curdle Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 Has anyone ever managed to find a discounted source for Hella rear tail light clusters? I need one for my Hymer MLT and normal dealer price would require me to extend the mortgage on my house. These days it would need to be a UK supplier to avoid added EU charges. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alan k Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 have you tried Bolt on Bits in Birkenshaw West Yorks, they supply all sorts of light fittings https://boltonbits.co.uk/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curdle Posted February 1, 2021 Author Share Posted February 1, 2021 alan k - 2021-01-31 11:55 PM have you tried Bolt on Bits in Birkenshaw West Yorks, they supply all sorts of light fittings https://boltonbits.co.uk/ Thanks, I checked with them and the answer is that the fitting is not available in the after market and is thus only available from a Hymer dealer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColinM50 Posted February 1, 2021 Share Posted February 1, 2021 Remember seeing a TV program last year where a firm in Dorset (or Cornwall or Devon??) break old caravans and motorhomes. They take everything useable off before destroying the rest. Done a Google search and found five or so in Cornwall that might be worth a phone call or email? Link to Google search Don't know why I specified Cornwall, you can of course start in your local county and spread out though it'll be sent by post so actual location is, as my Grandson would say "hippopotamus". He meant "a rellyphant". (lol) (Link shortened to correct page width - Keithl) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColinM50 Posted February 1, 2021 Share Posted February 1, 2021 Just found this which might be more hippopotamus (lol) https://www.caravan-breakers.com/hymer-caravan-parts.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curdle Posted February 1, 2021 Author Share Posted February 1, 2021 Thanks Colin, googling reveals a surprisingly rich haul of motorhome breakers. Some have already responded but is seems that few Hymer's of recent generations end up on the scrap heap. I'll give it some time for all the replies to come in. No Hymer dealers have stock in any case and all are fearful of quoting because of the new unknowns when stock ships in from the EU. A couple of dealers are already experiencing all kinds of frustrating issues with stock and are pretty vocal about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Den Posted February 1, 2021 Share Posted February 1, 2021 How bad is yours and do you go abroad with it. I know we can’t go abroad for a while but parts for eu built motorhomes and far cheaper and this Covid pandemic should ease for everyone to enjoy holidays again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted February 1, 2021 Share Posted February 1, 2021 The Hella rear lights fitted to Hymer MLT motorhomes are shown on the 1st attached image below. (James’s Hymer is 2018 vintage.) The 2nd attached image carries more detail, saying “The newly developed hybrid rear light from the brand manufacturer HELLA is also used in the Hymer B-Class MC. (I think B-Class MC = Class B ModernComfort T = MLT, but the same rear light is fitted to recent Hymer Exsis-i A-class models too). Unfortunately - as James has found - when a part is ‘bespoke’ and specific to a single motorhome manufacturer, the cost of a brand-new replacement can be eye-wateringly expensive. (In a 2013 forum thread the asking-price for the ‘tear-drop shaped’ headlamp Hymer was then fitting to their A-class models was said to be around £1000.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curdle Posted February 1, 2021 Author Share Posted February 1, 2021 Den - 2021-02-01 8:58 PM How bad is yours and do you go abroad with it. I know we can’t go abroad for a while but parts for eu built motorhomes and far cheaper and this Covid pandemic should ease for everyone to enjoy holidays again. Already filling with water, I'm afraid. Only travel abroad, so no hope of passing muster with any inspection. When it comes to Dealer specific parts (Hymer in this case) no cheaper in EU. See Derek's post. They have us over a barrel and know it. All the independent Hella suppliers who might offer a discount, cannot help us because it has a Hymer part number that they cannot access. