Is anyone else having problems with rear light failures?

I keep getting a warning to tell me to check the right rear reversing light, and when I check, the LEFT reversing light is not on.

So I dismantle the lamp unit, and fiddle with the bulb, and lo & behold, the light comes on.

I reassemble and the warning reappears and the bulb is not working again.

So I dismantle again & if I remove & immediately replace the bulb, it comes back on. Turn the ignition off, then back on again & it's failed again.

I cant find anything wrong with either the bulb or the bulb housing. There's no corrosion, all the contacts are nice and clean. It's almost as if the canbus trigger thingy is faulty (wherever that is). Swapping bulbs makes no difference.

Has anyone else experienced anything similar with rear lights? (I've not replaced any of the standard bulbs with LEDs by the way)

John H

Had a tow bar fitted?

Had a tow bar fitted?

Yes it has a tow bar, but it was fitted when new 2 years ago. This problem only started a week or so ago.

Yes it has a tow bar, but it was fitted when new 2 years ago. This problem only started a week or so ago.

Was it a proper VAG/canbus compliant one? Who fitted it?

There is a thread on an Octavia IIRC which had some very bizarre faults. When inspected by VAG the kit fitted wasnt fitted properly at all and the fitter did a right bodge job. Skoda told the owner any warranty was void on the fault and to seek damages from the installer.

In fact IIRC it was the supplying dealer via an external company they use for tow bars and the one fitted wasnt even canbus compliant!

I'm sure a search with google's help may yield the thread.

It's supposed to be a genuine Skoda canbus compliant one fitted by PF Jones of Manchester who seem to fit towbars for most of the local Skoda dealers' and have had several recommendations from others on here.

I've had no problems until very recently.

I've dismantled the N/s light unit again this morning, and have found that with just the bulb carrier in place (connected to the multi-pin plug, initially the reversing light failed to work and wiggling the bulb about in the holder made no difference. However, if I carefully start to remove the bulb so that contact is momentarily broken and immediately re-established, the bulb lights - almost as though the sudden break triggers something somewhere into life. Having repeated this procedure a few times (quite a few actually whilst I tried to convince myself that what I though was happening really was), the light is now working perfectly again with no bulb failure warning, and I can't reproduce the fault.

What I do find strange is that when the fault was occurring, the maxidot alert told me it was the "right" reversing light that I needed to check, whereas it was the left lamp that was not illuminated. Weird!

When I get a bit more time, I'll search for the Octavia thread. Many thanks

John H

Edited 26 March, 201214 yr by speedsport

John

Having read through, have you actually put a new bulb in?

I had a brake bulb go on mine, but my son was following me at the time, and said that occasionally it came on. I replaced the bulb and on checking the "broken" one found that the element had come detached of one of the internal poles. One way up it connected, the other way it didn't, and if you shook it, it did the same.

Llanigraham beat me to it!

Bulbs also can have an intermittent filament that arcs internally and sometimes "weld" themselves back together. I don't know how sensitive the Can-Bus system is but it probably runs fast enough to report a fault.

Fred

Swapping bulbs makes no difference.

I'm guessing he's tried a different bulb...

Thanks Graham & Fred. Yes, I tried a new bulb (there's a handy spare one sitting in the inactive N/s fog lamp position) but the fault continued.

I've not been out in the car today, but I'll see how it goes tomorrow when I take it to the garage for the Brake Fluid to be changed (at 2 years) and - hopefully - the Columbus maps to be updated.

Fingers crossed!

John

Thanks Graham & Fred. Yes, I tried a new bulb (there's a handy spare one sitting in the inactive N/s fog lamp position) but the fault continued.

I've not been out in the car today, but I'll see how it goes tomorrow when I take it to the garage for the Brake Fluid to be changed (at 2 years) and - hopefully - the Columbus maps to be updated.

Fingers crossed!

John

How much are they charging for the maps out of interest?

They're not charging.... but until I get there, I don't know which version they are offering to update to for free!

I had the bulb out warning come on after a windscreen replacement. Reversing bulbs were both OK but not coming on. Trip to the dealer and they fixed it, said it was a loose connector (either under the seats or in the engine bay, they weren't very specific). Maybe trace the loom from front to back checking all connections on the way.

I'd be very surprised if such a problem could be anything to do with loose connections further forward as the Yeti has 2 reversing lights and only one was failing, which seems to rule out anything "up front".

So, to bring things up to date. I took the car in for its 2 year brake fluid change and as I didn't get a bulb failure warning on the way to the garage, I didn't mention the problem as it seemed to have righted itself. When I went back 90 mins later to collect the car, they asked if I'd had a problem with the reversing lights as they'd noticed a bulb failure warning, so had replaced the bulb (no charge). So far, no recurrence though I'm not holding my breath! Previously, during my attempts to solve the problem, I did swap bulbs to see if the problem went with one particular bulb to a new location, but it stayed with the reversing light function. I suppose it's just possible I had two faulty bulbs - but it seems unlikely.

I'll just have to see how things go for the next few days before I'm convinced that the issue is resolved.

And in answer to Gadgetman, they did upgrade the Columbus to the latest maps - but it's only V7.xx as they say that Skoda haven't released V8 maps to them yet. Still, it was a free upgrade, so I can't complain!

John,

I was surprised to be told that the ECU holds a record of bulb failure when mine went in for the DRL problem I had. Shows how clever it is.

I thought the brake fluid change had been extended to 3 years now? Mine wasn't do an my second service.

Graham

Apparently the ECU holds a record of every fault as well as engine condition/performance for the last 50 start-ups. The memory then drops the oldest set of conditions each time the car is started afresh.

I was talking to a VOSA inspector at the weekend who told me that it is now possible to interrogate a car's memory to ascertain throttle/speed/braking effort/etc just like a cut-down version of a truck's tachograph record. Whilst this is only available on certain manufacturers vehicles, and is very expensive to analyse, it has already provided invaluable in several serious accident investigations. It's rather like an aircraft (or locomotive's) black box, though obviously doesn't record as many different parameters and is not yet as indestructible!

Big brother really is watching!

As for brake fluid - I'm totally confused here. The dealer rang independently of the service to tell me that my car's fluid needed changing at 2 years. This advice elsewhere on Biskoda - though other members have had received different advice. Some have been told it's 2 years, then 3 subsequently, others vice versa. For the sake of £43 I agreed to have it done, but I'm not sure which is correct.

And in answer to Gadgetman, they did upgrade the Columbus to the latest maps - but it's only V7.xx as they say that Skoda haven't released V8 maps to them yet. Still, it was a free upgrade, so I can't complain!

You must have a good dealer, or they've upset you royally to give free maps.

Some dealers do offer this although I dont actually think its striclty legal?

Some dealers do offer this although I dont actually think its striclty legal?

I think you could be right there. It was an unlabelled disc that was kept in a very anonymous plastic sleeve in a box file under the desk!

And, of course, still isn't the v8 that VW dealers have available to them. I'm asking no more questions, it'll do for now!

Oh, and no recurrence of the light out warning so far.

Edited 29 March, 201214 yr by speedsport