tail light lens seal - no goo?

nostatic · nostatic's Garage

I just replaced the left side tail light lens seal, and ended up not using any goo (don't have 3M, but have some GE auto weatherseal adhesive). I pulled the old one off and scraped most of the old adhesive off. Pulled out the whole unit (although it only moved out about .5" or so...some crud fell down but not much), vacuumed behind and blew it out. The new seal had a channel for the edge of the unit, so I managed to put the seal on slowly working my way around pushing it into the channel (took some patience). Then I moved the whole unit back into position, keeping the seal in the channel (had to use a flat head screwdriver to push it flush along the bottom).

So I didn't use any goo. Any issues with that? It stayed in place and in the channel, so it seems like the seal should be tight. The one thing I did notice is that now the tail light lens sits about .25" out from where it was before (ie not flush with the center strip and out a tad from the fender). I suppose 24 years of compression on the original seal didn't help, and that this will seat a bit over time. I didn't torque down the lens screws as I didn't want to crack the lens.

Rot 911 · 06-22-2003, 10:10 AM

No goo is good.

RoninLB · 06-22-2003, 10:12 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by nostatic

So I didn't use any goo. Any issues with that?
now the tail light lens sits about .25" out from where it was before

when I changed the lens seal they also stuck out/tooo fat.. I even exchanged the dealer seals for another set.. same $hit.. I will eventually try a razor blade trim..

I didn't use any "goo".. but I did use some grease to somewhat seal them.............Ron

stone43 · 06-22-2003, 12:00 PM

I just did the same thing last week. Used goo since I could not get the damn thing to stay in place. My lenses also stick out a little further than they used to. Also managed to crack one since I tightened it up a little too much. This might inspire me to go Euro, but probably not.

nostatic · nostatic's Garage

The Bentley manual hipped me to why I couldn't pull the whole thing out...gotta pull the drain plug. I did the right side (cleaning behind), and pulled the left side and redid it.

One odd thing...the left side had different bolt lengths for the assembly (outside shorter than inside) while the right side had the same (longer) lengths. I suppose one got swapped at some point...