Tailgate Issues

[Deaglan1]

Hi My Roomster is a 2007 model.   It is Right Hand Drive.  The left tailgate lamps are not functioning correctly.  When lights are switched on switched, no lamps from left tailgate light up.  If I left indicate, the left indicator does function.  If I brake, the brake lamp above the indicator lamp does light up, the lamps below the indicator lamp do not.  I checked the bulbs and they seemed to be visually fine  (filament looks intact).   Are there different fuses associated with the left and right tailgates as I have not remove & replace any fuses because I cannot determine what fuse relates to the tailgate lamps and whether there are separate fuses for left and right tailgate lamps.  No warning icons show up on dash to say that there is a problem.

 

Thank you for reading this.

[NZ100]

Hi D, if you have the drivers manual, it has what fuses do what in it. I dont have mine now, so can't look myself. 

[RichardatWakefield]

Hi Deaglan1,

Have a look in the corrugated rubber gaiter which bridges across from body to tailgate at top left, if you can peel back the rubber, you may well find some wires either broken, or whose insulation has split (it also carries the feed pipe to the rear wash/wipe), this is common in similar age Roomsters, and leads to random hatch lighting or locking faults, as is bother from broken stuff in the driver's door gaiter.

 

Generally the hatch and drivers door have been opened/closed the most times, wires eventually fail.

On my 2007, 57plate Roomster, now sold, the hatch failed in c2016, driver's door a year later.

 

A good small local garage can probably do you a temp solder and tape repair.  My suggestion, if this is the problem, is obtain the excellent ready-made hatch wiring repair kit from SENCOM in Germany, it has all the wires in brand new gaiter, crimp connectors for all wires, and pipe with push-fit connectors, plus colour code chart for the wires. The SENCOM part reference numbers are documented somewhere in here! It was about £50 inc P&P.

 

If/when the driver, or passenger door gaiter wiring fails, from my experience, get the exact loom kit match to your reg and trim spec, from your Skoda dealer, as SENCOM sent one that had too few wires. Skoda loom was about £100, plus labour to fit by my small local garage.

HTH.

Richard 

Now driving loan Kia Picanto, while my used Nissan Leaf has it's OSR corner repaired after a suspected parcels van reversed past it, ouch!

Edited 11 November, 2019 by RichardatWakefield
Add more detail.

[Deaglan1]

Thank you NZ for that suggestion - I have looked at the fuse panel and that does not seem to be the source of the problem.

[Deaglan1]

Hi Richard,

 

Thank you so much for that very comprehensive and insightful reply.  It is much appreciated.  I will examine that possibility (seems very plausible) and maybe initially try to undertake the temporary fix that you suggest as a starting position.

[bryanb]

The lights are not on the tailgate on my roomster. Have you got something different?

[Breezy_Pete]

17 minutes ago, Deaglan1 said:

Thank you NZ for that suggestion - I have looked at the fuse panel and that does not seem to be the source of the problem.

 

Is the numberplate light working? That shares the same fuse as the left tail light and side light, fuse 17:

 

 

 

[RichardatWakefield]

Aha, great sleuthing, Wino! Possible broken wire to numberplate lights in gaiter, pops that fuse, affects LH rear lamps, which, as BryanB points out, are body-mounted!! Neat!

[Deaglan1]

On 12/11/2019 at 10:23, bryanb said:

The lights are not on the tailgate on my roomster. Have you got something different?

Apologies bryanb.  I should have said tail lights and not tail gate.

[Deaglan1]

On 12/11/2019 at 10:34, Wino said:

 

Is the numberplate light working? That shares the same fuse as the left tail light and side light, fuse 17:

 

 

 

Hi Wino, thank you for that - unfortunately, for me, that is not the problem - fuse 17 is intact

[Deaglan1]

On 12/11/2019 at 10:43, RichardatWakefield said:

Aha, great sleuthing, Wino! Possible broken wire to numberplate lights in gaiter, pops that fuse, affects LH rear lamps, which, as BryanB points out, are body-mounted!! Neat!

Hi Richard - fuse 17 is intact.  But I did check out the wires - nothing apparent although each connection point was wrapped in tape.  After unwinding the tape, all connections seemed fine.  All of the wire ends into the black plastic connector seemed to be intact.  Clicked  the black plastic  connector  back into attachment point on the lamp housing unit and screwed the housing back in place on the car.  Felt very disappointed that nothing seemed untoward.  Was considering what to do next and while mulling over this, I switched on the lights to confirm the status quo and VOILA - the lamps in the left lamp unit have returned to functioning.  Upon reflection, I felt an extra sense of "click" when the black connector was reattached to the lamp housing, so perhaps this was the basis for the fault - I remember having had to brake  very suddenly not long before the issue was noticed.  Maybe a very slight disconnection had occurred?? Who knows, but I ain't going to remove the housing anytime soon to try and do some experimental verifications of this!!!  Thanks again to you and all contributors for your advice and suggestions.

[ca6]

I seem to be having the same problem, left tail lamp driving/parking lamp (the lower one seems to be the issue) going on and off, and the right number plate lamp.

 

I took the left lamp apart and cleaned the connectors (everything was dry), next project is to check on the number plate lamps and see if there's any water ingress there that's the cause of it.

[RichardatWakefield]

Hi ca6,

What age is your Roomie? If it's an older car, suggest you prise back the rubber gaiter which feeds wires & a pipe to the hatch, from memory this is easiest done at the "hatch" end, check for split insulations, broken wires. And, from memory, the number-plate bulbs are festoon (double enders), twist each back & forth, helps improve the contact. And remove each to check filament. HTH.

[ca6]

It's a 2011, so I guess it's a new-ish one. The bulb is not broken since it seems to go on and off, hopefully it's just the connectors/contacts that needs some cleaning up.

 

[ca6]

On 18/11/2019 at 12:01, RichardatWakefield said:

Hi ca6,

What age is your Roomie? If it's an older car, suggest you prise back the rubber gaiter which feeds wires & a pipe to the hatch, from memory this is easiest done at the "hatch" end, check for split insulations, broken wires. And, from memory, the number-plate bulbs are festoon (double enders), twist each back & forth, helps improve the contact. And remove each to check filament. HTH.

 

This is probably the case. I realized that when I shut the tailgate with the lights og, the reg plate lights flicker at the same time as the rear parking lamps (Right side though). I'll have a look at the wires and bulbs this weekend

[ca6]

Well, I'm just going to make a third post here

 

Turns out it was the rubber o-rings on the lamp holders that caused my lamps to flicker and go out. Three of them were broken, and wasn't really keeping the lamp totally fixed and it seems like a circuit break there also caused the numberplate lamp to cut out.

 

Much cheaer and easier fix than to check wires and so on.

 

[RichardatWakefield]

Hi ca6,

That's an interesting and unexpected outcome, I hope the cure lasts! Did you locate & install replacement "o" rings, or do a glued repair?

I'm working from memory, as part-exed the Roomy for a used 30kWh Leaf in June, after 5.75years, it was then 12yrs old, someone got an auction bargain, it was very well maintained, should be capable of around 200k more miles if they do the necessary servicing. (1.9tdi PD engine).

[ca6]

I bought four new ones, ~€4.

 

Not sure about the dimension, I found a dimension at a german site (13x19x3mm fits) I just brought an old one to an auto parts store and the clerk picked out four new ones out of a big box.