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All right, so a long while ago you may remember a thread I made on Taillights cracking
So, I have a few questions, 1) Does anyone know or have a handy document or resource for seeing how many tail light style variations exist?
-My grandma wants her tail lights to match if at all possible, and in my experience I have seen at least 3 variations on the road for tail lights here in the US. I have seen a white/black for appropriately colored jeeps and I have seen a red lamps that from what I recall is more suited for bright colored jeeps that doesnt look like mine here(just going on memory, I could be wrong)
-our jeep is the pictured Red as seen in one photo. Not a deep blood red, but not a happy cherry red.
-My grandma is open to using a different style lamp if it wouldnt clash/look out of place on her jeep
-we have HID headlights if that means anything for the search/options 2) Our current tail lamps are LEDs with a halogen reverse lamp on the body side, is there a tradfitional halogen lamp that I need to be aware of, and if so, is there any compatibility in using them.
-Would like to keep LED functions, but we will be searching junkyards for a matching set, hopefully. A 4 piece set of either OE, aftermarket, or just any at all is going to cost a LOT of money, so that is why we are going to search junkyards 3) I have searched over 60 TSBs from FCA related to a 2017 cherokee and have found very little on this issue, but does anyone have knowledge of a TSB existing for tail lamp condensation or water
-In my googling, i Have found a lot of owners of the traiditional looking jeeps with the small square tail lights on the body(I believe that is a renegade or a liberty model, im not the most knowledgable on the current line up 4) If anyone has any insight on the cause or how to prevent reoccurance, I would like to hear. I have put below in the "spoiler" the things I have observed/theorize related to the occurance
-I cant in good faith ignore my gut feeling that all 4 lamp fixtures would be experiencing the same issue, to a slightly varied degree, if this issue were isolated/a coincidence but I do not see the evidence that it in anyway is a wide spread or batch/related issue, especially since outer lamps would be unlikely the same batch as lift gate anyway.
Our dealer, although I generally disagree with their competence, said they never saw the issue before and commended my work fixing the one that was bad bad. So I dont feel it appropriate to blame them since I couldnt for the life of me find any documents or TSBs related to the matter.
anyway, (NOTE: IT should be noted that the CHMSL is NOT affected by the cracking/condensation/water ingress of the other 4 lamps, and the camera appears to be undamaged and has clear video when in reverse, and the body mounted reflectors where the rear fog lamps would be (if optioned?) are also not damaged by any means.)
Well, the body-side tail lamps(the ones with the reverse light, are federally required lamps meeting specifications for US roads) really got bad. And I mean BAD.
I dont have a good before pic, unfortunately, but this is after I did a repair with what I had on hand and a lot of time,patience. I used a elastomeric silicone sealant and small tools to seal the face back together as pieces were about to fall out.
on my old thread from november,
I fortunately posted this pic of the same lens. that is 100x better than before I started repairing it, so it definitely got worse, which the water being held inside definitely could have caused.
Reading beyond here is just about the technicalities, theories, and my thoughts/ideas about the matter, the questions above are definitely the focus of the thread
Spoiler
Some observations: THe issue, from what I can tell, is these lamps were getting water inside, the water was not able to escape, and the water+vibrations+rough roads+possible balance issue+tow package stiff rear end + possible factory defects all contribute to this issue, i Believe the water was filled, then that splashed around and weakeened the plastic covers. The lights are LED Minus the reverse lamp, which appears to be sealed off separate the rest of the light. Beings the issue existed before winter, I believe the water that was inside the lamps could have been frozen which of course would be problematic. I decided to take action because Im currently on a signature bond and I religiously check to verify the vehicles I drive have proper outward illumination as if I were to get a ticket twice for the same issue, I would go to jail for "knowingly violating a law" so I would like to avoid that. The outside LEDs were hit or miss on whether they worked or not. So this is why I fixed the lens.
ANyway, I used a wet/dry shop vac to dry the lens internally, which I thought wouldnt be much, but i sucked almost 1.5 pints of water out of that lens.
1.5 PINTS, for those of you who use maple syrup dollars or live vicariously in distant lands, damn near a liter of water was in this lens. I do not know where the vent/drains of the factory design would be in the lens, but based on how it wasnt leaking despite having severe fractures in the plastic on the outside, I believe the lens has at least 3-4 chambers where water can set, and the outer face was only a minior place. I didnt add any drain holes, but I sealed the face minus some lower cracks and the top where it has seams from plastic to plastic and on the sides, I have been monitoring and have not seen(but hard to tell) more accumulation. the light still functions properl at the moment.
Lastly, I inspected the body seams and welds visible with the rear gate open and found no evidence of cracks, distortions, etc that other people have noticed on jeeps, the only thing I have noticed is the drivers door hinge after lubrication seems to be slightly binding making it a difficult shut relative to the other doors and the rear lift about beltline level has a small hole which is seam sealer skip by all appearances. It may be a drain hole by design or something intended to be there, as I have seen no issues anywehre from rust or water getting in and the rear hatch has No NVH issues other than stiff ride(tow package?)) the seal otherwise makes a complete contact, the flange is not damaged, and the gate appears to align correctly.
