Intermittent Taillight Issue

[deadsoldier]

I'm having the same issue, first it was with right taillight, now the left. The LED part just stops working. I need to try this and hope for the best because I don't really want to spend money on new taillights.

[deadsoldier]

After cleaning the prongs and doing this diy to the negative side, my taillight would still give me issues. I then proceeded to do the same thing on the positive side, so pretty much the led part of the taillight has direct connections, and I haven't had any problems since then. The positive on the led is the blue wire.

[ryanjoe13]

After cleaning the prongs and doing this diy to the negative side, my taillight would still give me issues. I then proceeded to do the same thing on the positive side, so pretty much the led part of the taillight has direct connections, and I haven't had any problems since then. The positive on the led is the blue wire.

good to hear you got it figured out. hopefully it stays working, good luck!

[deadsoldier]

good to hear you got it figured out. hopefully it stays working, good luck!

unfortunately the light still goes out. Im going to try to just hardwire the positive and negative from the led itself rather than from the bulb holder.

[Mark in NH]

I had the same problem with my 2005 A6. The problem started on the right read after I noticed the housing had a crack and water leaked in following a rain. After taking apart the housing on both sides and determining that everything should work, the problem on the left was fixed, but started on the right.

The solution to my problem was to clean off the metal pin that stick out the back of the housing using steel wool. For this model car, I believe these pins ground the lights.

So, I agree with the original diagnosis that the problem of intermittent brake/turn signal light is due to bad grounding.

[z06psi]

Did both sides when mine started acting up. No issues since. The ground pins get pitted and corroded over time.

[SlickMachine]

And me to the fcukin list...my left rear just started throwing bulb warnings the other day. I'm taking it apart today hopefully.

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[SlickMachine]

As you can see from the pics, my terminals are completely clean, and the inside of the lens looks almost new. I've followed all the rails around and I cannot see any issues. My symptoms are exactly the same as op's, with reverse light, fog light, etc out, turn off car and start again and it clears for a while.




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[Dutch_A6]

Hi Slick, it's not the connector or inside the assembly as the pics you posted show. This is caused by deteriorating wiring normally the ground. I just had the dealer replace the wiring module which was like $80ish and it was fixed. Just my 2 cents unless you want to try and repair it and re-wire it yourself.

[SlickMachine]

Hi Slick, it's not the connector or inside the assembly as the pics you posted show. This is caused by deteriorating wiring normally the ground. I just had the dealer replace the wiring module which was like $80ish and it was fixed. Just my 2 cents unless you want to try and repair it and re-wire it yourself.

Thx for the input. The ground tab did have a tiny pit in it, so I filed it off, cleaned it up and reinstalled. Time will tell if that was the issue, if not, then I'm off to the dealership.

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[SlickMachine]

And what exactly is the wiring module? Is that just the harness that runs from the back of the light to...wherever it goes?

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[Dutch_A6]

I think it's the harness in the back, honestly not sure. I knew I had this issue and went to the dealer to get it replaced when someone said it was fairly inexpensive (at least compared to other repairs on our cars) and got lucky and it was done pretty quickly. I never saw the part they replaced as I never fiddled with it to begin with.

[SlickMachine]

Did anyone here have success running a separate ground wire from the ground rail to metal on the body somewhere?

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[SinCityA6]

Did anyone here have success running a separate ground wire from the ground rail to metal on the body somewhere?

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Isn't that what the OP did?

[SlickMachine]

Isn't that what the OP did?

No the OP soldered a lead from the ground rail, drilled through the back of the housing essentially bypassing the plug, and tied into the ground after the plug eliminating the problematic blade...

I was hoping to ground the rail to a bolt somewhere because I believe my ground fault exists further inboard on the wiring harness since my plug is in good shape.... if it even is a ground fault..

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[SlickMachine]

So far so good on my tail light issue. Again, my ground blade did not look problematic at all, but I cleaned it up anyway, gave it a very slight bend so as to make firm contact with the receptacle, and I'm good so far.

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[AnimalVZ9]

Can anyone who didn't follow what the OP did (have no confidence in my electrical/soldering abilities) let me know what part I would need to purchase to remedy this problem... Obviously the entire housing is overkill, so is it the harness or the bulb holder or a connector of some type?

Links would be wonderful. Thanks

[eazy211187]

No the OP soldered a lead from the ground rail, drilled through the back of the housing essentially bypassing the plug, and tied into the ground after the plug eliminating the problematic blade...

I was hoping to ground the rail to a bolt somewhere because I believe my ground fault exists further inboard on the wiring harness since my plug is in good shape.... if it even is a ground fault..

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If you where to run the ground to a bolt on the body, then your not completing the circuit. And the warning light will continue to come on.

[eazy211187]

Can anyone who didn't follow what the OP did (have no confidence in my electrical/soldering abilities) let me know what part I would need to purchase to remedy this problem... Obviously the entire housing is overkill, so is it the harness or the bulb holder or a connector of some type?

Links would be wonderful. Thanks

Well, try a self tapping screw on the rail and a push on wire connector on the harness.

[jmswashere]

Sweet! I had the same problem, but I didn't go that far into it. I just replaced the metal frame bulb holder for like $100 through the Audi Dealership... Excellent write up though... This would of saved me some cash.

[jmswashere]

Can anyone who didn't follow what the OP did (have no confidence in my electrical/soldering abilities) let me know what part I would need to purchase to remedy this problem... Obviously the entire housing is overkill, so is it the harness or the bulb holder or a connector of some type?

