Replacement headlamp assembly questions

[edwilson13185]

Hello, all. I was hoping to get some headlamp assembly advice.

My passenger side headlamp no longer seals well--there's an ever-increasing amount of condensation inside it. I thought about trying to dry it out, but the water has already left mineral deposits inside the housing. It looks bad. I'm thinking I need to buy a replacement.

I was looking at some of the projector headlamps on eBay, but I know nothing about them in terms of performance or quality. I've searched the forums for threads about aftermarket headlamp assemblies, but there doesn't seem to be a concensus. Does anyone here have experience with aftermarket (projector or otherwise) headlamp assemblies? Do they perform better? And are they of Honda quality? I'm pretty happy with the performance of the OEM headlamps, but I figure if I can get two projector units with better performance and quality for the price of one Honda headlamp housing, why not?

Also, I've never seen a 7th generation Accord with condensation in one of the headlamp assemblies. This happened the day I changed my passenger side headlight bulb. I replaced the stock bulb with whatever inexpensive Slyvania bulb Walmart had that day (I believe it was a 9006 or 9007--something like that--don't have the box and am too lazy to look in the manual). The bulb seems to seal just fine, and it looked exactly like the old one. Is there some way I could've damaged the headlamp seal while changing the bulb? Or did I change it on too humid of a day and allowed very humid air inside the lamp?

Thanks in advance.

[VTECaddict]

ive heard the ebay projector output isnt as good as stock. and replacement OEM style headlights are not....OEM quality. Depos in particular dont exactly have perfect fitment like OEM, and the lens will start peeling after a year or so.

[Accordtx1]

I have had the condensation in the drivers HL for some time.... I can not seem to locate the leak though... it is also random at when it occurs.

[mwmcginn]

Its usually a bad seal that caused the water in the headlamp and its pretty hard to find without submerging it. Most of the time its water getting in during a rainstorm driving episode.

There are stock headlamps on ebay pretty frequently. That woud be my solution if you didnt want to try to take apart yours and fix it.

[AccordEd]

Depos tend to leak, collect condensation and have poor fitment.

[MotorCity Honda]

Originally Posted by AccordEd

Depos tend to leak, collect condensation and have poor fitment.

What are Depos?

[AccordEd]

Depo is a auto lighting manufacturer based in Taiwan. They make a variety of oem style replacement lights. Bottom line, from my experience and seems like pretty much across the board, they're crap. They're inexpensive for a reason.

[edwilson13185]

Thanks for the advice. I'll look for one of the stock housings on eBay and avoid the Depo and other aftermarket housings.

Apparently I'll need to take the front bumper cover off to replace the housing, so the last thing I want is to have to do it again.

Thanks again.

[WolfpackBill]

Or another route would be hard work but it'll be totally free.

Take the headlight off, put it in the oven preheated at 200 degrees for 5 or so minutes. Then take the lens off and clean it up, reseal it by putting the headlight back in the oven for about 5 minutes. Once it's done, put some silicone caulking around the perimeter of the headlight and you're done.