Tail light problem

March 7

Hi.
Driving with my RAV4 2018 about half an a year, really like it, but suddenly noticed that there could be a possible problem with tail lights. Two days ago I was washing car at carwash with high pressure, nothing new, contactless carwash, did this before with this and other cars, and I noticed that soap and water gets behind tail lights...It's not happening first time, but I didn't pay much attention, but now after two days there is still a visible cloudy marks. It drives me crazy... It's so lame, that things like this always happens to me, no matter what I bought, there will be a problem in 90% of cases. 😞
Contacted dealer, asking for an advice, all they offered was to do a check up for around 100 EUR, and possibly to buy a new tail light set, cause I noticed this in both sides, which would cost me around 850 EUR without job, they don't offer a repair. Feels like dealer is only meant to take all the money a way from you...the more, the better, and I can't even be sure that this will fix the problem, not willing to pay more than 1000 EUR for nothing.

Checked for cracks, nothing visual, black sealant around lights looks normal. There is a gap in one picture, but I think it's for every model, like design, dealer said that won't be the cause.
Google link for images: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/19PWcQEx68jza8hXRPX7cpPH50PsPiB4H?usp=drive_link

Maybe someone have encountered with similar problems? I was searching google for this, but nothing found for my car, saw a some posts about newer RAV4 or different car brands like Porsche, Tesla. Warranty of course is not possible for this...
It's not very warm outside yet, temperature is close to zero or below, maybe it will dry out, as it did before, but not sure for 100%, LED light don't make any heat while on, so it's almost impossible to dry it while lights are on.

Thanks for reading this!

March 7

Hi Kristaps, as you mentioned, the cooler temperatures might slow down the drying process. Park the car in a well ventilated area, preferably out of direct sunlight, and allow it to dry completely for a few days. You can also try using compressed air to gently blow out any trapped moisture behind the taillights or a hair dryer.

While you haven't noticed any cracks, it's possible there might be a small gap or opening that allows water to seep in behind the taillights. I would inspect the boot and surrounding areas for any potential gaps. You can try using a hose in the areas you have shown on your photos to lightly spray over and see if you can see any water getting in to the lights.

If you can't see any water in the lights then turn the pressure on the hose up and repeat. This often finds where leaks are coming in.Hope this helps

😄

March 7

possibly it is the soap marking them, water is designed to drain around/behind the lights

ah looking at the pics that is condensation what naturally occurs with the temperature difference between the inside and outside of the plastic

take the lights off the car remove the bulbs/leds, then you can clean them and let them dry out overnight in a warm place

March 9

Hi.
Thanks for your answers, will wait for warmer temperatures and then see what happens. Don't want to rush things and change both set of tail lights. Reading a lot about this, and as I understood with LED lights it's quite common, cause they don't make any heat to dry it out like older lighting.

I noticed one more thing about black rubber sealant below rear window, on the right side it's pushed outside, on the left side and some spots in the middle it's pushed inside. Attached the same cropped mages, sorry for quality.

I think it needs to be pushed outside? Don't know is it makes any sense or is just visually noticeable. Tried to push it out, but it's quite hard without removing light, need something very thin to do it.

Top of the image is left side, bottom right side.