Any hands make light work?

**Mattke3** · 13th August 2019, 19:23

Help please. All lights work as required, when required, however the brake light on each side have decided to stay on but not the high level light. The bulb failure light is lit but there are no lights blown.
To leave the car for any length of time I have to disconnect BOTH rear light clusters.
I found one bulb on the left cluster to have an exceptionally high resistance. I changed that bulb and all bulbs now read between 1.1 ohms and 1.7 ohms. The brake lights are still lit.
All I had done was to put the awning and poles for the caravan in the boot, on returning with a few more things I saw the lights had lit for no apparent reason.

**LastOne** · 13th August 2019, 20:16

Change the bulbs for good quality new ones. The bulb failure warning will show when a bulb is playing up but hasn't yet failed. Also when a brake light bulb does fail, a tail light bulb will work as a brake light instead, making the failure hard to spot.

**Mattke3** · 13th August 2019, 20:49

Thanks for the heads up "LastOne". I was going to change a couple of bulbs as they look "well worn" but I'll do as you suggest and change the lot.

**Big Dave** · 14th August 2019, 09:13

Have you checked the brake pedal switch?

**stripey** · 14th August 2019, 10:58

I also had an issue with corrosion on the bulb holder causing a bulb failure notification

**Mattke3** · 14th August 2019, 11:15

Yes, I have thanks.
When the brake pedal is pressed the high level stop light comes on, instead of just the 2 lights.
Oddly, when I connect my caravan this fault remains on the car but does not show on the caravan.

**Mattke3** · 14th August 2019, 11:23

Hi Stripey. Corrosion, bad contact or dirt I checked for along the way. I even checked nothing in the side boxes was causing a short.
The only thing I have not tried is to change all the bulbs. I'll do that when the torrential rain stops.

**Big Dave** · 14th August 2019, 13:02

Originally Posted by Mattke3

Yes, I have thanks.
When the brake pedal is pressed the high level stop light comes on, instead of just the 2 lights.
Oddly, when I connect my caravan this fault remains on the car but does not show on the caravan.

I might be wrong, but I'm sure I've read on here in the past that the brake switch is a two pole switch. One for the light clusters, and the other for the LED high level light.

**Mattke3** · 14th August 2019, 15:12

Big Dave, thanks. What you say is quite feasible, something I hadn't even thought about.

**Teapot** · 15th August 2019, 08:29

Could be an issue with the REC. Try disconnecting the battery for 10 mins then reconnecting. If the propblem persists, then a replacement REC (Rear Electrical Centre) may be required.