Thread: Brake Light Globe?

Originally Posted by jonesfam

I did a search but can not find the thread.
Did I read somewhere on the D3/D4 site that a blown brake light globe will/can give you agro?

When I was leaving home for work last week I was half way up the drive way when SWMBO phoned to tell me my L/H brake light wasn't working.
Not a problem, called in at the auto electrician when I got to town, $5, 2 minute fix then drove the rest of the 890k to work.

I don't know how long it was blown for but I did not have any issues with the car.
Am I wrong?
Does a blown brake globe cause problems or not?

Jonesfam

Hi Jonesfam.

That rings a bell for me too. I think it was to do with the computer thinking that there was a problem because the circuit was broken and it put up all sorts of error messages. I have a vague thought that it was to do with busted filament in the globe but it is a very vague thought.

Martin

It can cause problems. Doesn't always.

I thought that was mostly for the D3s without LEDs

Originally Posted by Russrobe

I thought that was mostly for the D3s without LEDs

Correct. A D4 won't suffer the issue - LED brake lights.

Originally Posted by jonesfam

I did a search but can not find the thread.
Did I read somewhere on the D3/D4 site that a blown brake light globe will/can give you agro?

When I was leaving home for work last week I was half way up the drive way when SWMBO phoned to tell me my L/H brake light wasn't working.
Not a problem, called in at the auto electrician when I got to town, $5, 2 minute fix then drove the rest of the 890k to work.

I don't know how long it was blown for but I did not have any issues with the car.
Am I wrong?
Does a blown brake globe cause problems or not?

Jonesfam

Tailed the wife who was driving ours recently and right hand brake light was u/s. When it was removed the tail light filament was still complete and functioning. However no faults/issues were experienced.

It may be an issue when both filaments of the globe are blown...

Originally Posted by Narangga

It may be an issue when both filaments of the globe are blown...

I understand it is when a blown filament moves and the shorts out the other filament in the dual filament bulb.

Scott

When the brake light fault is bad enough (perhaps both blown or a short circuit) the ABS ecu reports an ABS fault on the canbus. The air suspension ecu originally reacted to any ABS fault by lowering to its safe (access) height but may have been reprogrammed to ignore brake light faults.

Originally Posted by jonesfam

Does a blown brake globe cause problems or not?



Jonesfam

Believe it was limited to 05 and 06 after which an upgraded Canbus (?) system was installed that could handle such a failure with a cascading set of faults. My 08 happily had a blown brake light bulb and to my surprise there is not even a dash warning. Someone told me one day by chance.

Merry Xmas all!!!