High level brake light bulb replacement
- Thread starter Tigerobe
- Start date
It's LED isn't it- therefore it's a whole new unit
It is led! Didn’t realise that it would be a whole new unit!
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I believe it's multiple surface mount LEDs in a sealed unit, which in practical terms means you've got to replace the whole thing.
Part numbers vary according to model year and body shape, but there are a few 'used tested' items on that well known online auction site.
My understanding with the rear brake light is that it is expensive to replace and also not a 5 minute job. It's like 8 LED's, you sure it's not wiring or fuse or similar?
That light, on my wife's previous 2002 9N VW Polo failed, as my 2000 B5 VW Passat had an LED version, I had expected that this newer model would also have LEDs, no, just lots of flangeless bulbs, which I recovered for future possible use, but never had any need to use them!
The complete failure of that 2002 VW Polo high level brake light was water getting into the casing and rusting through the bus bars, to add insult to injury, when I went to replace that light with the new one, the connector was also rotted out - I had not looked at this faulty light before ordering the new one!
So, with a new low current 2 pin plug and socket from Maplins and some auto wire and some tinned copper wire, I could have sorted that original light out for pennies, oh well ---!
@Tigerobe if you are a bit of a DIYer you might want to check for it being a similar issue - just a thought, that is all.
The complete failure of that 2002 VW Polo high level brake light was water getting into the casing and rusting through the bus bars, to add insult to injury, when I went to replace that light with the new one, the connector was also rotted out - I had not looked at this faulty light before ordering the new one!
So, with a new low current 2 pin plug and socket from Maplins and some auto wire and some tinned copper wire, I could have sorted that original light out for pennies, oh well ---!
@Tigerobe if you are a bit of a DIYer you might want to check for it being a similar issue - just a thought, that is all.
Mine (on my Kuga) was led and the casing was two parts but welded together. Being curious though I took it apart (never to go back together again!!) to find a number of leds (surface mount type so not easily available) failed.
Seems that the 'throw away' society is growing......
Seems that the 'throw away' society is growing......
Yes, but there seems to be plans to try to reverse that slightly by making someone pay a lot more for waste disposal, and so people - do we call them people, take a drive out to the countryside and dump their waste - nice!
As is normal with any newish technology, when LEDs were introduced to main stream products, it quickly became evident that there were still a high level of failure, but in reality, I'd think, the LED were fault free and it was the structure that they were soldered/welded into that had failed, like simple water getting in and rusting through the array back board, or inline resistors failing or parallel resistors fitted to keep the load heavy failing, or associated power supplies failing - that last one seems to kill off domestic LED "bulbs" after a few years. As usual dummies taking up the newish tech and integrating it into their products with no concern about how it achieve the increased reliability that should come with the move to LED lights.
Not sure you'd get away with it...but quote the handbook -
"Bulbs
Bulbs (12 V)
Note: Depending on the level of equipment
fitted in the vehicle, LEDs may be used for
part or all of the interior and/or exterior lighting.
LEDs have an estimated life that exceeds
that of the vehicle. If an LED light fails, go to
an authorised workshop for its replacement."
"Bulbs
Bulbs (12 V)
Note: Depending on the level of equipment
fitted in the vehicle, LEDs may be used for
part or all of the interior and/or exterior lighting.
LEDs have an estimated life that exceeds
that of the vehicle. If an LED light fails, go to
an authorised workshop for its replacement."
The LED chips themselves are usually rated for several hundred thousand hours service, if you keep the temperature down and paired to a good power supply. Instead these chips are often set with no cooling and poor power control, so fail after just a few hundred. A well designed lighting unit can last 25+ years while running all night, but costs ten times more to design and manufacture.
I'd not be expecting that they would supply and replace FOC, that is just standard way of writing "its a specialist task" - ie buy a new one and fit it your self.
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