rear light circuit faulty? only part of the rear light working

mattm

BLACK EDITION
Joined
Oct 28, 2007
Messages
185
Reaction score
1
Points
18
Location
Cheshire
anybody had the same, my rear brake and light bulbs are not working... although the indicator and reverse light are. ? any solutions apart from buying a new circuit.

cheers
 
Yeah that would be the brake switch under the pedal, Easy job to do just take the panel under the steering wheel off then twist it out, IIRC the pre-facelifts had a 2-pin switch and the others had a 4-pin, I done this on my A3 took no longer than ten minutes.
 
Sorry mate could you explain a bit more? How come I have to unplug it? and whats the reason its stopped working.... Cheers
 
I dont know what the reason for it to stop working is, but i know that when i had this exact symptom it was sorted after i changed my switch, and even if it isnt the problem your not paying £££'s for an electrician to come out.
 
do you know the part no for a new switch? ta very much
 
DSC00401.jpg
This be the bitch
DSC00405.jpg

This was my broken one, note how the top bit hasnt sprung back out.
DSC004002-1.jpg

DSC00408-1.jpg

Make sure you secure the bottom half of the dash on to these mounts before tightening up.
 
And sorry i havent got a part number.
 
spot on mate cheers for the info, ill have to get me a new switch :)
 
the fuse may have gone fella...have a look at that next.
 
I've got a similar, yet slightly more confusing problem on mine too!

It was laid up for 6 weeks, and I've just started using it again, and it's only got 1 brake light.....

The high level and drivers side brake lights work perfectly, yet the passengers side bulb WILL NOT light, I've tried 2 new bulbs in it, checked the white plastic bulb holder and all the metal strips supplying power look fine, the plug looks fine too, with no loose wires!

Any ideas?
 
Prawn, take the whole bulb holder unit out, and connect it to the other side (that is working) and if it works you know its the same problem as i am having! thats how i diagnosed mine.

Clach, will try fuse too mate cheers
 
just checked and its fine, so gonna phone audi for a switch :)
 
there must be mate as the indicator and reverse light are working!
 
Not necessarily, you can have power to one particular cuircuit, but not at another, otherwise all the bulbs would illuminate at once. Only the earth is common. Good for christmas I suppose :)
 
I have the same problem. Pretty much without fail each month I have to replace my passangers side rear bulb.

Friend suggested I get a new cluster, but I dont want to go ebay and buy one that might be faulty as well ! lol.

The other option is to perhaps get facelift rear lights.

Do these simply plug and play?
 
sounds like the same problem I have! mines not every month, but every few at least, always passengers side!

Facelift rear lights use exactly the same inner board, I kept my old ones as they are 100% identical, so that wont solve the problem!

I dont have use of a multi meter currently, so I can't check if I'm getting power to the cluster or not.....

it's ****** annoying too!
 
I've just swapped my bulb holders over left to right (just hanging in the boot) and low and behold, it's the other way round! The left hand bulb lights, but not the right hand.

That's great news for me, because I know it's not a wiring fault, and I just need a new bulb holder for the passengers side :)
 
Will give that a try on the weekend Prawn.
Thanks for the suggestion. Will have a look into facelift lights anyways as I am in the process of slowly changing the old pre facelift car into a facelift :)

Just lights now. front and rear... but had no luck on the front ones :(
 
lol yeah mate. bought a new switch, installed, and nope...

after countless swearing and refitting the switch, I took the bulb holder out and low and behold the brake light bulb holder is broke. Its not holding the bulb in securley so its giving the error and obviously not working.

Fixed it now, just jammed it in the holder for now till I get a new panel. Cheers
 
AAaah! Im not showing my avatar on this site for a while! sorry mate.....
 
lol dont be daft, it was a good suggestion as i seen alot of the same on various sites.

wasnt expensive and it was my fault for not checking the holder properly! :arco: