Toledo no rear lighting - intermittent

[oleonard]

Hi there!

Toledo mk3 1.6 Stylance 2005

I was driving along the motorway the other night and started getting tooted by other cars. Later in traffic a guy told me I had no rear lights - and sure enough, I had no brake lights and no tail lights. Fog and indicators worked tho. Front end was all good.

I thought I was going mad - they were working when I set off. I stopped, turned off, restarted and lights were all fine.

A couple of days earlier, I had a 'bulb fail' warning on the dash, but all seemed fine, apart from a very slight flickering in the tail lights. A restart got rid of the warning lamp. It was bright sun, so hard to be sure. On the day of the fail, lights had not been flickering.


Question is, (apart from 'am I imagining it?') - where do I start looking for a fault or solution?
Any comments gratefully received!

Olly

 

[Simmhead]

I would guess that it would be an earthing / wiring problem. May be worth checking the relays / fuses.

 

[oleonard]

ah yes you'd think so, and so would I, if it were only the brake lights that were out - but the tail-lights were out at the same time - but the front lights were all on.

thanks though!

Olly

 

[Simmhead]

The brake lights/tail lights use the same filament in the bulb. Not separate like some. I presume they share the same earth and or live.

Then when you apply the brakes, an extra voltage must be applied to the live side to make the lights brighter.

 

[oleonard]

ah -that's useful info - thanks for that - same filament, so could be a dodgy earth on the rear end - I'll have a dig around and find where the earthing point is.