All right, so a long while ago you may remember a thread I made on Taillights cracking
So, I have a few questions, 1) Does anyone know or have a handy document or resource for seeing how many tail light style variations exist?
-My grandma wants her tail lights to match if at all possible, and in my experience I have seen at least 3 variations on the road for tail lights here in the US. I have seen a white/black for appropriately colored jeeps and I have seen a red lamps that from what I recall is more suited for bright colored jeeps that doesnt look like mine here(just going on memory, I could be wrong)
-our jeep is the pictured Red as seen in one photo. Not a deep blood red, but not a happy cherry red.
-My grandma is open to using a different style lamp if it wouldnt clash/look out of place on her jeep
-we have HID headlights if that means anything for the search/options 2) Our current tail lamps are LEDs with a halogen reverse lamp on the body side, is there a tradfitional halogen lamp that I need to be aware of, and if so, is there any compatibility in using them.
-Would like to keep LED functions, but we will be searching junkyards for a matching set, hopefully. A 4 piece set of either OE, aftermarket, or just any at all is going to cost a LOT of money, so that is why we are going to search junkyards 3) I have searched over 60 TSBs from FCA related to a 2017 cherokee and have found very little on this issue, but does anyone have knowledge of a TSB existing for tail lamp condensation or water
-In my googling, i Have found a lot of owners of the traiditional looking jeeps with the small square tail lights on the body(I believe that is a renegade or a liberty model, im not the most knowledgable on the current line up 4) If anyone has any insight on the cause or how to prevent reoccurance, I would like to hear. I have put below in the "spoiler" the things I have observed/theorize related to the occurance
-I cant in good faith ignore my gut feeling that all 4 lamp fixtures would be experiencing the same issue, to a slightly varied degree, if this issue were isolated/a coincidence but I do not see the evidence that it in anyway is a wide spread or batch/related issue, especially since outer lamps would be unlikely the same batch as lift gate anyway.
Our dealer, although I generally disagree with their competence, said they never saw the issue before and commended my work fixing the one that was bad bad. So I dont feel it appropriate to blame them since I couldnt for the life of me find any documents or TSBs related to the matter.
anyway, (NOTE: IT should be noted that the CHMSL is NOT affected by the cracking/condensation/water ingress of the other 4 lamps, and the camera appears to be undamaged and has clear video when in reverse, and the body mounted reflectors where the rear fog lamps would be (if optioned?) are also not damaged by any means.)
Well, the body-side tail lamps(the ones with the reverse light, are federally required lamps meeting specifications for US roads) really got bad. And I mean BAD.
I dont have a good before pic, unfortunately, but this is after I did a repair with what I had on hand and a lot of time,patience. I used a elastomeric silicone sealant and small tools to seal the face back together as pieces were about to fall out.
on my old thread from november,
I fortunately posted this pic of the same lens. that is 100x better than before I started repairing it, so it definitely got worse, which the water being held inside definitely could have caused.
Reading beyond here is just about the technicalities, theories, and my thoughts/ideas about the matter, the questions above are definitely the focus of the thread
Spoiler
Some observations: THe issue, from what I can tell, is these lamps were getting water inside, the water was not able to escape, and the water+vibrations+rough roads+possible balance issue+tow package stiff rear end + possible factory defects all contribute to this issue, i Believe the water was filled, then that splashed around and weakeened the plastic covers. The lights are LED Minus the reverse lamp, which appears to be sealed off separate the rest of the light. Beings the issue existed before winter, I believe the water that was inside the lamps could have been frozen which of course would be problematic. I decided to take action because Im currently on a signature bond and I religiously check to verify the vehicles I drive have proper outward illumination as if I were to get a ticket twice for the same issue, I would go to jail for "knowingly violating a law" so I would like to avoid that. The outside LEDs were hit or miss on whether they worked or not. So this is why I fixed the lens.
ANyway, I used a wet/dry shop vac to dry the lens internally, which I thought wouldnt be much, but i sucked almost 1.5 pints of water out of that lens.
1.5 PINTS, for those of you who use maple syrup dollars or live vicariously in distant lands, damn near a liter of water was in this lens. I do not know where the vent/drains of the factory design would be in the lens, but based on how it wasnt leaking despite having severe fractures in the plastic on the outside, I believe the lens has at least 3-4 chambers where water can set, and the outer face was only a minior place. I didnt add any drain holes, but I sealed the face minus some lower cracks and the top where it has seams from plastic to plastic and on the sides, I have been monitoring and have not seen(but hard to tell) more accumulation. the light still functions properl at the moment.
Lastly, I inspected the body seams and welds visible with the rear gate open and found no evidence of cracks, distortions, etc that other people have noticed on jeeps, the only thing I have noticed is the drivers door hinge after lubrication seems to be slightly binding making it a difficult shut relative to the other doors and the rear lift about beltline level has a small hole which is seam sealer skip by all appearances. It may be a drain hole by design or something intended to be there, as I have seen no issues anywehre from rust or water getting in and the rear hatch has No NVH issues other than stiff ride(tow package?)) the seal otherwise makes a complete contact, the flange is not damaged, and the gate appears to align correctly.
Factory Taillight differences/options
