Got a problem with the break lights on my car & to say the least its blowing my mind.

Basically i had a warning flash on my dash to "check stop lights" so i did this and it seemed as though it was just the passenger side break light was out.

Now all of a sudden both the passenger and driver break lights do not work. But that's not the part i don't get. What i don't get is the fact that the bulbs are working because if i turn my lights on my car on to main beam or low beam, the bulbs are lit up like they should be. But if i break they do not light up brighter to show that i'm breaking :/

What could this be? obviously the bulbs are ok because they are lit when my lights are on, they just don't light when i'm breaking!

I hope this makes sense, and i hope someone can help me with this.

Thanks in advance

Is your 3rd brake light working?
If it isn't then its the brake switch usually just above the brake pedal

A simple multimeter will tell you if it worked or not

Ziggy

My apologies if you already know this.

Firstly, the bulbs have two elements.
A dim one for tail light and a brighter one for brake lights.
Both on different circuits.

Just because they work on side lights, doesn't indicate that the brake side of the bulb works.
It's also possible (with force), to install them the wrong way around, so on side lights, you're actually seeing the brake light. Hence when you brake, you don't see any increase in brightness.

Before going down the switch route (which is a valid point), i'd be double checking the obvious.

1. check both bulbs are good, with both sides of the circuit working. stop and tail bulbs only cost £1.00 each.

2. Check they are installed the right way round. Take a look at the two side pins and notice that one is slightly higher that the other. Look inside the holder and notice the two "L" shaped grooves, and that one is higher than the other.

3. Also check if the high level light is working as suggested by Ziggy

Image attached.

Hi, Thanks for the replies both much appreciated.

Ziggy, yeah the brake light at the top of my boot is working fine.

Keat, thanks for the advice, i will check in a bit to make sure that the bulbs are installed the correct way, then i will buy some new bulbs to try them, maybe it is just the brake element to the bulbs!

Thanks Both..

thaduck1 said:

Hi, Thanks for the replies both much appreciated.

Ziggy, yeah the brake light at the top of my boot is working fine.

Keat, thanks for the advice, i will check in a bit to make sure that the bulbs are installed the correct way, then i will buy some new bulbs to try them, maybe it is just the brake element to the bulbs!

Thanks Both..

Click to expand...

It's not uncommon for one bulb to blow soon after the other

Replace both bulbs and take it from there..

See the guides section for how to remove the rear lamp units

I'd definitely be looking at the brake light filament being broken/blown.

Been pondering about this

Have you fitted single pole bulbs?
So its working as the bulb should

But you need a double pole by sounds of it

Ziggy

Loose connection in the box to the lights mate i sorted agnessgps lights other day
Sounds exact same problem

I had a similar problem. When I looked at the rear light cluster the black housing (ie at the back of the lens) was cracked. I suspect somebody had replaced a bulb and over-tightened the screw. This let water in and it corroded the connections. I bought a housing from a scrapyard and the problem was fixed.

Pete

Thanks for all you help on this one peeps, as always !!

I had a look at this yesterday and bought new bulbs, and everything worked ok so i guess it was just one of the poles that had blown!!

Thanks everyone

TangoMachine91 said:

Loose connection in the box to the lights mate i sorted agnessgps lights other day
Sounds exact same problem

Click to expand...

Can you please give more detail on this? thank you

This thread is four years old but check bulbs, then check light clusters for any water and then for any corrosion on any of the terminals. Remove any water or corrosion and try them to check they work, this has always been the issue for me. If wet, particularly NS, check rear washer tube for any splits where it comes from roof into tailgate.

Cheers

Ben

Hi there, here is why:

The bottom bulbs are twin filaments ones !
- one for the side light
- one for the brake light

Typically the brake filament will break first due to its higher heat/cool duty cycle; I'd recommend to buy them by 2 (why the blisters usually contains 2 of them ...) since the second one will probably need replacement soon-ish

BRs, Bernie

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