Left tail light out!

[BeEmAcK617]

So my left brake light is out and before i get harrassed by the law i want to change it. I looked in the owners manual and as i figured it says take it to your dealer for service. hahahaha i am not going to spend $100+ for them to change a light bulb. Does any one have a diagram or could tell me exactly what i would have to take out to get to my bulbs? TIA

[dannyvox]

just go to any gas station
thats what i did and it was like a 15 minute job for like 20 dollars

[BeEmAcK617]

thats the thing if i can do it myself why pay someone? and i would think the sedan is a matter of taking the back cover off and just replacing the bulb. correct me if i'm wrong. From the looks of it, you have to remove a few panels for the avant.

[MikeS4]

ok so i could be totally of base here as i dont own an avant. but on the b6 s4 sedan, theres a little pop out panel on the inside of the trunk. behind that is a bolt. undo the bolt and pry the tail light assembly off. then replace whichever bulb you need. i used what money i wouldve spent bringing it to the dealer and bought a toolkit for the car.

look around in your rear compartment inboard of the tail light assembly for a cutout of the interior lining. the avant probably has a similiar setup to the sedan. search the DIY forums. they will save you money.

[basso]

hee whole back of the light is held in place by 2 tabs that you push inwards remove the whole back of the light install new bulb time taken 2 min just look for the big tabs on the light back

[BeEmAcK617]

ok so i could be totally of base here as i dont own an avant. but on the b6 s4 sedan, theres a little pop out panel on the inside of the trunk. behind that is a bolt. undo the bolt and pry the tail light assembly off. then replace whichever bulb you need. i used what money i wouldve spent bringing it to the dealer and bought a toolkit for the car.

look around in your rear compartment inboard of the tail light assembly for a cutout of the interior lining. the avant probably has a similiar setup to the sedan. search the DIY forums. they will save you money.

yeah i found one torx screw that once i unscrewed it the taillight became loose but i wasnt sure if there were any more screws that kept the tail light in place. behind the lil you speak of there is this big box where i guess the nav player or external cd changer would go.

hee whole back of the light is held in place by 2 tabs that you push inwards remove the whole back of the light install new bulb time taken 2 min just look for the big tabs on the light back

the problem is getting to the back of the tail light.

[CARTEL]

blown up version of what it looks like, and what hardware you'll encounter:

[BeEmAcK617]

thanks Fabio! looks like i will have to remove a few panels!

[dougyfresh]

B6 A4 Avant?

No need to remove a few panels. Remove that screw in Fabio's picture (28 I believe). (The lower tail housing is the AVant an the upper is the Sedan). I recommend a magnetic tip 1/4inch drive socket but if you can't find that then use a magnetic tip philips screwdriver. If you drop the screw you're pulling the entire trunk interior panels apart to find it. {rant: damn Bentley photos look nothing like the cars themselves.}

You can then, carefully, pull the tail housing away from the center of the car (ie: towards the outside.). There are two tabs that plug into the body where the tail light meets the rear quarter panel. These 'pop' out but be careful. Don't use a lot of force. Go easy. Once they come out you can remove the light within 4inches of the car. Enough room to unplug the wires and then the entire housing is off the car. Now you can remove the bulb circuit board and replace the bulb.

These bulbs are delicate. As in, you need the right wattage bulb. Otherwise your car will sense a bulb out like it did for me. The tail light / stop light bulb for the B6 Avant is OSRAM Sylvania 7528 12V 21w/5w double filament tail light bulb. See here for my experience: http://www.audigeeks.com/forums/index.php?topic=2697.0

[Matt C]

As a sidenote, 2004+ VW Passats use the same bulb - $2.05 at my local VW dealer.

[MarkChai]

Thanks for the info, dougy and eightx3!

[BeEmAcK617]

B6 A4 Avant?

No need to remove a few panels. Remove that screw in Fabio's picture (28 I believe). (The lower tail housing is the AVant an the upper is the Sedan). I recommend a magnetic tip 1/4inch drive socket but if you can't find that then use a magnetic tip philips screwdriver. If you drop the screw you're pulling the entire trunk interior panels apart to find it. {rant: damn Bentley photos look nothing like the cars themselves.}

You can then, carefully, pull the tail housing away from the center of the car (ie: towards the outside.). There are two tabs that plug into the body where the tail light meets the rear quarter panel. These 'pop' out but be careful. Don't use a lot of force. Go easy. Once they come out you can remove the light within 4inches of the car. Enough room to unplug the wires and then the entire housing is off the car. Now you can remove the bulb circuit board and replace the bulb.

These bulbs are delicate. As in, you need the right wattage bulb. Otherwise your car will sense a bulb out like it did for me. The tail light / stop light bulb for the B6 Avant is OSRAM Sylvania 7528 12V 21w/5w double filament tail light bulb. See here for my experience: http://www.audigeeks.com/forums/index.php?topic=2697.0

YOU ARE THE MANN!!!! Thanks dougyfresh!!

i will be doing that today. lets see how much the dealer charges me for the bulb.

