Hi everyone. A few weeks back I noticed I was getting an intermittent warning light on the dash and a "check number plate" warning. It came and went but the lights were working fine, for the last week the light has stayed and the lights are not working.
I took the bulbs out to check and they seem fine, no noticeable breaks but still don't work. Unfortunately I don't have spares to try at the moment so don't know if it'd help.

A bit strange that they both don't work. Has anyone experienced similar?

I get the same thing every now and again. its only ever about number plate light though, no others.
theyv always worked though, so im guessing it may just be an intermittent earth point perhaps.
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Had it the other day on mine, upon inspection the bulb had fallen out of the holder, most strange but fine once I popped the bulb back into place

Its worth trying new bulbs. They are cheap off eBay, can get a box of 10x W5W bulbs for under £2. They may fail quicker than most, but who cares?

Dont buy LEDs. Even the "error free" ones trigger the bulb failure warning. I tried a couple of different ones, and a dummy load device, but neither stopped the bulb failure warning. In the end i went back to normal bulbs.

Chris Stefani said:

Dont buy LEDs. Even the "error free" ones trigger the bulb failure warning. I tried a couple of different ones, and a dummy load device, but neither stopped the bulb failure warning. In the end i went back to normal bulbs.

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No issue with my LED bulbs front or rear :devil:

Which ones have you got?

I have no issues up front. But the same LEDs in the number plate lamps triggers the failure warning

I've inline 'play and play' resistors between the cars wiring and the LED bulbs

Ah yeah, I am sure you recommended those to me, and they didnt work. In fact, worse than that, the number plate lights would go out after 60-120 seconds!

Damn

I used to have this, walked round the back and kicked the light. Turned back on again

I had bad contact between the bulb and the socket, and between the connectors.
I also had a bulb (this one was on the brake) that had a broken filament that sometimes still made contact ..so the bulb would be ok and at the first bump in the road it would be out again.. etc

Basically get it checked out, 1 bulbs, 2 connectors.

Chris Stefani said:

Ah yeah, I am sure you recommended those to me, and they didnt work. In fact, worse than that, the number plate lights would go out after 60-120 seconds!

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Perhaps the electrical load was too high, so switched off.

BTW, the downside of the dummy load resistors is that if you get a poor contact and your bulb goes out, there is no warning to tell you

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you guys about this,nthank you for all the replies. Gonna get some bulbs later as the old bill are gonna be hot on pulling people over the next week or so.

neilshep said:

BTW, the downside of the dummy load resistors is that if you get a poor contact and your bulb goes out, there is no warning to tell you

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Actually not with the ones I've got, LED bulb fell out of the bulb holder and I had the warning come up on the dash last week

Most Easterly Pandas said:

Actually not with the ones I've got, LED bulb fell out of the bulb holder and I had the warning come up on the dash last week

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I got the load resistors you recommended, so that's weird.

neilshep said:

I got the load resistors you recommended, so that's weird.

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Possibly a dodgy batch? Did you email the seller?

Right so I've just fitted the new bulbs and made no difference, still no lights and same message on dash with the bulb symbol.
Don't really know what to try now as there doesn't seem to be a fuse that controls it, or is there?

Most Easterly Pandas said:

Possibly a dodgy batch? Did you email the seller?

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No, can't be bothered. TBH, they do what it says on the tin, stops Canbus messages

rubadub80 said:

Right so I've just fitted the new bulbs and made no difference, still no lights and same message on dash with the bulb symbol.
Don't really know what to try now as there doesn't seem to be a fuse that controls it, or is there?

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I've looked through the manual, and there is no reference to a fuse for number plate lights. However, as they come on with side lights, its likely they are on the same fuse. I'm sure they must be on a fuse!

See the attachment for eLearn's fault diagnosis.

rubadub80 The number plate lights have an inline plug for them where the cars wiring loom connects to the bumper wiring loom, it's on the drivers (RHD) side under the crash beam iirc. This might have before detached possibly? Seems plausible if both bulbs are failing to light. Do your fog / reverse lamps work

Access might be tricky, I suspect it'll be bumper off (I know know of this wiring loom as I found it when I removed my rear bumper to fit my towbar).

Alternatively you might succeed in locating it by removing the lower securing screws / nuts and prying the bottom part of the bumper slightly to gain access.

Here are some pics which may help, I've two plugs as I've rear parking sensors, one if for the sensors, and the other for the number plate and fog/reverse lights iirc.