Dim LED tail lights

[Bah-humbug]

Hi,

I've searched through the A6 rear light cluster thread and couldn't see anything related to the problem I have with my N/S tail light & general search didn't bring anything up either.

As you can see from the photos the corner LED tail lights are a lot dimmer than the tail lights located in the tailgate, and when the brake is depressed the brakes lights work as normal but still the tail lights are dim.

Could it be contact points and the need for a clean? or (not sure if I saw this somewhere) the unit is failing - but would this also affect the brake lights? I've changed lights on old A4's and Passat's but being the old bulb fittings I know to give the contacts a rub to cure some bulb faults, but before I start taking the unit out I wanted to see if anybody has any suggestions.

The car is 2008 pre facelift with Xenon plus headlight & rear LED upgrades factory fitted.

Thanks

IMG_2696.jpgIMG_2698.jpg

[ragebe]

I had a problem with my offside rear lights last week; it was caused by my not re-connecting the connector plug correctly, after replacing a reversing bulb. You may have a poor connection that side.

(You may have current leakage due to water ingress)

[Bah-humbug]

Thanks. I'll check the connections

[mikeybee]

Hi Bah-humhug

It probably doesn't help you but I have the identical problem ie N/S tail light very very dim. 2009 2.7 A6 avant Le mans pre face with Xenon. Took advice from 2 x Audi dealers. Both pointed to corrosive earth connections but where ???? I took the units out and stripped them down. Cleaned all the contacts and reconnected everything. Definitely is a bit brighter but not fully there. DO NOT swap units over to see if the fault moves as the wiring is slightly different inside. I don't want to part with £150 for a new unit if that doesn't fix it. On the plus side it is not an MOT failure as 50% of the rear light each side has to work. And these are about 40/60 split. 40% on body and 60% on the tailgate. I'll keep you posted with my findings

Hi,

I've searched through the A6 rear light cluster thread and couldn't see anything related to the problem I have with my N/S tail light & general search didn't bring anything up either.

As you can see from the photos the corner LED tail lights are a lot dimmer than the tail lights located in the tailgate, and when the brake is depressed the brakes lights work as normal but still the tail lights are dim.

Could it be contact points and the need for a clean? or (not sure if I saw this somewhere) the unit is failing - but would this also affect the brake lights? I've changed lights on old A4's and Passat's but being the old bulb fittings I know to give the contacts a rub to cure some bulb faults, but before I start taking the unit out I wanted to see if anybody has any suggestions.

The car is 2008 pre facelift with Xenon plus headlight & rear LED upgrades factory fitted.

Thanks

IMG_2696.jpgIMG_2698.jpg

[Bah-humbug]

Thanks, I cleaned the contacts and the lights brightened up!! Then went dull again - I think I'll have to give the contacts another good clean.

It passed the MOT though - the lights were bright at the time phew!!

[kromwell]

First of all, sorry for my perhaps incorrect english. I've had porblems with dimmed rear lights on both sides different times. I cleaned all the connections and checked wiring, but problem stayed. Got new lights (110€/ea) and decided to open old ones. Problem was inside the light. First, the "line"-cable was broken at one place on one of the lights, but dimming is caused by faulty resistors. There are a LOT of them inside the unit. Two resistors were kind of burned off. I had to tin them back on again. Although the resistance shown in resistor was slightly lower than the real resistance, it worked. Glued lights back together and sold them as "repaired" OE lights. I've got some bad pictures as well if anyone is interested.

EDIT: Brake lights in my case were not affected because resistors connected to brake light LEDs were okay.

[Bah-humbug]

Thanks Kromwell, I'll check for broken cables and maybe look at the resistors, don't want to pay 110/ea for new lights

[mikeybee]

Further to my recent MOT, which it passed by the way, the tester notice that when he slapped the unit it came on for a little while. My next task it to take the light unit off again and this time open the unit up ie remove the red perspex cover to expose the LED lamps as I suspect there is a loose or corroded one. I think they are like the old xmas tree lights. When one goes they all go ! Good luck Bah-humbug. Like you I am going to get to the bottom of this !!

[flippantaudi]

Hi folks, I have exactly this problem on my facelift 09 Avant. Dim rear LED lights on the drivers side outer section. Did anyone have any luck fixing? If its the contacts that need cleaning can anyone point me in the right direction as to where they are or how to gwet at them? Does the light need removing to get to them? There's definitely no water ingress that I can see.... Any help would be gratefully received.

[gupsterg]

To get to connection/bulb holder you'd have to remove outer taillight unit. There is a plastic nut which requires removing for outer taillight unit to be popped out of body.

I also used blutack on the socket as that nut can fall and be lost in body, the nut is in a recess where you'd expect to see the back of lamp unit on the inside of the car.

You access the nut by removing the trim which has jack, etc behind it in boot area, I did have some photos for another thread/when I did it but can't find them. My memory is bit hazy and you may have to remove the plastic holder for the jack to make access easier to nut.

Once that nut is removed you can sorta ease taillight unit out of body cavity, when I removed them for the first time I used a little plastic wedge between lamp and body on outside, I wrapped it in duct tape so wouldn't damage paint.