Mystery Bulb Failure Indication

[solarsailor]

Bit of an odd one. Got in the car this morning and as soon as I switched the ignition on I got a bulb failure indication. I was a little baffled as no lights were switched on at the time, I hadn't touched the brake pedal and I can't think of a single example of a bulb blowing when it's just been sat doing nothing. After a quick check I found that the front sidelights were good, as were the rear lights (no brake light on at half mast), headlights good - dipped and full beam - number plate lights OK and all indicators working perfectly. I couldn't check the brake lights as nobody was around so I assumed that was the issue, but when I got back in the car the bulb failure indication had gone out.

One of my neighbours was outside when I got home and he helped check the brake lights which are also fine. Any ideas on what might cause a spurious indication, or did my car decide to have a momentary bit of fun by winding me up?

[grivas]

Originally Posted by solarsailor

Bit of an odd one. Got in the car this morning and as soon as I switched the ignition on I got a bulb failure indication. I was a little baffled as no lights were switched on at the time, I hadn't touched the brake pedal and I can't think of a single example of a bulb blowing when it's just been sat doing nothing. After a quick check I found that the front sidelights were good, as were the rear lights (no brake light on at half mast), headlights good - dipped and full beam - number plate lights OK and all indicators working perfectly. I couldn't check the brake lights as nobody was around so I assumed that was the issue, but when I got back in the car the bulb failure indication had gone out.

One of my neighbours was outside when I got home and he helped check the brake lights which are also fine. Any ideas on what might cause a spurious indication, or did my car decide to have a momentary bit of fun by winding me up?

Remove the rear light units and check the bulb holders for rust, clean with wire wool ( disconnect battery first), treat with WD-40 re assemble, good to go.!

[andymc]

Another possibility is that the circuit board for the numberplate lights might need a bit of soldering.

[simondhopkins]

Had the same thing happen the other week, reg plate lights board was fine, it was the connector in the rear cluster , sprayed with a bit of oil and it worked fine.

[Brunty]

Had the same fault, not all the time though, front indicator drivers side was the problem, cleaned contacts, sprayed with wd40. No problems since. Check connections!

[solarsailor]

Thanks everyone.

Originally Posted by grivas

Remove the rear light units and check the bulb holders for rust, clean with wire wool ( disconnect battery first), treat with WD-40 re assemble, good to go.!

Rear light units are brand new and I checked and cleaned the plugs while fitting them a couple of weeks ago.

Originally Posted by Brunty

Had the same fault, not all the time though, front indicator drivers side was the problem, cleaned contacts, sprayed with wd40. No problems since. Check connections!

Just been the one occasion so far, but if it starts acting up on a regular basis I'll check the indicators out.

Originally Posted by andymc

Another possibility is that the circuit board for the numberplate lights might need a bit of soldering.

Could be, but I'm not keen on taking the unit apart and will rule out other possible causes first

And finally to andrewscruff who sent me a PM saying he'd experienced a similar problem and it turned out to be the side repeaters. I did try to reply to the PM but got a message saying your account was set to either not receive PMs or was blocked from receiving them - not sure what that means, maybe your inbox is full.