Cracked Tail Light

[tebower]

Recently was hauling some wood, and a piece smacked the tail light leading to a hairline crack. As expected, now the light is full of condensation and moisture, top to bottom.

I have an XLT with BLIS. Is there anything I could try without replacing the housing. Cheapest price I can find is $600!!

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[jsphlynch]

You found one for $600? Quite a while ago there was a couple members trying to replace broken taillights, and as I recall the price was closer to $1k!

EDIT: Found one of the posts about it. I recalled incorrectly, as it was north of $1k.

 

[Frenchy]

Unfortunately you need to replace the entire Assembly. A pain with the price but the fact you were able to find one that low of a price you did well.

 

[Porpoise Hork]

You might get lucky if you call around to some local wrecking yards as well as on-line ones that specialize in late models. They might be able to locate the tail light. There's always a chance that they might have one and sell it for 2-300 vs 7-800.

 

[weasel1]

Personally, I'd try some of that plastic weld before I paid that. After baking the moisture out first of course.

 

[P. A. Schilke]

Hi Folks,

Though I do not agree with tinting film...how about using it to waterproof the cracking?

 

[agbulling]

The only way I can think of is to drill a small hole at the end of the crack to both stop the crack and be a place to inject Nitrogen into the assembly for about 15 minutes. After it has purged the moisture you should seal the crack and the hole with plastic cement that actually melts the plastic, maybe modelling cement. The drawback is that the Nitrogen is probably not cheap or easy to get access to.

 

[alcohenusa]

Depending on your deductible, you may be able to get this covered on your insurance under the comprehensive coverage. My policy covers glass, headlights , taillights, etc. with no deductible.

 

[Cobrablues]

I know this is an older forum, but I just found my passenger side tail light cracked. Unbeknownst to me how it happened. The price about $1200 at a local Ford dealer. A bit of a markup for the list of around $1088.00. I found a new one from a dealership for $702. Then the light went off in my mini brain. My deductible is only $250.00. So I filed a claim. Much cheaper. That's why we have insurance.

 

[HenryMac]

I'm surprised there aren't aftermarket guards being made for the tail lights. If they looked good I'd throw down some bucks. Good insurance.

Here's a thread.... Metal Tail Light Guards

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