Brake lights faulty!on ibiza tdi

[Armitageshanks]

Happy new year,

I've had a progressive lights problem, first the red tail light on the drivers side stopped working along with front white side light and would only come on when breaks where applied. I changed bulbs in the rear cluster but this has not helped, checked fuses and none have blown. There are now no rear red lights for night driving although they all come on when the breaks are applied , until i get down to a garage i've been driving with the fog lights on which work as they should. Is this an earthing problem. Any suggestions for a DIY fix.

 

[st10587]

sounds like a earth problem, check the plug in the back of the lamp is not wet or fury!

 

[Armitageshanks]

checked and cleaned up connections only slight ingress of water causing some rust on one bulb body

 

[Armitageshanks]

Is that a Marin mount vision leaning on your car?

 

[st10587]

nope thats my ellsworth joker!

 

[st10587]

as for your problem im a little unshore, the only thing i can think of is the obvious of a earthing fault. get a test lamp and see if you have a live n the plug if you do, figure out which is the earth and run a wire to a earthing point on the car to the plug which should tell you if the earth is faulty.

 

[Armitageshanks]

ellsworth, last time i looked in a mag those bikes were rather exotic. I ride an 'oldish school 'Giant xtcNRs whenever i can get out to dosome xc.
Where's an easy earth point to find and in the absence of a test lamp is the way to check an earth is to rig some earth electrical wire to the outer circumference of a mounted bulbs body and let the other end touch the car bodyto see if it lights up as it should?. Im really an electrics novice so you would really have to right a dummies guide for me.

 

[st10587]

ellsworth are rare in this country, i got the frame off a friend who has a ellsworth moment. once you got a ellsworth theres no other bike!!

any unpainted or bare metal will work as a earth. if you figuer out which is the earthon the plug, have it all plugged in and push the new wire down the side of the one in the loom. this should earth and illuminate the bulbs. safest bet go to halfords and get a test lamp about a fiver! then test to find out whats live and whats earth

 

[Armitageshanks]

ok i think ill do that, i do have one of those clear screwdriver test lamps actually bought from maplins but i think its more for testing in door sockets for high voltage will this do.

 

[st10587]

the one for doing cars normally has a wire that plugs in to the top of the screwdriver and then you attach the other end to a earth. if you other one is this set up itl prob work jus be a bit dull!

 

[Armitageshanks]

also i do have a battery powered multimeter can i use this and how. I've only used it to test a car battery which was simple enough. but i would'nt know where to put the two probs in the sockets to determine a live.

 

[Armitageshanks]

oh yes ,test lamp, as seen in the haynes auto electrics borrowed from the library.

 

[st10587]

prob safer with a test lamp as the worst you can do is blow the bulb in side, its good as attach it to a eath and you can poke all the wires without riskig any thing. i live by my test lamp when doin electircals on cars!

 

[big ALI H]

Long time since i've been on here but i used to have a mk4 TDI Sport which had a similar problem - one of the side lights was very dim, coinciding with the brakes lights playing up - high level working ok but the 2 side ones intermittently not until they both stopped altogether. Took it into the dealers and (luckily it was under warranty!) they found one of the pins on the ECU had corroded and that was the problem. The issue at the time though was that it took them best part of a fortnight to locate it after having independent elecs, people from SEAT and VW down to have a look at it before they found it.

Luckily as i say it was under warranty as the dealer sent a bill to SEAT for about £3k due to the new ECU and extensive man hours trying to find out what was wrong!!

Really hope its not that mate but worth looking into as a last resort if you start running out of ideas

 

[Armitageshanks]

yep, test lamp it is then. im learning as we go along here. So if i put the alligator clip on an earth point then prod the metal probe inside the brake light power sockets thetest bulb should light up for the live and neutral points and not for the earth because its properly grounded.

 

[Armitageshanks]

thanks big Ali -, I've got a 2002 tdi se 100bhp or(sport i think). So really any corroded electrical part could cause havoc. I guess i could never check the ecu properly for corrosion. Another side note is my alarm goes off by itself almost everyday could this be a symptom.

 

[st10587]

yep, test lamp it is then. im learning as we go along here. So if i put the alligator clip on an earth point then prod the metal probe inside the brake light power sockets thetest bulb should light up for the live and neutral points and not for the earth because its properly grounded.

yeh thats right. find a bolt or some thing to clip it to, once you have found all the lives, you could poke the croc clip into the plug on the earth pins then touch a live which will tell you if the eaths good or not!

 

[gruffs]

I realise that this is an old thread but as i have had this problem fixed, it may help someone on a search.

The problem is actually your brake light switch on the brake pedal!!!.

Got this fixed at Audi Specialists in Burwell, Cambs. Cost about £40 quid. The switches are delicate so unless you are skilled at doing it, i would have it done by a Dealer/Specialist.

My car is a Sport 130 PD by the way.

Hope this helps.

 

[Armitageshanks]

Thanks everyone for your help,
On closer inspection of the smaller fuses in the box,i figured out these were for the drivers side brake light and frontside light and had indeed blown. I replaced the said fuse numerous times to have it blow after a few minutes usage. Reading up on some stuff i decided this was a symptom of a short circuit and proceeded to look for burnt wires or corrosion on wires found behind the boot trim. The closest i saw to this was some very minor corrosion at the earth wire ground point. Anyway unconvinced i'd solved anything i put in another fuse and the lights are fine after 24 hrs without blowing a fuse...but i did notice that on occassion the turn signal lights started to flash double quick. Conclusion, having dislodged some of the wiring for inspection could i inadvertedly stopped a shorting problem temporarily.
Well at least i can put the car for its MOT knowing i might have saved a few bob on an autoelectrician.

 

[Armitageshanks]

After a few days of my problem dissapearing it was back again . So i decidedto take back some trim ,convinced there was some dodgy exposed wiring but looking at the wiring from lights to middle of car i could'nt see anything. I gave in and decided to take the car in to local garage.What they found which i decided not to investigate further was the wiring and switches or relays in the boot lid, cos, if you slammed boot shut the fuse would blow. Anyways, garage gent i think unplugged and cleaned some stuff and for the moment lights are fine.