Multiple lights went out at same time - all on right side. What to check?

[EURO_DOLL]

Yet another exterior lighting issue lol. Today after driving for about an hour (87 degrees F outside), I was making a right hand turn and then suddenly I heard that dreaded little 'Beeeep'. I looked at the dashboard and on the screen I saw a SLEW of lights out warnings. "Front right turn signal; Parking light; and Right rear tail light". All of them were on the right side and they all went out at the same exact time. I then pulled the car over, turned off the ignition, waited a couple of seconds, then started the car and turned the lights back on. All of them were still out at this point. I then hopped out of the car, popped the hood, and tapped the right headlight housing lightly to see if the parking light and turn signal would come back on. Surprisingly, they did after two or three taps.

Then being that the rear tail light was still out, I moved to the back of the car and tapped on the tail light for a second or two. That didn't help like it did with the front.. I always keep a screw driver in my car just in case this type of issue ever arises, so I unscrewed the tail light, popped it out, examined the bulbs - none were blown. I tried adjusting the bulb that was out thinking it maybe got loose somehow. That didn't help either. I'm going to try to replace the bulb just in case it's blown and it's not showing the visual signs.. But the fact that all of the lights went out at once is really what's getting me.

What in the world could cause multiple lights to go out all at once? I initially thought maybe a wire fried or something, but the front lights that went out came back on after tapping it. This may just be a freak incident where the bulbs went out at the same time just based on pure chance - but what's the odds of that? Does anyone have any suggestions on what I should check? I'm not an idiot when it comes to replacing bulbs or dealing with lights out, but I've never had numerous bulbs go out at once. Are there any wires in our B6's that control all of the lights on the right hand side, or are all of the wires independent?

Any input is GREATLY appreciated! I've searched the forum to see if there were any threads about this exact topic and I came up empty. Thank you all for the help!

[a4audi4fun]

More likely the electronic control unit that does the monitoring, than all of your bulbs. Thr fact that tapping helped with the front lights suggest a grounding issue somewhere. Sorry don't know where the central electronics module is located - someone else will have to provide that info.

[jcg05c]

You need to get rid of that car. YOu have had so many problems since your purchase.

[EURO_DOLL]

You need to get rid of that car. YOu have had so many problems since your purchase.

Lol what problems would that be? The only real issues I've had with this particular A4 was the wiring for my HID headlight, and there was a problem with one of the connectors on the aftermarket equipment. I've only had this car for a month today. My other one was a headache and a half - this one I'm beyond happy with. Just trying to take care of the little things that pop up. Granted, the car IS 10 years old :) I'm fortunate enough to have extremely low miles on it though (38k at the moment).

And regarding this little issue. It seems to have gone away after letting the car sit for a little while and starting it back up.. I'm hoping this was just a freak incident where something was loose. If not, I'll absolutely address it.

[EURO_DOLL]

More likely the electronic control unit that does the monitoring, than all of your bulbs. Thr fact that tapping helped with the front lights suggest a grounding issue somewhere. Sorry don't know where the central electronics module is located - someone else will have to provide that info.

(Sorry for the double post! The "multi-quote" function doesn't seem to be working on my phone at the moment).

Thank you so much for the insight on what it could be. I tried searching around everywhere and I couldn't seem to find what would affect solely one side of the car. All of my lights seem to be 100% back to normal again oddly enough. Audi has been sending me a ton of cards for free inspections, maintenance, $100 off OEM parts, and so on ever since I got my first B6. Kind of contemplating on bringing the car to the stealership to have them check it out - especially since I won't get ripped off or have to pay for it at all. You've helped big time. Thanks again! :)

[T0M3K]

(Sorry for the double post! The "multi-quote" function doesn't seem to be working on my phone at the moment).

Thank you so much for the insight on what it could be. I tried searching around everywhere and I couldn't seem to find what would affect solely one side of the car. All of my lights seem to be 100% back to normal again oddly enough. Audi has been sending me a ton of cards for free inspections, maintenance, $100 off OEM parts, and so on ever since I got my first B6. Kind of contemplating on bringing the car to the stealership to have them check it out - especially since I won't get ripped off or have to pay for it at all. You've helped big time. Thanks again! :)

I assume you have access to vag-com, sometimes it may shed some light.

[Greedo]

It's a lemon!









But seriously, do you have any luck with cars because it sounds like they go to shit on your. Either they are shit cars or you are doing things that they don't want you to be doing (like putting in headlights not designed for it).