Links would be wonderful. Thanks

Refer to my last comment, about the metal frame bulb holder. It's an actual separate piece you can order.

[SlickMachine]

FWIW, my tail light has been working flawlessly for a week now. All I did was "tension" the ground blade (very slightly bent it) so that as it slides into the corresponding receptacle, it makes positive contact.

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[AudiS6v10]

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[Kevin1]

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???

[AudiS6v10]

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[SinCityA6]

Still nothing posting other than your signature.

[Dave01.5Afour]

I might be headed down this road, this weekend. Got the first signs this morning...no LEDs. I'll let you guys know how I fix this.

[extexan35]

I had the same issue about 4 months ago - I used a hair dryer a piece of welting and sandpaper to fix my issue. There appears to be moisture getting into the tail-lamp causing the led's to short out - i removed the lamp, placed it on the floor with the hairdryer on low, for about an hour, to dry it out completely. once dry, i cleaned up the metal railing with sandpaper and the groove where the welting goes i cleaned with a rag and alcohol - replaced it with the new welting i got from hobby lobby with a few drops of gasket sealer at the point where they meet, so as to not allow any moisture to get back in. Replaced everything, and haven't had the problem since.

[Dave01.5Afour]

I pulled my passenger side tail light on Saturday to investigate my random LED function. What I found was dangling ground electrode. There are two plastic tubes that hold the + and - LED elecrodes in contact with the rest of the tailight's electrical system. The plastic tube that holds the - (ground) electrode had broken and wasn't keeping the ground wire in "good" contact with the ground bus. I fixed the issue by gluing the tube back together and reinforcing it with some tape. I also cleaned up the ground bar and applied some condcutove grease to all the contacts.

[IM OUTTI]

My 06 A6 and my buddies 07 S6 jus started doing the same thing as yours Noskill. 3 consecitive bulb failure lights. The reverse light, rear fog, and tail light. it can be so annoying to hear all those beeps everytime I start my car, Ill look into doin this fix and see where is leads me

[enoch861]

I eventually fixed mine. And what I did was: If you looked at the connector from the harness, the contacts for ground were spread to far apart. So what I did was I stuck a little rock I found on the garage floor in there to keep the contacts close. Put everything back together, and haven't had an issue since.

[FormulaElement]

My back right tail light gave me a bulb out message, it went away after a couple of restarts. I did notice that my tail light has a crack in it now, not sure how that happened. Instead of buying new OEM tail lights I'm going to be buying http://www.ocsidance.com/index.php/w...audi-a6-detail

I was thinking about face lifting the rear but i think i will hold off for a while with these.

[IM OUTTI]

hey formula, let us know how that install goes.

[Dutch_A6]

Those are on Ebay as well by them, I've looked at them and contacted the company. They say they've sold to the US quite a bit and it is just a plug and play replacement shouldn't require any coding unless you already have LED taillights.

[FormulaElement]

Those are on Ebay as well by them, I've looked at them and contacted the company. They say they've sold to the US quite a bit and it is just a plug and play replacement shouldn't require any coding unless you already have LED taillights.

I do believe every US A6 C6 came with LED tail lights (The LED strip at the top). In Europe i do believe the standard tail lights use only halogen bulbs?
So i do believe coding is required but its just switching the car to think that these are the non-LED lights. Very easy, but requires a VAG-Com.

Will update when i get them. Shipping is probably going to take a while.

[ronjovi001]

I do believe every US A6 C6 came with LED tail lights (The LED strip at the top). In Europe i do believe the standard tail lights use only halogen bulbs?
So i do believe coding is required but its just switching the car to think that these are the non-LED lights. Very easy, but requires a VAG-Com.

Will update when i get them. Shipping is probably going to take a while.

Hey Formula... how did these work out for you? Can you give us an update? I am sick of switching tail lamp assemblies... I have had to do this on my 05 A6 at least 4 times... so damn frustrating...

let me know how the change has gone.

[FormulaElement]

Hey Formula... how did these work out for you? Can you give us an update? I am sick of switching tail lamp assemblies... I have had to do this on my 05 A6 at least 4 times... so damn frustrating...

let me know how the change has gone.

Sorry for the late response, the lights worked out great! I think they make the car look much newer. The shipping took forever and the lights were at customs for around 2 weeks..... (Damn you Sons of Anarchy!)

Coding them wasn't as straightforward as I thought it would be, and took me a little while to figure out. The instructions say that you only have to subtract (0131072 = Highline) from your comfort system coding value, but it never accepted it. I finally figured out that you first have to subtract (0004096 = SAE Rear Lights) and then the 131072 for it to accept the code and get them fully functioning.

Results:


By the way, does anyone have any recommendations for a product to get rid of oxidation on the aluminum?

[Dutch_A6]

Looks great, have had my eye on those for a while this just seals the deal and will be my next upgrade once my wheels are sorted out.

[airbil]

I stumbled into this thread looking for something else, but
The fix is way more simple than any I saw here, so I thought I'd post.
My wife's 07 s6 had this crazy intermittent error also a couple few years ago.
In this instance it was caused by a hairline crack in the plastic support with the metal tip on it that makes contact with the metal paddle type contact within the assembly. It is very hard to see.
I had posted this on quattroworld some time ago... With a pic later in that thread. HTH
http://forums.quattroworld.com/c6a6/threads/911.phtml

[tekmo]

I've had this on my 08' A6. Dealer said it was corrosion on some wiring contacts? Repaired/cleaned under CPO and I did not ran into int for another 4 months until I traded it in.