This may be a daft question but is there more than one type of Brake/Tail light bulb? I finally got round to replacing a blown bulb in my 08 Octavia which is the standard twin filament type that has been used for decades in various cars, I bought 2 new 5w bulbs from a petrol station and when I fitted one, it was very very dim and oddly when I press the brake the same filament lights up just brighter, the other filament never comes on, both bulbs are the same and only go in one way due to the offset pins on the bulb.

Do I need special bulbs or is the cluster (which contains 4 bubs) faulty?

Hope that all makes sense, thanks for the help.

 

 

 

I thought the rear cluster used single filament bulbs for the brake and fog lights. The rear light bulbs at the side of the cluster are different.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

Pressed post a bit quick. The single filament bulbs light up brighter for the brake and fog light than for the rear light.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

Cheers but the blown one was defo twin filament brake & tail, the lights are so dim it's immpossible to tell they are on compared to the other side.

The Owner's Manual says the bulb should be a P21/4W unless it is an Estate.

Just had a look at my car. Estates and hatch are different. All bulbs in the estate cluster are single filament. I assume therefore you have a hatch. The handbook says P21/4W bulbs for the brake/rear on the hatch.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

The Owner's Manual says the bulb should be a P21/4W.

Echo echo echo...

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

Thanks for the replies, I'm still not convinced there is different kinds of bulbs but I hope there is as replacing the bulb holder will cost me a fortune I bet, sounds like a trip to Halfords.

The bulbs are different had similar problem when changing blown bulb you might need a fog and tail bulb the staggered posts on the bulb are different from a stop and tail

I know my Passat had staggered post type stop/tail, normal stop/tail lamps did not fit properly into the socket and they switched the wrong element on I.e the brake element was lit when it should have been the tail or vice versa, once got the correct staggered postbtype they all went in and illuminated properly.

Being as Skoda is VAG it would not surprise me if they are similar.

They are def different, I ended up in halfrauds 3 times trying to get the right ones off the shelf... turns out the manuals they have lying around werent up to date.. go and ask one of the peeps in there for exactly what your old one was and they will find it, or the new part number for it.. The 2 small locking pins are in slightly different places so the normal ones dont work as they should..

 

I ended up taking the old bulb in with me, giving it to them and asking for exactly the same.. got it sorted in the end!! but they are def different!! fact...

1) Hatchback - twin filament.

 

2) Estate - single filament (CANBUS alters the power to enable a single filament bulb to perform a dual function, brake/tail).

 

Another point to note is that on the hatch the bulb isn't a 21W/5W, it is 21W/4W. This is why you are having issues.

 

Ignore the Halfords / online bulb guides, most of them are wrong.

 

You need an RB566...

 

Most people try and fit the much more common RB380...

Silver, you truly are the lightmeister!!

the halfords guides are terrible. They state the wrong hid bulb, wouldnt be happy if you'd spend £100 on the wrong bulb because of their guide would you?

I'll admit I have a strange afliction for lighting!

 

You should see my Christmas tree

Massive thanks for the info guys, you probably saved me a small fortune. I was sure all tail light bubs were the same. (What am I like?)

Massive thanks for the info guys, you probably saved me a small fortune. I was sure all tail light bubs were the same. (What am I like?)

 

 

^{1 watt short of the 5   ?}

Noticed myself recently the Halfords flip chart was wrong it stated type 380.

I was sure all tail light bubs were the same. (What am I like?)

 

For the hatch...

Why the difference between the hatchback and the estate? The light cluster look almost identical.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

The hatch has twin filament, the estate has single filament.

 

Although the picture is incorrect due to the clusters being from an estate, not a hatch (slightly different shape and different orientation for the indicators/reverse lights), but I was hoping most wouldn't notice!

 

Edited 2 January, 201412 yr by silver1011

The hatch has twin filament, the estate has single filament.

Although the picture is incorrect due to the clusters being from an estate, not a hatch (slightly different shape and different orientation for the indicators/reverse lights), but I was hoping most wouldn't notice!

I wasn't talking about the pictures, or your post, just wondering why Skoda decided to use different bulbs.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

Noticed myself recently the Halfords flip chart was wrong it stated type 380.

 

I went to Halfords today as I needed a new brake bulb for the right side and the current guide says a 382, which is totally different to the MK2 bulb I took in.

 

When I enquired about if they had a 21/4W bulb the helpful assistant found what I needed, a 566. I asked why the guide was wrong and he didn't know.

Halfords guide is wrong for a lot of cars. Its wrong for the xenon bulbs for the mk2 aswell