Technical gremlin

[gcon45]

I took a mate of mine for a drive this evening to show him the car and on the way back home the brake light warning came one (to suggest a bulb in the brake light on the spoiler had blown) followed by the TCS light and the red warning light with the exclamation mark.

The lights stayed on the whole way home and when I got back I turned the car off.

When I re-started the car all the lights cleared and everything went back to normal.

Has anyone else experienced anything like this?

Could it be a sign of impending problems or just a one off glitch?

[Sudesh]

Could be a number of things, would be worth while getting the codes read.

I read some posts where people experienced the lights coming on when a bulb blew, could also be things like 02 sensors, ABS/TCS sensors and other things.

[gcon45]

Just took the car out again and the brake light warning came up again and stayed on but no TCS light this time.

I'm assuming (and hoping) that the rear spoiler light just needs a bulb.

Why it would trigger the TCS light the first time is what's nagging me.

Do the lights share the same circuit and can be accidentally triggered with another?

Probably worth getting it checked just incase as you say Sudesh.

Hopefully just a false alarm!

[Sudesh]

Connor rear spoiler light doesnt have a bulb, its a sealed LED unit.

Think your better checking your tail lights if you have the rear "bulb out" warning light



I'm assuming (and hoping) that the rear spoiler light just needs a bulb.

[gcon45]

Connor rear spoiler light doesnt have a bulb, its a sealed LED unit.

Think your better checking your tail lights if you have the rear "bulb out" warning light

The warning lamp shows a long light at the back as opposed to a specific side so I don't know what's out yet - probably is just a side brake light bulb as opposed to the LED spoiler lamp as you say.

Certainly a lot cheaper to replace!

[Kaz-kzukNA1]

Hi, Connor.

The brake light failure sensor is current sensing type and quite sensitive to all sorts of conditions.

For example, even you don’t have any brake light failure, it could trigger the warning light when you press the brake pedal under very cold winter condition or battery voltage was low and ACG was busy trying to charge it.

If you replace the brake light bulb to the wrong spec, then it could trigger the warning as well. If you put LED bulb in brake light, it will almost 100% trigger the warning unless you put a certain device to simulate the correct amount of current flow.

There are lots of stories on Prime regarding this but as always for any info on the web, you need to use your own judgement to evaluate them.

As it is current sensing, unless you press the brake pedal, just starting the engine won’t trigger the warning light.

Unless you got ABS/ALB warning light addition to the TCS yellow one, it is very unlikely that you have wheel speed sensor failure.
Wheel speed sensor signals are first handled by the ABS/ALB controller and then passed onto the TCS.

There was some report of triggering TCS warning light when O2 sensor failed but if that is the case, it will also trigger the Engine Check Light/Lamp so not seems to be in your case.

I’m more worried about the red warning light with the exclamation mark unless it was triggered by other reasons.

That’s the parking brake indicator and also it is for the low brake fluid warning.
If you have enough fluid, then you may have bad float sensor connection near the fluid cap, intermittent IGN switch connection, etc.

Before too much guessing work, it is best to pull out the error code and write down anything being done before/after this issue happened.


Regards,
Kaz

[Tom_]

Thought I'd bump this up.

I'm getting a rear brake warning lamp, caused by the left rear brake light not coming on.

However... it's not the bulb - the existing bulb looked fine, and I've even replaced it with a new one to be on the safe side - no change. I've had a look around: there's no corrosion around the bulb contacts, the wiring seems intact, and I've tried dis- and reconnecting the main plugs for the rear lights, but it's still doing it. Can't see any signs of damp or anything else out of the ordinary.

Any thoughts? :)

[gcon45]

Mine turned out to be simply a faulty bulb.

It was still lighting, albeit intermittently but the lights went out once replaced.

[Tom_]

All sorted. Turned out to be a slightly unhappy connection between the plug and the socket on the lights. May have been a bit damp having sat around for months outside Plans.

Anyway, the combination of a good wiggle +/- a bit of fan-heater-assisted drying out did the trick. :)


(It was helpful to jam the brake pedal on - I used a bicycle type track pump against the seat!)

[Sudesh]

Tom good to hear you got it sorted.

I have a halfords moisture mate in mine and it does help. With the boot lid not being lined and the heat of the exhaust, the boot will always have moisture of some kind depending on the the conditions you drive the car in and where its kept etc, also if you have never replaced the tail light gaskets then almost certain moisture will still be there.

Link: http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_16 9605_langId_-1_categoryId_165745

[Tom_]

Thanks, Sudesh - that looks a good idea. The boot's not wet, just a bit damp.

Sorting the rear light gaskets was the first job I did when I got the car, so I'm happy they're as watertight as they can be.