Rear Brake Tail light Failed message

[sheldon1]

My Rear Brake light and tail light wasnt working so I have replaced the bulbs.
Now, when I switch the lights on I get a message saying Rear Righthand Brake Light failed and Rear tail light failure.

When I switch the lights off , no message and brake lights work fine.

Do I need to change a fuse or could their be a short somewhere?

Thanks

Paul

[J44EAG]

Not heard of this one before, Paul.

I think I would check to ensure the pins on the lamps are in correct orientation and for any obvious earth(grounding) issues before having a diagnostic check one on the car. It is also worth finding the lighting module and unplugging and reconnection it a few times. resistance hot spots can occur and simple exercising of the connector plugs and sockets can sometimes clear issues.

The boot hinge wiring loom can work harden and in some cases crack or break individual wires. However I feel that would be more likely to just affect the boot lock and number plate light.

Anyone else had this problem?

Mike

[Martec]

Hi,

What year is your car?

I played with this system recently when working out how to fit aftermarket reversing sensors and was concerned it would upset the 'bulb failure alarm system'. I found that it is quite basic, it only operated on the tail and stop lights on our early basic car, not the reverse, indicator or fog light.

There is one stop light and TWO tail light bulbs, so have you got both working. The bulbs fit into a galvanised pressed steel 'wire' trace thing embedded in the plastic bulb holder, are these clean and are the new bulbs clean (you can get corrosion on the solder contacts). The bulb holder plugs into the wiring loom and the contacts can corrode here. from there it is hard wired direct to the 'Rear Electronic Control Module' which is behind the drivers side inner boot panel, so wires can be traced and checked with a multimeter for continuity.

I would suggest checking both tail lights are working, then try for corroded contacts, after that you could use the wiring diagrams to get the correct contacts to check continuity.

Have you got all three lights working on each side?

When I checked mine I removed the bulbs until the alarm showed up and then refitted them to clear the alarm.

Best of luck.
Brian