Wee spots of water in my headlight

There's 2 small drips of dried water (and maybe soap) inside the upper half of my headlight on the glass. I first noticed this after I washed my car very thoroughly this weekend (I was spraying water on it for a long time). I suspect water/soap might have seeped through during the wash.

I know this is not supposed to happen, but is it a legitimate cause of concern? I'm thinking of letting this fly by, I can live with it, but perhaps not if it keeps happening every time I wash my car. Is it safe to wait on a trip to the dealership, or should I get it checked out right away?

BTW, I'm @ 30k miles

 

What "type of lights" are you talking about? They've seen heavy rain before and it never happened (at least I didn't notice). It might have been due to the angle I was spraying the hose, made it easy for a couple drops of water to get in. There is no condensation, yellowing, or any other symptoms of a bad seal.

I'm not trying to make excuses, just want to see if I'm being too picky about my car. Is this covered under the Platinum warranty anyway?

 

I'm afraid you're probably right.

I said I'm at 30k miles.

I have yet to see a Prius "peel" like you are referring to. Until I do, I don't really believe you. What kind of cars did this?

 

Great probing questions Steve. I did not notice water inside the assembly when it was wet. I only saw it after it had dried. What does this mean?

Also, other than at work, I do not park outside. The car is in my garage most of the time. So the yellowing issue doesn't worry me much - unless of course this drip turns into something more.

I wish I could take a picture now to show you the drip. A picture is worth a thousand words. But just to give you an idea of what it looks like, it starts at the top of the driver's side headlight very very faintly, and the drip branches into a 'Y' (more like an upside down Y actually) The ends of the drip are less faint of course. All of this takes place in ~2".

I was thinking of swinging by the dealership today but I'd much rather just go home. I'm exhausted.

Thanks guys.

 

Alright, you wouldn't believe how hard it was to get a picture of this. Try to see if you can find the spot/streak. Give up? Ok it's to the northwest of the bright glare. The other streak lies parallel to that one.

I swung by the dealership and showed them. The service lady Brenda noticed it right away. She pulled her partner and he saw it too, even though it took him longer. They've never seen that before. They said it wouldn't be covered under the Platinum warranty since its cosmetic (Really, cosmetic? I'll put that in my back pocket), but to keep my eye on it closely since it is covered under the 36k/3 year warranty.

Anyways, I'll definitely have to wash my car a few more times and see what happens. I'm just glad for now I got the photographic proof and dealership "I'm not actually going crazy" approval.

 

I've repeatedly said I'm under 36k lol.

Your Lexus experience sounds like mine. So is this normal under high powered washes? What's the chance that my new headlight does the same thing?

Like I said I have 6000 miles before I hit that dreaded 36k so hopefully I get a few washes in there and I can see what happens again.

 

So let's say I wash my car a couple of more times and this doesn't happen because I'm careful around the lamp housing. Should I still get it replaced?

 

I'm really afraid this might be an anomoly and I won't be able to catch it happening again in 6000 miles. But that it might happen again much later. Do they have a warranty or grace-period on replaced parts? I have the feeling a new lamp could be as bad or worse.

But yeah, regardless, I'm leaning towards getting it replaced anyway.

 

I calculated I have safely 4.5 more months before hitting 35k-36k mile mark. The next time I wash my car (maybe in a couple weeks already) I'm doing the long high power wash and see what happens.

I'll also test the passenger side headlight heavily. My water hose comes from the driver's side so I may spend more time washing there, which is why the spot only was on the driver's side headlight.

 

I went to Toyota this morning to finally have it officially diagnosed. The result is I need a new headlight assembly. It's not going to re-seal itself. Now I just sit back and wait for the part to come in. It should take no longer than an hour to replace. The dealership is making this really easy!