Rear light seal/gasket problem :(

[puregttipower]

Hi chaps
my rear passenger light on my cabby was leaking so i bought new seal from bmw, once fitted the light does not fit flush anymore? there is a gap by the quarter and top of the light, the new seal seems alot thicker then the one came out? any help would be appreciated

[Tedswagon]

Can you just squash it and tighten up the nuts?

[Brianmoooore]

Not the wrong seal, is it? Facelift seal and pre facelift lights, or vice versa.
What's the part number, 370679 or 380419?

[puregttipower]

part number is 370679 and my car is 89 f plate so pre facelift? i did tighten nuts as much as i can anymore and they will rip rip the gasket

[maxfield]

Given that it's a cabby on an 89 it could come with either facelift of preface rear lights. It's the height of the lights that are different, so I would assume the gasket would be a different length between facelift and pre facelift.

Any pictures of said gasket in the light?

[puregttipower]

my lights are same as the one in this link, the gasket is on the car now, its quite thick and the one come off seems alot thinner

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-e30-320i- ... SwfRdZLBDn

[puregttipower]

my gasket looks like these ones and same light as well

http://mybuildgarage.com/wp-content/upl ... G_0442.jpg

[Carmo13]

They are pre-facelift lights which seems funny to me as i thought pre-facelift cars finished in 87?
It makes sense that the new gaskets are thicker as they havent been compressed for nearly 30 years.

[puregttipower]

but there too thick causing the light not to site correctley against the body?

[Tedswagon]

They dont look the same as the ones on the lights - are they aftermarket or OEM?? Sometimes on things like seals gaskets etc you are better at the stealers parts department.

[Topblag]

They are pre-facelift lights which seems funny to me as i thought pre-facelift cars finished in 87?
It makes sense that the new gaskets are thicker as they havent been compressed for nearly 30 years.

BMW continued to sell the convertibles in preface form until 1990. The last run of them had colour coded bumpers, but still metal. They also came with facelift engines at that point. 2 and 4 door facelift models were available from 1987 on a an E plate. Not sure about touring as they hold no interest for me.

[puregttipower]

ted i bought the gasket from bmw, but its definatley too thick not sure what to do with it

[Carmo13]

Are you sure that the lights were flush from the factory?
I know what you mean as i noticed the same thing when i replaced my gaskets. However at the time it was more important to me that they provided a water proof seal rather than the lights being perfectly flush with the bodywork.
Maybe with time as the gaskets "bed in" and form to the shape of the bodywork and lights, you may be able to tighten the clusters down more.

[Carmo13]

If the bulb covers on the inside of the boot clip in how they should then surely the light clusters aren't too far from where they should be.

[Carmo13]

Sorry, just another thought.
When i got my gaskets, all of the waste foam from the stamping process was still attached to the gaskets, and i had to carefully pick out all of the waste foam from the bolt holes etc...
Maybe if you have missed a bit it might be preventing the gasket from sitting properly?

[puregttipower]

theres quite big gap compared the other headlight? the clip on the rear fits flush only on one side? i did remove all the cut out parts from the gasket and i have tightend all bolts as much as i can. il have a tinker with it on the weekend. on positive note it has stopped the leak

[BenHar]

Some pictures of your actual car would help.

Ben