Arteb Brazil GMT400 headlight users thread

mn_ski · Jan 17, 2024

About 2 weeks in to having my Artebs installed and I got moisture in the driver's side headlight after going through the car wash.

Up close you can see the water droplets sitting on the inside of the lens. I am pretty sure I have all of my drains pointed down. Is there anything I can do to clear up the moisture?

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RichLo · Jan 17, 2024

Probably not much until the weather up here gets above 32 again. But at that point you can take both bulbs out and blow out the moisture or even just drive around during the day with them out to let air circulate. Sorry to hear about that! Any idea how water got in? Maybe underbody spray blew into the breather?

mn_ski · Jan 17, 2024

Possibly under body spray hit it just right. I have been driving around with my headlights on trying to warm them up but no results, too cold!

1998_K1500_Sub · Jan 17, 2024

mn_ski said:
About 2 weeks in to having my Artebs installed and I got moisture in the driver's side headlight after going through the car wash. Up close you can see the water droplets sitting on the inside of the lens.

(Edit: The cause of this problem is presented in post #127 below.)

Barring leakage where the lens is sealed to the housing, IIRC the only water ingress points would be:

- leaking around the HB3/HB4 bulbs where their integral O-ring seals to the housing
- around the "city light" fixture; that fixture should have a O-ring on it that seals the gap between it and the housing
- into and through one of the three vent tubes (they should all be facing down)

Check the bulbs' fitment in the housing; make sure their O-rings are properly sized to seal well. They should not wiggle much, if at all, when inserted and twist-locked into place. Odd-duck bulbs (think LEDs from China sold on eBay) might not have the proper fitment to seal properly.

Check the city light fixture, make sure its O-ring is present.

Confirm the three vent tubes face downward.

Confirm that the lens is intact, e.g., it hasn't taken a rock-hit.

I would dry that housing ASAP, that's just me. I suspect the reflective coating may degrade if exposed to water for an extended length of time and that would be a Bad Thing™. I've got some cheapie turn signal housings on my Suburban that take water at the car wash, and their cheapie reflective coating is pock-marked with dark spots.

I once had some TYC headlights that leaked, and when they took water I would remove the housing from the truck, pull the bulbs and let them sit in front of a hair dryer or warm air register.

Eventually I held the TYCs lens-down in a pail of shallow water, which exposed a leak at the lens / housing seal. I certainly hope you're not witnessing a leak there.

The TYCs I had were junk. The mounting cam for the bulbs would not hold them tightly in the housing. The O-ring on the bulbs would not seal well against the too-big hole in the housing. The housing had no vents (that I could find), so as they warmed / cooled they had to breathe through whatever leakage path they could find (around the bulbs' O-rings?) or create (push out the lens / housing seal?). Their illumination pattern was extremely poor. They were what motivated me to find a way to get the Artebs for myself.

454cid · Jan 17, 2024

1998_K1500_Sub said:
Check the bulbs' fitment in the housing; make sure their O-rings are properly sized to seal well. They should not wiggle much, if at all, when inserted and twist-locked into place. Odd-duck bulbs (think LEDs from China sold on eBay) might not have the proper fitment to seal properly.

I know exactly what you mean here. I've got some high beams (same bulb size as our trucks) in my Volvo 850 that are like that. No water intrusion problems as the bulbs are completely inside the housing. I had no idea such an issue existed before purchase.

mn_ski · Jan 18, 2024

Thanks for the reply. I will get the housing out of the truck tomorrow and inspect. I have the same bulbs that have been in the truck for the 4 years I have owned it, just standard Halogens. But I can check the fitment as well as inspect the city light hole.

mn_ski · Jan 21, 2024

So late last night I was able to take a look at my waterlogged drivers side light. I am hoping that it was just total user error

After taking the grill off, so I could inspect, I immediately found that two of the drains were pointed straight UP!! Seriously. Anyway the rest of the night was spent clearing all of the ice and water out of the housing. Oh and all of the glass shards from the blown out halogen bulbs.

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So now I get to purchase all new low and high beams. Looking around the internet for about 1/2 hour yesterday it seems that the Philips X-TremeVision 9006 low beams that @df2x4 posted about in post #2 of this thread are not available. So I am looking for other options. I am likely going to get the Sylvania XtraVision because they are readily available and I have been running them in my Jetta for a few years. The only downside is that I literally replace the low beams every 11-12 months. Sometimes I get lucky and they burn out at 11 months and O'Reilly will warranty them.

So I am open to suggestions on other bulbs if people have them!

1998_K1500_Sub · Jan 21, 2024

mn_ski said:
So late last night I was able to take a look at my waterlogged drivers side light. I am hoping that it was just total user error After taking the grill off, so I could inspect, I immediately found that two of the drains were pointed straight UP!!

Yeah... and that's an easy installation oversight :cheers:

This topic ("install with the drain tubes pointing downward") was covered much earlier in this thread, and I know you knew to install them facing downward but sometimes the little details get overlooked!

For other readers: Here's where the drain tube orientation / installation is mentioned (link to post, below), as well as many other topics related to installation and use of the Arteb headlights. The entire thread is worth a look.