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ocsid Posted February 1, 2021 Share Posted February 1, 2021 curdle - 2021-02-01 8:26 PM Already filling with water, I'm afraid. If a moulded job have you tried drilling a 2 mm hole right up through at the lowest point? Or "nick" a couple of mm out of the lower seal if that type of construction. Doing these tricks can work well. I smashed one several years back, and collected the bits and with Araldite glued it all back together, thinking as a "get you home" bodge. A phone call to a Hymer dealer re buying a replacement resulted in it still there today doing a fine job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted February 2, 2021 Share Posted February 2, 2021 One of my Rapido’s taillights was clearly allowing water to enter and it was apparent that the leakage was through the joint where the front of the light was bonded to the plastic moulding behind it. I took the light off and dried it out, then smeared wax polish into the joint and the water ingess has not reoccurred. The trouble is that, even if measures are taken to drain out water that gets into a light, the water itself will cause damage. (It would be interesting to learn the asking-price of the Hymer/Hella hybrid rear light.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robinhood Posted February 2, 2021 Share Posted February 2, 2021 The Rapido I had was fitted with Hella Caraluna II tail lights. They are provided with small drainage/breathing holes at the bottom (not easily seen, as they were just short slots in the join). They are also, not unnaturally, "handed" as the fog and reversing light sections are differently sided for RHD and LHD. Hella sell and use a different part number for LHD and RHD, the two sets look exactly the same (as the lights are symmetrical around the horizontal axis) but the breather is at opposite sides of that horizontal access, ensuring it is at the bottom for the respective LHD/RHD mounting. Rapido, in their wisdom, simply mounted LHD versions "upside down" to overcome the difference between the reversing/fog light requirement. This, of course, meant the breathers were at the top, and the light unit took on water. I don't know whether it was a mistake, or deliberate corner-cutting, but I do know mine wasn't the only occurrence. I simply sealed the existing holes with silicon, and carefully drilled another hole at the "bottom". The Caraluna lights, being non-proprietary, and fitted to many different vehicles, were only about £30 or so to source then. I have the same lights as the OP on my Hymer, and am dreading any damage. (They aren't entirely easy to remove and refit, and I've had mine off to re-secure the wiring behind, and wasn't particularly happy at having to do it!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curdle Posted February 2, 2021 Author Share Posted February 2, 2021 Derek Uzzell - 2021-02-02 3:53 PM (It would be interesting to learn the asking-price of the Hymer/Hella hybrid rear light.) £332.60. Not as bad as the headlamp you cite at a £1000.00 but it still feels like a huge waste of money. We were missing a piece of the lens so it was not possible to glue the old one together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted February 2, 2021 Share Posted February 2, 2021 My 2015 Rapido 640F (and other contemporay 6-Series models) has JOKON-branded rear lights. As shown on the photos below, the lights are ‘handed' and cannot be inverted. The units are ‘mirror imaged’, with each carrying a fog--light and a reversing-light - which is fortunate where UK-registering a LHD import is concerned as the lights are advertised on ebay at £116 each. (Not as hurtful as £332, but still irritatingly dear.) The leakage showed up on the right-hand light where small water droplets were pooling on the flat chromed ‘shelf' at the base of the reversing-light’s reflector (arrowed in green). The units have no drain holes and drilling a hole in them would not have addressed the problem as rainwater was seeping through the joint at the top of the unit but not draining directly to the unit’s bottom. My previous motorhome - a 2005 Hobby T-600FC had 10 oval Hella rear-light units. These did have a drainage cut-out in their rubber seal, but this was ineffective and each unit needed to be dismantled regularly to clean and dry the interior. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curdle Posted February 2, 2021 Author Share Posted February 2, 2021 Robinhood - 2021-02-02 5:24 PM I have the same lights as the OP on my Hymer, and am dreading any damage. (They aren't entirely easy to remove and refit, and I've had mine off to re-secure the wiring behind, and wasn't particularly happy at having to do it!) You are quite right about the difficulty of re-fitting. The new tail light just came sans wiring harness, requiring that I remove the old one and refit. Cue much swearing and pierced finger tips with a screwdriver point. Just the sub structure on the MH wall to support the light fitting seems way over the top and explains why new motorhomes are so alarmingly expensive. I think if I lose another proprietary light I'll tear them all off and replace them with those little round tail lights and indicator lamps you get on series III land rovers at a couple of quid a pop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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