[JoshDub]

[EURO_DOLL]

It's a lemon!









But seriously, do you have any luck with cars because it sounds like they go to shit on your. Either they are shit cars or you are doing things that they don't want you to be doing (like putting in headlights not designed for it).

LOL. Honestly, I wish I knew. I have since restored my headlights back to their original ballasts and I will be putting E-codes in when I get time and money to do so -- properly. Other than that, absolutely NOTHING has been touched that would interfere with any of that. Honestly the only thing done to this car in that sense was my Revo stage 1 tune, which was (obviously) done at an authorized Revo distributor. And ironically, Audi has since bought back the other A4, that I dubbed a "lemon", from the dealership that took it as a trade in for the newer B6 I now have. I had an open case where they were looking into what was going on with it. All of the proper maintenance was done on it with Authentic Audi/ VW parts, either on or before it hit the mileage where it had to be addressed, and I never really screwed with anything on that one. But that's besides the point lol.

Since the warning lights came on yesterday for the bulbs being out, everything has been back to working perfectly. Not one bulb out. I will be hooking it up to Vag Com later tonight to see if that gives me a little more insight. It probably sounds like I'm moronic when it comes to these cars and that it all happens because of my 'negligence', but I can assure you that's not the case. I'm extremely passionate about my cars and I spend a ton of time trying to educate myself on them. I'm not that girl that just wants to make my car "look pretty". I would honestly LOVE to just be able to open the hood up and get under there and know 110% what's going on, where the issues are coming from, and what needs to be addressed. Hopefully one day! I would love to not have to bother you guys regarding little things like this. Nonetheless, I promise I wouldn't be requesting help on fixing something if I knew it was 150% due to my negligence and and not knowing how to care for cars.

I honestly do appreciate all of the help.

[Greedo]

Simply because you have a vagina and by default that makes me be nice -

I had a similar issue, and it also went away with a "tap". In my case the bolt holding the tail light in was slightly loose; and I had some flaky bulbs. I simply replaced the bulbs and tightened down the bolt and the problem resolved itself completely.

I'm not sure if the tail lights use the mounting bolt as a secondary ground or not. But pretty sure that her problem is a minor one that would easily be fixed with new bulbs or proper grounding.

[daihashi]

Simply because you have a vagina and by default that makes me be nice -

While not an Audi, I've also worked on a friends Hyundai Accent (he's broke.. don't hate) with the same problems with the tail lights. His ended up being the sub-harness for the tail lights that some how started making a poor connection. I swapped it out and problem was resolved permanently.

Vagcom is unlikely to tell you much about this, unless it's a switch/sensor that has gone out. If it's a problem with completing the circuit; which if tapping your tail light made the light come back on then it sounds like it, then you'll need to bust out a multi-meter and start tracing your wires to find where the fault may lie.

But again, my car never had this problem again after tapping the tail light and tightening down that bolt; so I never investigated further on my own car.

good luck

[a4darkness]

Lets not hit that self destruct button quite yet.

Aftermarket ballasts can wreck havoc on our electrical systems when they start to go and the behavior you're describing is quite common for this. You can always try running secondary/independent grounds from the AM ballasts to the frame but 99% of the time the ballast is bad. So, remove the aftermarket HID, pull + clear your codes and see what happens.

One thing to keep in mind is that a list of codes doesn't not always point to the source of the problem, just what else might be caused by it.

Lol what problems would that be? The only real issues I've had with this particular A4 was the wiring for my HID headlight, and there was a problem with one of the connectors on the aftermarket equipment

[incubusfc]

Sorry for the post necro, but I'm having this exact problem.

I have depo LED tails and put some LED lights in the daytime running lamps too. But all the right side lights minus the headlight and fog pretty much are out.

They went out one morning but by the time I got to work they were normal. Then two days later I'm having the problem again.

I'm guessing it's a wiring issue. Does anyone know where the wires run?

[diagnosticator]

Sorry for the post necro, but I'm having this exact problem.

I have depo LED tails and put some LED lights in the daytime running lamps too. But all the right side lights minus the headlight and fog pretty much are out.

They went out one morning but by the time I got to work they were normal. Then two days later I'm having the problem again.

I'm guessing it's a wiring issue. Does anyone know where the wires run?

I recommend starting a new thread for your problem. That way, the info posted won't be buried in this old thread. There is some important info about this problem that I will post in reply to your new thread.

[incubusfc]

Thanks

http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...7#post11140037