Clear corner troubles

[Camarobabe]

I've been wanting clear corners for a while now, but I kept hearing everyone's toils & troubles with DRL's and clears. :(

So I've held off.

What was/is the problem with these as far as:

blowing bulbs
condensation

....and whatever else I might run into?

[speedy-v6-camaro]

I had problems with getting the bulbs locked into position. Finally I took my corners out to get the water out (only way) and found that a plastic post was getting in the way. They are quite difficult to get in your first time. I can do it now in about 10 minutes or less. They don't have the best fitment either....I trimmed mine with a dremel to get the best fit.

[Mister_Johnny99]

The problem is that the DRL circuit keeps the brighter turn signal element turned on all the time. The heat from these being on constantly melts the housings allowing water to enter. The water sloshes around in there and hits the bulb and blows it out.
SOLUTION; Find the DRL module under the dash. Pull the input and output wires from the connector. Splice the wires together. This eliminates the DRL's, but allows the turn signals to operate normaly.
DISCLAIMER; I havn't tried this yet, but it looks good in the FSM schematics. I hope to get to this soon. My old clears are shot and I've got a new set waiting to install, but I won't untill I disable the DRL's.
SIDE NOTE; I have installed EXPORT headlites w/"city lites", and I plan to run a seperate line from the DRL module to use the city lites as my DRL's.

[Denis]

I got my '02 Camaro euro clear corners from Afterthoughts Auto. Almost immediately had condensation in right corner. Replaced it with brand new and had the same problem within a few days. I'm beginning to think there may be something else going on, so next I'll check the seals and see if I can find anything.
Weird though, no trouble at all with the left corner.

[AllTheGoodNamesAreGone]

.. drill a small hole in the bottem of the housing.. problem solved

Ummm... dont remove the DRL circut.. that does something funy.. i think it like makes it so your parking break light stays on all the time.. or something.. really cant remember..

~Bill

[Denis]

Well, I figure draining the water will remove the symptom but not the cause. If it is the DRL does this happen with the stock amber corners? If not, then maybe because I need to use the DOT approved corners, lke APC. Is anyone having this problem with the APC corners?

[rjazrs]

Camarobabe-

I have recently done all of these mods to my '01 Camaro and have had no problems.

1. I read that a lot of people had problems with their clear corners melting so they decided to disable their DRL's. Here is a link on how to do this. 1998-2002 Disable DRL I just pulled the C2 connector (reference the link) and have had no problems. This disables your clear corner lights running all day which will prevent them from melting, it also disables the automatic headlights at night. The only side affect of this which "AllTheGoodNamesAreGone" was referring to was that when you put your parking brake on, the "brake" light on your dash does not come on. This to me was trivial being I like hardly ever use my parking brake!

2. The lights themselves are easy to work with. First thing I did to my lights was run a thick bead of clear silicone on them because of all the complaints of them leaking. So far they have been in over a month and not a drop of water in them.

3. Installing them was easy. All you do is remove your main headlight housing and the clear corners are located directly below. There were two bolts holding the main headlight in and there were three little screw/bolts holding the clear corners in. The clear corners I bought were from procarparts.com [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img] and they came with amber bulbs already with them. I had no trouble putting them in and cannot complain about the quality.

In reference to some of the other ideas I would not drill any holes in the clear corners to remove water, nor would I splice any wires in the DRL box. I just don't think it is worth it. Hopefully this helps and good luck! [img]graemlins/burnout.gif[/img]

[ July 02, 2003: Message edited by: rjazrs ]

[ July 02, 2003: Message edited by: rjazrs ]</p>

[Jason McCallister]

I took a shorting wire (22 gauge bare wire, 1/2" long) and slipped in into the A & B terminals of the plug as mentioned in the site rjazrs posted. Done in less than 5 minutes, no problems with the brake light, no DRL's and auto headlights, and no melting of clear corners (APC) for the last year and a half. :D Doing it this way, you won't have to open the BCM box! ;)

[AllTheGoodNamesAreGone]

hmm.. ok.. thats kinda cool.. I kinda like my drls though..

[merlinsrealm]

I have the clear corners as well....I have read all the pro's and cons...All I did ahead of time was drill a tiny hole in the lens because so many people said they take on water...I love the covers though so for me it was worth it

Eric