How To Seal Leaky Tail Lights.

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After getting my 94 32GTR, I found out that the tail light leaked just as bad as my previous 180sx. So it seems like a common problem with Nissan's thats getting to or over already over the 15 yr old mark. Its been raining the last a few days and my boot is already starting to collect puddles of water. So this morning I decided to seal them off properly.

I made this tutorial with the intention to guide people step by step through the sealing process. This applies to the R32, and 180sx as both have the rear tail light sealed with butyl sealant from factory (possibly for other nissans as well). The sealant dissapears over time and this is when water starts to seep through. You'll know water is getting into the boot when the boot carpet become damp, or you find puddles of water collecting on top of the tail light housing, in the spare wheel well, and also behind both rear quater panel (where the car jack sits). If you find a lot of water collecting in there, there is usually a rubber drain plug that you can undo to let the water out.

To test wheather your tail light is leaking, simply pour some water around the gaps all around the tail light and use a flash light to see if its leaking through.

Ok, so lets get started. Please note that I take no responsibility if you mess things up. I recommend that you undo most of the boot trim, take out the carpet and spare wheel and everything that might intefere, so you don't have things get in the way.

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The product that I use is called Sika Lastomer 710 Butyle Sealant. Comes in 310ml catridges to use with a chalking gun.

It looks and feels pretty much the same as the OEM sealant, so it should be the correct product to use. There is also a 711, which is high solid, I wasn't sure if thats any different (maybe harder?). But as far as I can tell, 710 should be fine. DO NOT use any kind of hard setting sealant such as silicon bathroom sealant and such. One is that the water sealing property is not as good as the butyl counterpart, in addition, they are not resistant to vibration and expansion and will eventually fail.

You might need to hunt around for this product as they are not usually available in hardware stores. I had to order mine over the net, but I heard that irrigatino shop stocks them.

Sika®Lastomer-710

SikaLastomer-710 is a butyl rubber based sealant, for general use in joint sealing.

The sealant does not harden, therefore permitting if necessary, eventual dismantling of elements joined with SikaLastomer-710.

SikaLastomer-710 adheres to a large variety of materials without the use of any primer, including glass, aluminium, wood, metal, rubber, plastics etc.

Service Conditions: -20c to +80c

Tools Required

Sika Lastomer-710

Paint Thinner

Phillip head screw driver

Large flat head screw driver

Razer blade

8mm socket wrench or shifter

I've high lighted below the area which the water is allowed to seeps through.

Now, undo the 4 nut that secures the tail light and unplug the tail light.

Once you have done so, you want take the tail light out (easier said than done since the sealant holds the tail light on pretty strong). So what I did was, working form the inside towards the out side of the light, try push the tail light outwards from the inside. It might feel that it is not moving, but keep at it and it will come out eventually (see below).

Once you get to this stage, you want to start to push outwards in the middle of the light(still fron the inside). And once the middle of the tail light comes loose, the rest should be fairly easy. As you can see in the picture, only half of the tail light still has sealant on it, and the other half has nothing to stop the water from coming in.

And another illustration with the tail light off.

And on the actual tail light

Once the tail light has come off, you want to save those rubber rings as they will be reused when you are putting the light back on.

Now comes the fun part! Getting the old seal off can be a nightmare. They are very sticky and sticks onto everything. So the technique that I used was, to use a large flat head screw driver and use the "shovel" motion. So I dig in, as close to the metal as possible, push foward, and flip over the screw driver to make the the sealant stick together.

Repeating the process will see the old sealant "snow balls" together

By this stage, you should have most of the old sealant off. So now just use any old rag with same paint thinner and rub the rest of the sealant off. You will find that the sealant will come off fairly easily. One important thing to look out for is you want to make sure you get ALL of the old stuff off. I test this by running my finger all the way around the outside and the inside the tail light hold and by the end if there are some black stuff stuck to your finger, you'll need to clean it some more.

The end result after the clean

The next step is to clean the old sealant off the tail light. The process is exactly the same as before, except you don't have to clean off all the old sealant using paint thinner, just remove as much of it as possible, but MAKE SURE whats left behind is clean

So after all that, you are now ready to apply the new sealant. Cut a large 45 degree on the cartridge tip, because you want to apply a nice thick bead of sealant.

Take it nice and slow and apply an evenand consistant bead of sealant all the way around where the old sealant goes. Also go around the area where the thread is.

Repeat the same process around the tail light hole, but there is no need to put as much on.

Once thats done, you can now carefully put the tail light back on and tighten the nuts. If all went well, you should see the fresh sealant making a nice seal around gap.

The sealant works pretty much straight away, but leave it for 24 hours and test it with a hose and your m8 in the boot

[donkey]

wicked bro my r33 gtr does this exact thing, was wondering what do.....cheers heaps for the advice on how to fix

robbie

[GTScotT]

most paint supply shops will have this product, such as ace (Automotive colour and equpitment) and VG auto paints,

and it doesnt have to be this brand either, its also used on windows of some cars (the ones that dont need to be cut out) and to hold plastic onto car doors under the door trim

[Secret32]

Amazing thread! Would have taken a bit of effort to write up and the result makes up for it!

Thanks so much!

[Jawssh]

I just purchased some of the sikalastomer at a bolt shop, i think Hudsons (Hardware store) also sell it !

I'm gonna try this over the weekend, thanks for the DIY !

[gotRICE?]

I much prefer the sealant tape. Saves having to piss around with that nasty ass black gunk once you have spent the time cleaning it off! (That is.. if you ever need to remove them for some reason..)

Yes its an ITR.. but same issues with leaks! Was a picture from a tutorial i wrote a few years back. Never leaked a drop.

BTW, not dissing the tut! You did a good job! Just a different way to do it staying away from that black sludge

I HATED working on Nissan's when i was a spray painter. God knows why they insisted on gluing the dam tail lights in haha.

[Jawssh]

I can agree, getting the sika wasn't too hard, putting it back on was i found

[sywgp]

Hey, I'm looking for SikaLastomer-710 is a butyl rubber based sealant. I live in Canada and i can't find it anywhere, can anyone link me to a site where i can order it I've been looking but without any luck.

[StockPommy]

Awesome thread, thanks heaps. Just bought an R33 4 weeks ago and i have the same issue so when this rain finally stops il be trying this for sure

[D.I.Y. Mik]

Lovely write up and pics,

I had a go at this on mine, but shes been hit back there and its all fcked up.

Half a tube of goo and it still leaks.

Have another go at it i guess.

[babyskyline]

I did this years ago when i repainted my r32 gtst as it was leaking too.

Still isn't leaking now and it has been 6 years so definitely something that should be done if you find out your lights need re-sealing.

[NickB]

I realise this is an old thread, but I just tried this out on my R33's taillights. Searched for hours on the net and couldn't find the SIKALASTOMER-710 anywhere. So, decided to check out Bunnings and found they had SIKALASTOMER-711 which is the same thing as the 710 and only $5 for a 310mL tube. Might be worth stocking up while it's available and cheap (I bought 4 tubes in case).

[Bernie_Kosar19]

I know this thread is ancient but, I have water leaking in my R32 trunk as well but these pictures arent showing up. If anybody can help that would be awesome

[mii11x]

i did mine a few years ago mate.........once you pull your taillights out you'll see what the pics are meant to show.......just clean off all the old black gunk and re-apply new