Cayenne 2007 Foggy/Moisture Inside Headlights Workaround Fix (9PA1, 957)

[boonewe]

Symptoms:

When the car parks under rain (even if not driving), the headlight will get moisture / fog inside, and 
water droplets visible on the inner side of the lens. 

When i remove the headlight to check, there is water "flooding" inside the headlight. That can cause more damages to the electrical things.

 

Suspected problem: 
The rain water drains towards the headlight between bonnet and fenders. 
The headlights seals are bad, the rain water seeps into it. 

 

A workaround solution:
To remove the rubber covers so that the rain water does not flow towards the headlight anymore.

 

Result:
There is no more water "flooding" inside the headlights for the moment.

However, there is still foggy/moisture visible inside the headlight.

 

This is a temporary solution to avoid "water flooding" that may cause damages inside the headlight.

 

Thank you.
 

Edited February 2, 2018 by boonewe
update

[RichConnell]

I have been having a problem similar to this with my driver's side bi-xenon head lights on my 2008 Cayenne GTS. Unfortunately it has caused enough water encroachment that the control module has gotten water inside and shorted out, along with blowing the D1S xenon bulb. Now there is a need to purchase the control modules along with new xenon bulbs. Porsche has up graded the modules and the modules will have to be purchased as a pair. The new module will not work with the old module in the other headlight. These modules have to be programmed in a pair, and are really expensive. I do not want additional water in the headlamp assemblies once I have installed the modules. So I am trying to determine if there is any way possible to keep water out of the my existing head light assemblies. Your write up seems to help with the problem. Just in the last 3 days, we have had a lot of rain and my headlights were dry before the rain. I was out looking over the headlamps today and there is water in the driver's side fixture.  So I will be trying your fix today. Some moisture seems to accumulate in these fixtures due to the high heat created from the bulbs and the cooling factor when the lights are turned off after a night's drive.  Relative humidity is also a factor.  I believe the newer replacement light assemblies have a desiccant bag inside the housing to accommodate the moisture issues under normal operation, but a leaky fixture introduces more water than these desiccant bags can accommodate.    It would be nice to be able to repair the headlight assemblies successfully, but I have not seen any tech notes or published articles on how this can be accomplished. Many of us own the older Cayenne's and will be faced with these aging issues. Purchasing new headlight assemblies, modules, and 2 xenon bulbs are in excess of $3k and a much less expensive solution would be well received.

[slavie]

I, too, have recently had moisture issues with the Driver's side headlight on my 08 GTS w/ Xenon lights. Every thread I've found about this, it's always Driver's side headlight. Hmm.

 

I took high-grade silicone and re-did the seal around the headlight where the clear piece and black housing come together, pushed the silicone into the seam as much as I could. Had to move the rubber gasket aside in some places, but got away without having to rip it off completely. The factory black sealant looked like it was applied not evenly. It's been several months and a few decent rain storms, as well as driving in the rain, and no condensation has re-appeared so far. Good enough for now. I'll keep an eye on it and will probably have to bake & reseal the headlight if the issue re-appears.

 

Unfortunately, my old ballast took on too much water and shorted out. When I took the poor guy off, there was water dripping out of the electrical connector. Initially it was not responding to Durametric at all, even after drying for 24 hr in silica packed filled bag, but it did start communicating again a few weeks later. Still, it just reported a bunch of codes about fried power components and the low beam did not function.

 

Saga continues. My units were the "02" revision, so I would have to purchase a pair of the newer "03" units from Porsche as we know they have to be a matched pair. Unwilling to fork out $1000 for the parts alone, I managed to track down a matching "02" unit on eBay. It plugged in and low beam works, Durametric recognizes the unit, but it now reports that the VIN does not match and it needs to be reprogrammed at the dealer. Arghhh... VCDS does NOT "see" the headlights on the 957, and Durametric is useless as usual. Local dealer wants $175 for the 1hr of labor to re-program, and local indy is not far behind at $150.

 

On a side note, I did pick up a matching set of 958 ballasts to try - they were cheap enough. The headlights turned on but the ballasts were not recognized in Durametric at all with the pair installed. Another interesting observation - when I had original undamaged 957 ballast on RH light and 958 one in LH light, it brought down part of the CAN network completely - wipers, radio, headlights all stopped communicating and acting up accordingly. Re-installing the 957 ballast in LH light brought the CAN line back up. Not sure if there's electrical incompatibility there or what, but so was my experience.

 

Hope this helps the next guy here. I'm going to call my quest done at this point and make a trip to the dealer for programming. ~$320 all in here for the repair with used ballast. A-ok I suppose.

Edited June 4, 2018 by slavie

[Pxwguad]

I had a the same Problem and after a little research this is what I did,

 

- Remove headlight, remove covers and dry it out.

- Once dry carefully remove the headlight gasket (This is the gasket that Wraps around the sides and top of headlight assembly)

- With a soft bristle brush and some alcohol thoroughly clean the seam where the two headlight halves meet.

- Once dry apply flowable silicone in the seam where the two headlight halves meet.

- Allow to cure for two hours, re-install the headlight gasket, and install the headlight back in its place.