Side brake lights not working - centre works fine

[tez1982]

Hey,

So my side brake lights stopped working a while ago on my 2008 Seat Ibiza 1.4 Ecomotive. The top centre brake light works fine (the led strip), just the left and right that aren't working.

I get the flashing glow plug light on the dash intermittently.
I get no fault codes when I scan the car - even when the glow plug light is flashing.
When I put the head lights on the bulbs come to their normal brightness - so bulbs are okay
Changed the brake light switch from a car that I know was working, still got the same problem - so not the brake light switch.
Gave the connection a quick clean - still no luck.

Has anyone come across anything similar or got any other ideas for stuff to check?

CHeers

Tez

 

[RUM4MO]

This might sound like an insulting reply, but it is not intended to be that:- are you sure that you are using the correct bulbs, these bulb holders can let you fit the wrong type as maybe that is why you are not making correct contact.

Get hold of a voltmeter and check that these contacts are live when the brake pedal is pressed down, check all fuses, I can't remember which fuse covers that function, just in case the side ones are fused by a separate fuse to the high level one.

I'd never ever reuse an older type brake pedal switch, they were not made to be reused, the latest one yes, but not the older ones.

If you had used VCDS on that car, it should reveal why the glow plug light glows.

Edit:- "led strip" have you checked to make sure that is what is in there, my old 2000 VW Passat 4Motion had an led high level brake light assembly, but my wife's old 2003MY VW Polo just had lots of small bulbs - this I discovered after needing to replace that assembly due to it getting water into it - bus bar rusted through!

 

[mty12345]

Hey,


When I put the head lights on the bulbs come to their normal brightness - so bulbs are okay


Tez

That's the tail light part of the bulb though, the brake light part is a seperate fillament inside the same bulb. Have you tried changing the bulbs?

 

[RUM4MO]

That's the tail light part of the bulb though, the brake light part is a seperate fillament inside the same bulb. Have you tried changing the bulbs?

Yes, that is the answer I was about to give/add to press the point.

Also back to "have you replaced these bulbs with the correct bulbs?" - if the bulbs you fitted are dual filament but have the indexing pins in the wrong place, the tail light might work and the brake light might not! Or, you might have replaced dual filament bulbs with single filament bulbs - don't always believe the bulb guides that are in Halfords for example as I discovered that they were wrong at least for similar aged Polo years ago - luckily before I bought bulbs, I was only using their guide to send me to the correct bulb quickly on the display - wrong bulb!