TT rear light problem

[cen]

it happens sometimes that the rear light bulb (1 of the two) will turn off with a fault code in the dash of my 07 tt... and after several days it will become normal again... i was told that this might relates to the connectors/harness instead of the bulb itself or it would have gone off forever instead of intermittently...

do you guys experience similar issue? any potential issue if i ignore it (e.g. short circuit?)? i was told it would be very troublesome to take out the harness/wiring for the rear light bulb (outer side one) as it's all embedded along the side of the car...

[ECS Tuning-Audi]

Could be something in the bulb holder or the harness but I doubt it. Bulb just could be loose. To access the back of the tail light you will have to get to it through the trunk I would imagine.

Jason

[Rico]

Hi Cen, Same thing was happening on my 08..I brought it to the dealers for some other stuff to have done and they checked it and said that they needed to replace the housing (corroded)....they ordered and replaced! I had read on other posts that this was a problem with some cars and that there were some that had faulty housings.....I guess mine was one! have the dealer check it.

[cen]

rico and jason: thanks both... just wonder if it's a common issue. i guess it's likely to be corroded housing in my case but will have it checked sometimes this week. : )

[cen]

hi guys just to update that it's resolved. the connector was corroded and hence bad connection which causes on and off of the rear light bulb... : )

[Rico]

Good to know u got it sorted.....I'll tell ya Thanks to forums like this one and many others ...because the amount of info that u can acquire saves on wasted time and money , not to mention frustration!

[martingUSA]

It's a common problem I was told.
Dealership wanted to replace the whole light! $ 450 or so

Open little lid inside the trunk. Remove orange plastic cab from screw, use screwdriver to remove screw.
Now the whole rear light will slide out. Remove/unhook the wire harness. Check the contacts on the light and check for corrosion.
Use small screw driver to clean the corroded contacts. (scrape the rust off)
Clean all contacts by spraying QD Electrical cleaner (Ace Hardware) on them. Put everything back together and voila.

Has been working for over a year now with no problems.

[AudiTT2008]

I called Audi, and they do not acknowledge that this is a widespread problem. It's ridiculous that they won't stand by their product. This is clearly a poorly engineered design.

My 2008 Audi TT would constantly beep with "Right Rear Light" or "Left Rear Light" with an X through a light bulb symbol popping up on the screen in between the tachometer and the speedometer. If I applied the brakes, the X through a light bulb symbol would go away. It turns out that the light that is farthest outboard in the tail light housing (on both left and right sides) was the problem.

I used this video to remove the tail lights: http://www.carcarekiosk.com/video/20...hts/tail_light
They can be a little difficult to pop out because you have to push/pull to the side, not directly out.

I found that the problem was with corrosion within the connectors that go directly to the tail light housing. It appears that one wire is much larger than the other wires, but the size of the connector is the same. The wire has too much current for the connector to handle. It melts the plastic around it and becomes corroded as a result. I scraped the corrosion off with a tiny screwdriver (as recommended above), and that fixed the problem for about a month. So I did it a second time, and then used the ends of plastic zip ties to apply pressure to the connector so it wouldn't become loose. It has been about a month and I haven't had a problem.

I attached pictures below so you can see the problem.

I am so beyond angry that Audi won't stand by their product. These are expensive cars, and we pay more money because they are supposed to be well-engineered and fun to drive. It is very difficult to enjoy the drive when my car beeps loudly every time I release the brake.

I hope this post helps someone. I apologize that I probably don't use the proper car "lingo." I'm just a regular person trying to not pay $90 for the "diagnosis fee" and $450 per light that the dealer wants to charge. This is such an annoying problem.

And kudos to my uncle that pretty much helped me through the entire problem. He's the real genius here.

Images: The brown wire is much larger, and the one that has the corroded connector:

The top right connector is corroded and melted on the right tail light:

And the corresponding connector to the right tail light housing:


And the same issue on the left side, for the left tail light:

And the corresponding connector to the left tail light housing:

[arsalan.m.sohai]

Hi guys, anyone here in the UK who can help me with this issue or tell me where I can get this fixed for a reasonable amount.

I have an Audi TT 2006 (MK2) and the outer bulb of the rear passenger light goes out with an error on the dash intermittently. I recently bought the car over a month ago and understand that this a fairly common issue based on the various searches on google. I have seen the video clip on youtube on how to earth the wire but doubt I'll be able to do this myself without any help.

Please let me know if you are in London and can potentially help me fix this?

[alexand3r]

I just bought a '13 TTS and started seeing this weird issue where the right rear lights kind of fade in and out slowly, which led me here...

It's kind of crazy to hear that Audis from all over and spanning different models have this same issue. I have an appointment at the Audi dealer for another issue and I'll have them check this out while I'm there. I'll check the connectors on both sides for ground sparks beforehand, but I'm interested to see if they'll deny this as a widespread problem.

[alexand3r]

Sure enough...



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[zatarregaza]

Sure enough...

What did the dealer say when you took it in?

I had this issue happen today on my '13 TT - passenger side. I was able to clean the corrosion off the male end (tail light housing) and got it working again, but there looks to be a more severe issue on the female end. The plastic on both ends melted away quite a bit, but the female end looks pretty bad. I should've taken pictures, but I figure this is going to crop up again anyway.

This issue is touched on in these forums as well:

http://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=162142

https://www.audiworld.com/forums/tt-...ssues-2890594/

https://www.audiforums.com/forum/aud...roblem-171890/

http://www.carproblemzoo.com/audi/tt...h-problems.php

I just did a Google search for "audi tt tail light problem" and these were on the FIRST page. This is obviously a widespread issue, as it's noted in the US (mine) and the UK (from the first link above). I'm calling the dealer tomorrow and hope they own up to this.