[lookaught]

Yes do NOT drop that screw. also, for the ease of finding it, its behind a perfectly round little cover along the edge of the hatch frame, and you need a little screwdriver to pop it off. And be very gentle when you wiggle the housing out to the outside of the car. The two pins that sit in rubber grommets can be annoying to get to pop out, but if you break one... well you'll be either a master of jb weld or buying a new lamp housing.

After you get it out, piece of cake! a touch of spit on the pins help it all go back together nice and easy, no joke!

And yes, the wrong bulb will throw and endless "tail light out" bulb warning. My car had this when I bought it, yet all the lights still worked so I was stumped. It is related to the resistance created by the light, and if its out of spec then you get the warning. It finally dawned on me when the brake light burned out and I took the time to inspect the bulb that I removed to discover it looked correct but was wrong.

Dont drop the screw!!! Its amazing to me that many people actually PAY dealer to do this kind of thing. A VW dealer quoted my girlfriend an HOUR of labor to change the fender mounted turn indicator on her B5 Passat. I freaked on the service manager and called him a thief, bought the new housing myself, then went outside and proceeded to change that housing (it was cracked) in less than 30 seconds in near pitch black darkness in the middle of winter. Fooking theives!!!

[dougyfresh]

No need to go to the dealer for a bulb. I found my bulbs at the local AutoZone (or anywhere else Sylvania bulbs are sold). Just make sure its the 21w/5w tail-light bulb like I mentioned in my AudiGeeks post.



If you can't do it by Saturday let me know and I'll pull my tail light off and snap some photos to show you (pictorially) how to do it.

[BeEmAcK617]

The service man at the dealership made me laugh in his face when they attempted to charge me $60 to change a bulb.

Thanks guys MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!! I bought my bulb at the local autozone and go the screw out (its a torx type head for those that are wondering) I dont remember what size though. After i replaced the bulb and put the tailight back in, I was almost done and i DROPPED THE SCREW!! after soo many warnings I still dropped it. I found it fairly quikly and yes i DROPPED it AGAIN!! LMAO Lets just say a 5-10 job turned into a almost an hr trying to find the screw the second time.

[dougyfresh]

The service man at the dealership made me laugh in his face when they attempted to charge me $60 to change a bulb.

Thanks guys MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!! I bought my bulb at the local autozone and go the screw out (its a torx type head for those that are wondering) I dont remember what size though. After i replaced the bulb and put the tailight back in, I was almost done and i DROPPED THE SCREW!! after soo many warnings I still dropped it. I found it fairly quikly and yes i DROPPED it AGAIN!! LMAO Lets just say a 5-10 job turned into a almost an hr trying to find the screw the second time.

Good to see you figured things out. A nice magnet from Sears also helps if you drop the screw.

Little items like bulbs and such are a waste of time going to the dealer. They are typically standard items that you can find at a local parts store. Over time you figure out what is best to get from the dealer and what is best to find elsewhere.

Strange how yours are Torx. My 2002 has phillips head screws that are also hex head so you can get a socket on them.

[lookaught]

Strange how yours are Torx. My 2002 has phillips head screws that are also hex head so you can get a socket on them.

Same. Other screws in the back are torx, but not the lamp housing screw. I imagine they made it a phillips so that you dont need a specialized tool (ie torx) to change it, and could just use the screwdriver in the tool kit.

Perhaps the original was swapped out at some point when the phillips was dropped and lost lol. If I dropped that screw and couldnt find it Id just put in a replacement rather than take apart the trim.

[dougyfresh]

/\

Makes sense.

I've also found, recently, that there are so many [small] differences between a 2002 A4 and a 2003+ B6 A4.

[BeEmAcK617]

Same. Other screws in the back are torx, but not the lamp housing screw. I imagine they made it a phillips so that you dont need a specialized tool (ie torx) to change it, and could just use the screwdriver in the tool kit.

Perhaps the original was swapped out at some point when the phillips was dropped and lost lol. If I dropped that screw and couldnt find it Id just put in a replacement rather than take apart the trim.

Yeah i figure the same thing happened. I shouldve just bought a new screw but for some odd reason i was determined to find it. Thanks again guys.

[lookaught]

Yeah i figure the same thing happened. I shouldve just bought a new screw but for some odd reason i was determined to find it. Thanks again guys.

Is the other side a torx as well or is it a phillips? Im curious now.

[Silververtu]

Just want to update that tail light/stop light bulb for the B7 Avant is OSRAM Sylvania 7506 12V 21w/5w. I got the 7528 and it didn't fit.

[dougyfresh]

Just want to update that tail light/stop light bulb for the B7 Avant is OSRAM Sylvania 7506 12V 21w/5w. I got the 7528 and it didn't fit.

Thank You.

I guess they changed the bulb socket design. Sorry you had to find out the hard way.