piece of the taillight & its superglued back on

what will happen if i put it in the oven again?

 

you could try to put it in and see how it works. If it breaks off than you can superglue it back

anu

 

And how does the boiling water method work?

 

Just like Jamsan said, you warped them. I got over anxious with my light too, and warped one.

 

Yes I'm wondering also. How exactly does this boiling water method work? I mean that water had to be incredibly hot for it to melt the tar or whatever it is. And then to melt it again being wet at the same time. Wouldn't that get water in the housing of the light?

 

I have done my tails a few times before I got them right. I used the oven, hair dryer, heatgun, and boiling water. I did not like the oven or the boiling water method. Stick with the heat gun. The hair dryer is the safest but takes forever.

 

I just need to get a heat gun first. I don't think that the oven is controlled enough. I didn't think a hair dryer would work and boiled water would be too difficult. Where have you/anyone gotten a heat gun from? Can you rent those or do I have to buy one?

 

All the methods work. You can get a heat gun at Home Depot for $20. I retured mine after with no problems. Although I wish I would have just kept it. I could have come in handy a few times.

 

I had some guys e-mail me about how to do the boiling water method. So I figure I'll just post it here.

1. Remove the tail lights from the car
- remove the plastic interior lining from the corners, and pull back far enough to access the bolts holding the light in place
- remove the nuts
- hopefully, it'll be warm, and you can easily push the lights out
- be sure to have one hand on the out side while pushing so you don't drop the light

2. Remove all connections and bulbs from the light
- be careful with the little corner light with the rubber grommet on the wiring

3. Boil a BIG kettle of water. I have a kettle that holds 4L, it was pretty much full when I did mine.
- put the two tail lights sans bulbs into the sink
- pour the just boiled water over the lights
- you may need a stick or something to keep the lights under the water
- if you fill the inside of the lights as well, they won't float
- wait 2-3 minutes

 

you cant be serious

Ant

 

the problem is that the part pictured below is not seated correctly into the light.. took me about 10 tails to figure it out.. you have to slide that portion in first.. and its always good to reheat the glue before you put tails back together..

 

I found that on my I30 tails it was the opposite side after repeated attempts to get it right.
Your red/clear job looks real nice.

 

still dont think its worth 190

 

I am. And it works. All the other methods work as well. The only problem is, they are more time consuming because you have to gently warm up the entire edge of the housing. This takes time because as you heat one area, another is cooling, you basically have to continuously heat the edge until the entire edge is warm enough.

Because of water's MUCH higher specific energy, it is a much better medium for transferring heat. Which is why it only takes 2-3 minutes of the lights sitting in water that has just been boiled to warm the glue enough to open up the housing.

Also, because the water is not more than 100 degrees celcius, it cannot burn/warp the lenses. So you are less likely to warp them to the point where they no longer fit on the car properly, or burn the lense itself.

The two most common problems with this mod is, cracked edges from not heating up the edge properly and the glue not being soft enough, and damaging the lense with heat. The boiling water method takes care of both these problems.

 

you wanna help reseal my right light next summer?? I dunno what im doing & don't want to mess up again!

 

No problem. Although I'm not sure how much I can help you. You siad you super glued a part of the head light back on right? Do you have any other problems with the tail light? If all you have is the super glue as a problem, not much we can do there.

How did you break off the part last time? Was it because the glue wasn't heated enough?