Leaky headlights causing blown bulbs?

I just replaced a blown headlight on my '90 LX and noticed that there were a lot of drops of moisture visible inside the lens housing. Actually, the bulb was broken when I took it out -- the quartz bulb was shattered -- although I attributed that to my whacking on the lens in an effort to make it work. But my replacement bulb only lasted an hour or so, and when I took it out the bulb was again shattered. Could the moisture in the housing be doing this? If so, what's the fix? Drilling a drain hole? Anybody ever encounter this kind of problem? Weird.

Are you getting any fingerprints on the bulb? Is the headlight housing still sealed or is the lens coming loose?

Try drilling a 1/8" hole in the bottom. My SVO was terrible about doing that.
[addsig]

Nope, kept the bulb clean & fingerprint free during install. Haven't figured out where the water's getting in yet.

Likely the water is your problem, if even one drops hits the bulb when it's hot it will shatter.

Now for the water problem. The water is getting in because, the epoxy bonding the front lense to the lamp housing has cracked. When the lights are on the housing will heat up causing some air to excape through the crack. Then when it cools, air is drawn back that has some mosture in it. The mosture then condenses inside the housing

Easiest thing would be to just drill a hole to let the mosture out, but over time the humidity will attack athe silver reflectors and ruin them(yours are probably already damaged). The housing needs to be completely sealed.

You can remove the lamp assembly and put a thin coat of RTV at the seam wher the lense and housing are glued together. Then before it sets, wrap teflon tape completely around the seam. BEFORE ANYONES LAUGHS.... THIS DOES WORK!!!! Have sealed numerous Tbird and Stang lamps never anymore prob.

Unless your lenses are still crystal clear,probably the best solution is just to get new lamp housings. The difference in light output is amazing. If yours are only lightly hazed, a little rubbing compound followed by waxing will work wonders.
[addsig]

Yer right -- they're completely toast; all yellowed and yucky. I tried polish for acrylic fish tanks. It's great stuff for plastic scratches (CD's, watch crystals, etc.) but no help on the lenses. I'm just in beater mode with the car for now, so I'll give your method a try. But it's a straight-bodied triple-white '90 5.0 LX convertible with leather that will one day wear new lenses.......... Thanks.

Ihad the same yellowing problem on my 89 GT. I finally bouught new lamp housings but before I did I used some stuff from Auto Sol ( I think it is a european company) for waxing plastic and plexiglass. I also used some real fine wet/dry sand paper (probably 600 or higher) and the results were much better than expected. Hope this helps.
Gamecock