E39 headlight condensation?

[Tazar]

I regularly get condensation forming behind the plastic covers on my headlights, how do owners deal with this?
At this time of the year the sun isn’t strong enough to dry them out. In summer I just park the car facing the sun and it disappears quite quickly.

[danb79]

Tazar said:

I regularly get condensation forming behind the plastic covers on my headlights, how do owners deal with this?
At this time of the year the sun isn’t strong enough to dry them out. In summer I just park the car facing the sun and it disappears quite quickly.

Very common issue; age and heat cycles cause the sealant to shrink and let moisture in

Really all you can do is remove them (only 4 bolts); remove the bulbs and get a heat gun on low to the openings and dry them out

Refit them with some vaseline on the bulb holder rubbers to help them seal better and it'll help make them more supple...

You could try resealing with a thin bead of silicone around the current sealant, but it rarely works

[bigdom]

Used this before on a headlight, and recently on a works colleagues infamously leaky ford focus (where they didn't seal the body properly). Both have stayed dry.

https://www.granvilleoil.com/prodInfo?pID=48

You can buy at Halfords, Amazon etc.

[Tazar]

Nice sunny day today so having placed the car facing the sun I opened the bonnet and placed black duct tape over the tops of the headlights covering the gaps. Within a couple of hours the condensation had disappeared.