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fxr
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kamzcab86
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Joined: July 26, 2008
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Location: Arizona
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 Posted: Wed Apr 27, 2016 12:21 pm Post subject: Re: melted tail light? |
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Another possibility: Spontaneous combustion.
Just an observation (i.e. not necessarily a potential cause), but one of the pins on the housing connector is discolored.
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OddN
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Joined: August 19, 2010
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Location: Northern Norway
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| Posted: Wed Apr 27, 2016 12:31 pm Post subject: Re: melted tail light? |
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The reflected sunlight theory sounds the most plausible in my head, but due to the whitening of the plastic I keep wondering if this could be caused by some chemical solution sprayed on the van?
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bluebus86
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Posts: 11075
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| Posted: Wed Apr 27, 2016 12:41 pm Post subject: Re: melted tail light? |
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The nice thing is if it was a window reflection that did this melting, there might be legal recourse for the damages. go back to the location that the van was parked and look for glass that might be inline to do this. I you find such windows, wait for similar time of day and weather and take a photo of the death ray beam hitting the van, and you could maybe be compensated by the building owner.
I recall a case in Tucson where a cars side mirror was melted off by an apartment's reflective windows. the apartment owners paid for the damage.
good luck in the case of the melted lense.
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Terry Kay
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Posts: 13331
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| Posted: Wed Apr 27, 2016 12:50 pm Post subject: Re: melted tail light? |
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You're really dreaming.
One that a window focused the sun "Just" on that lens alone,
Two that the focused reflection totally missed everything else surrounding the lamp.
In plain old english, I don't think so. 
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bluebus86
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| Posted: Wed Apr 27, 2016 12:57 pm Post subject: Re: melted tail light? |
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| Terry Kay wrote: |
You're really dreaming.
One that a window focused the sun "Just" on that lens alone,
Two that the focused reflection totally missed everything else surrounding the lamp.
In plain old english, I don't think so. |
the focused light may have hit the painted surfaces, but did no damage to the painted surface. The case of the car mirror housing that melted in Tucson only found the plastic mirror housing to be melted, no apparent damage to the rest of the car.
yeah could have been other things, like a hot exhaust. one thing is that the mirror thing could be found out be repeating the parking of the van at similar sun angles and weather and see if a death ray exists.
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angrychicken
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Joined: November 22, 2013
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| Posted: Wed Apr 27, 2016 1:40 pm Post subject: Re: melted tail light? |
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At his point, the etiology will remain a mystery.
Compensation for damage is very mehrcan, but not my style. Not worth the PI work for a cheap, used part.
I'm just hoping that this doesn't repeat itself as I plan on doing quite a bit of traveling over the next few years. As long it wasn't an internal cause, I'm good with replacing the part. |
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bluebus86
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| Posted: Wed Apr 27, 2016 2:33 pm Post subject: Re: melted tail light? |
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| angrychicken wrote: |
At his point, the etiology will remain a mystery.
Compensation for damage is very mehrcan, but not my style. Not worth the PI work for a cheap, used part.
I'm just hoping that this doesn't repeat itself as I plan on doing quite a bit of traveling over the next few years. As long it wasn't an internal cause, I'm good with replacing the part. |
That's very un-mehrcan of you. Anyway good luck in your new taillight and travels.
The mystery remains, what caused the light to melt?????
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wcdennis
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Joined: July 20, 2004
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Location: Winston-Salem NC
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| Posted: Fri Apr 29, 2016 8:29 am Post subject: Re: melted tail light? |
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| Another long shot: Could your own exhaust, getting ducted by your bumper be the cause? I know it seems like there would be some soot and scorching under the light, but I would still be curious to see where your tail pipe points. |
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DenverB
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Posts: 704
Location: Denver, Colorado
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| Posted: Fri Apr 29, 2016 11:02 am Post subject: Re: melted tail light? |
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i'll chime in to agree with an earlier post
I think it's reasonable to think someone backed up to your van, tailpipe happened to point at the light and they sat there for a few?
long shot, sure.. but it's plausible and I've had rear plastic bumper corner fall on an -84 onto the exhaust tailpipe and melt similarly in the last few months....
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IdahoDoug
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Location: N. Idaho
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| Posted: Fri Apr 29, 2016 3:04 pm Post subject: Re: melted tail light? |
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| wcdennis wrote: |
| Another long shot: Could your own exhaust, getting ducted by your bumper be the cause? I know it seems like there would be some soot and scorching under the light, but I would still be curious to see where your tail pipe points. |
No, not enough heat transfer capacity here, with exhaust sweeping around bumper.
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Terry Kay
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| Posted: Fri Apr 29, 2016 4:13 pm Post subject: Re: melted tail light? |
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"Only The Shadow Knows "
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