No tail lights

dawnierangie · Jun 5, 2011

Hi guys been struggling for couple of days now, have no tailgate lights, have reverse lights and brake lights although message centre says no brake lights and while driving get tailgate open message.

Have traced all wires to tailgate and put them on multimeter and getting signal through, have cleaned all earth points that i can find and cleaned all possible connections.

Please help!!! What can I try now

Datatek · Jun 5, 2011

First fix the problem with the tailgate open message which is presumably a micro switch in the lock not signaling that the tailgate is closed.

PickUp90 · Jun 5, 2011

Like he said, tail gate first :5biagree:

dawnierangie · Jun 5, 2011

Thanks will go see what i can do, any idea where to get this switch and how much?

Irishrover · Jun 5, 2011

The switch can get corroded and fills with dirt over time, especially if the small plastic sealing gasket/grommet is missing or damaged. Remove the carpeted lower tail gate panel for access. The button is held with two self tappers and the switch body is secured by a bayonet type fitting to the pushbutton assembly, twist to undo.

As most of the problems appear to be tailgate related, check the ground connectors and splices that serve the circuits. Details can be found in RAVE.
Almost all of the switching circuits on the P38 involve ground switching and bad ground connections can cause untold problems.
To summarise....check the wiring from the tailgate back.

dawnierangie · Jun 5, 2011

have fixed tailgate, switch was loose and not making connection. Checked every ground possible to get to after downloading rave. check wires all the way from switch on dash all the way to tailgate. Any chance it could be the light switch itself??

dogsbody · Jun 5, 2011

Sorry to be so basic but, have you checked the bulbs and checked and cleaned the bulb holders? Have you got the correct size bulbs in the brake lights?

dawnierangie · Jun 5, 2011

unfortunately yes, wish it was that easy. They were working few days ago, when message came up I went to change the bulbs until I found no fault with them. Is it worth changing bulbs anyway? And yes cleaned all bulb holders too

dogsbody · Jun 5, 2011

What the message centre is saying is that when you turn on a light (or lights) the electronics expect to see a certain power draw. If this doesn't happen then it reports it as a fault. It may be that you have an issue with your electronics but as bulbs are a damn sight cheaper then yes, I would replace the bulbs again and make sure that they are making very good contact.

Datatek · Jun 5, 2011

dawnierangie said:
unfortunately yes, wish it was that easy. They were working few days ago, when message came up I went to change the bulbs until I found no fault with them. Is it worth changing bulbs anyway? And yes cleaned all bulb holders too

Bulb holders in cars are notorious for bad connections in my experience, had to solder the bulbs in on the old R11 to get reliable connections.

dawnierangie · Jun 5, 2011

I would like to thank everyone today for all your help, I have tail lights now. Still have brake bulb failure messages but they work. Thank you all once again

No tail lights

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