I keep getting a Rear left bulb out warning in my cluster...bulb is fine.

[Luxus Panzer]

even swapped in a new bulb....any ideas?

[ECS Tuning-Audi]

Likely there's some corrosion going on in the bulb holder. Check to make sure its not rusty. Add some dielectric grease to the end of the bulb and reinstall. If that doesn't help you might need to replace the bulb holder.

Click HERE to order or for more information


Jason

[CyberPMG]

It may be a weird coincidence, but if you have ecodes and are running LED city lights, you might want to check the left one to make sure it's working right. I've somehow found if the LED city light starts to go bad, it may cause the rear turn signal bulb to throw a code.

[Spike00513]

Could it be poor contacts? Not sure how the rears work. But for my fronts, the turn signal sockets have springy contacts that lose their spring over time. I re-bent both. One works again, the other only did temporarily.

[Luxus Panzer]

Avant housings..

Took it all apart...checked bulbs, contacts were fins, however, i cleaned them with an eraser anyway... buttoned it all back up....still got the bulb out warning.

[blitz2190]

Are they led, and if so do they have a load resistor and does it create enough of a load.

[Charles.waite]

I had a "phantom" bulb out error that would happen occasionally on my sedan, it would mainly trigger 10 minutes into a drive but sometimes it would be weeks between when it would surface. It finally got bad enough I investigated and found all my bulbs were working. I scuffed up the contacts in case that was the problem and that didn't seem to help. Strange I thought. And was generally annoyed but was resigned to just accepting that I would have to live with this stupid error or buy a new taillight holder.

A few months later I got annoyed enough to actually pull the bulbs out and test, one had finally bitten the dust, but it started as an intermittent failure due to the bulb being partially blown. My guess is the bulb's element was loose and over bumps it would go open circuit long enough to trigger the warning then go back on. Anyway, I had to replace one of the tiny ass dual element bulbs that, I believe, are sedan specific.

Top tip: You can test most 12V bulbs with simply a 9V battery. Since the terminals are exposed, you can wedge the bulb in between the contacts and get it to light up (albeit dimly since its getting only 9V instead of the required 12V). Anyway that trick is SUPER handy when you're trying to find a dead bulb when they all appear to be functional.

[g huns]

Likely there's some corrosion going on in the bulb holder. Check to make sure its not rusty. Add some dielectric grease to the end of the bulb and reinstall. If that doesn't help you might need to replace the bulb holder.

Click HERE to order or for more information
[URL="www.ecstuning.com/Audi-B6_A4-Quattro-1.8T/Search/SiteSearch/ES442972_ES442975/?salesrep=JMarusic&utm_source=audizine&utm_medium= forum&utm_content=JMarusic&utm_campaign=postreply"]

Jason

$15 difference front right to left? That's weird.

[ECS Tuning-Audi]

Avant housings..

Took it all apart...checked bulbs, contacts were fins, however, i cleaned them with an eraser anyway... buttoned it all back up....still got the bulb out warning.

Avant fitment HERE

$15 difference front right to left? That's weird.

One has a lower cost than the other. Just how it prices out. Pretty common with Genuine Audi parts when it comes to left and right pieces, usually one costs more than the other. No idea why, likely though if I had to guess, it's because whatever the more popular part that gets replaced has a lower cost. More demand = lower price, less demand = higher price.

Jason

[Luxus Panzer]

Avant fitment HERE



One has a lower cost than the other. Just how it prices out. Pretty common with Genuine Audi parts when it comes to left and right pieces, usually one costs more than the other. No idea why, likely though if I had to guess, it's because whatever the more popular part that gets replaced has a lower cost. More demand = lower price, less demand = higher price.

Jason

I see no reason why I need a new bulb holder. Mine is clean and fine. I would rather pinpoint the cause before I start buying parts.

I came across a post on the internet about the brake switch....anyone have any input here?

[Charles.waite]

Check each bulb with a 9V battery. If they all check out, then work backwards towards the Fuse box.

My b7 avant was having some really bad intermittent bulb out errors last year (yea its a common audi thing I suppose) and after replacing a few bulbs with no luck (and testing the old bulbs that turned out to be fine) I discovered a pin on the back of the bulb holder had melted off and the extra bit was rattling around in the connector and ever once in a while was making contact. It was also arcing like crazy and starting to melt the connector. Anyway I tried to salvage the bulb holder but I ended up finding a used taillight with holder for like $60 from a friend. My taillight had some minor damage so it was a win win.

My point is inspect the connector and the bulb holder pins for corrosion or signs of arcing. Not just where the bulbs screw in.

Here is a picture of the damaged pin:

[Let it snow]

You say you have a bulb out warning. But does the bulb actually light up or not. The exterior lights are powered directly from the vehicle electronic control module they have no individual fuses. If no power at socket work your way back like Charles.waite said.

[Luxus Panzer]

You say you have a bulb out warning. But does the bulb actually light up or not. The exterior lights are powered directly from the vehicle electronic control module they have no individual fuses. If no power at socket work your way back like Charles.waite said.

I will inspect the connector.

yes ALL the bulbs work, I remove the tail light and bulb holder during testing and sit it in the trunk where I can see it from the drivers seat (Avant)...everything works.

[blitz2190]

I will inspect the connector.

yes ALL the bulbs work, I remove the tail light and bulb holder during testing and sit it in the trunk where I can see it from the drivers seat (Avant)...everything works.

you never answered my question are they led lights? If so the load resistor(if there is one) may not be enough, ohm a stock bulb and then your bulb and see what the difference is.

[Luxus Panzer]

you never answered my question are they led lights? If so the load resistor(if there is one) may not be enough, ohm a stock bulb and then your bulb and see what the difference is.

Sorry about that. Non LED stock lights.

[Luxus Panzer]

Riped it all appart last night, everything is fine.

I just decided test the resistance of all the bulbs, one of the filiments in one of the X2 filiment bulbs tested as a open circuit (but both filiments still worked) Replaced the bulb...GTG, no warning.