MK5 Golf GTI
All Things Mk5 => How to Guides / Troubleshooting => Topic started by: jbc on January 27, 2012, 06:06:06 pm
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When I got in my car tonight a warning came up on the dash saying “Rear right brake light defective!”. I have just got home and had a look to check and yes the rear right brake light has failed. I’ve also lost half of the red ring of the rear right tail light, is this the same bulb? In addition to that I’ve also got no high level (third) rear brake light.
I’ve read on this forum about individual bulbs going in the high level brake light but not the whole thing. Is there any link between the two? i.e will the high level brake light work again when I replace the right brake light bulb or am I looking at having to change the high level brake light unit as well?
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The high level brake light is seperate unit to the stop tail lights so won't come back on once you put a new bulb in your tail light, seems a bit odd that they went at the same time? maybe you just didn't notice the high level one was gone till you started looking?
If you pop the right rear light off you'll see the bulbs you need, takes about 5 minutes to remove and refit, high level brake light is more difficult as you need to remove the unit from the spoiler, if your cars under warranty get VW to replace it but if not its expensive unless you DIY it...... have a search and you'll see what i mean :happy2:
Dave
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Thanks. I've been to the local motor factors and bought a new brake light bulb, which has fixed that. Only cost £1 - bargain. I think you're probably right about the high level brake light, I just assumed I would get a warning that it wasn't working the same as all the other bulbs but obviously not as now the new right brake light bulb is in I no longer get any warnings.
My car is a 2006 so is long since out of warranty. Ever since I've owned it the high level brake light has sometimes dropped out of position on the right hand side of the unit. A gentle push has always clipped it back into place. I'm guessing somebody must at some point have tried to get the light out of the spoiler and has broken the housing, letting water in and finally it has failed.
I've read the DIY technique for replacing the high level brake light unit so will give that a go. Only problem now is trying to get through to VW Warrington as the muppets in the parts department aren't answering the phone!
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if yours is loose already, try seeing if you can yank the entire unit out...as the major part of the 'hassle' involved is the actual removal of the old unit....
good luck!