Middle brake light faulty

[chris meardon]

Car has not missed a beat in 12 months of my ownership, a week before MOT the entire middle brake light has stopped working, is it just a case of a bulb change?

I can see an obvious way of getting to the inside of it?

Thanks

[NMavs]

Am not entierly sure mate but i think youve gotta remove the spoiler to get the lamp out. We had to do this on my dads golf to change his. And it was a complete unit, not just a bulb mate.

[kc]

its a spoiler off job mate im afraid!

mine went when it was in warranty! I put a post up http://www.uk-polos.net/view ... 43&t=48840

hope this helps and yours is in warranty! as they are LEDs and shouldnt fail!

[chris meardon]

Do you know if it will pass MOT without it? mines due in a week.

[kc]

if its fitted it must work!

http://www.ukmot.com/1-3.asp#Text_top

[g__humm]

It will be damaged pins mate copperslip sort it

[chris meardon]

How do you sort it with copper slip mate? I can't seem to see any way of accessing it.

[g__humm]

If the whole thing is out it will be the pins corroded I caught mine early softish wire brush to remove surface rust. Once you get it working agian then copper slip the pins to prevent more rust. If your unlucky like me mate then the pins are that bad they snap off and u need a new light unit.

[chris meardon]

Thanks,I will have a look tonight..

[RUM4MO]

If the whole thing is out it will be the pins corroded I caught mine early softish wire brush to remove surface rust. Once you get it working agian then copper slip the pins to prevent more rust. If your unlucky like me mate then the pins are that bad they snap off and u need a new light unit.

Just in case you have not got far with this, you need to remove the complete plastic panels from the rear hatch. As said already water will have got in and corroded the plug - or at least the pins on the ends of the "bus bars" as they are just lightly plated steel. The stupid design means that while this light is secured using two screws, it is only the back of the light that is screwed on, the red lens clips onto this back section and the light assembly to car water seal is on this red clip on lens. Now, I destroyed my plug by breaking off the rusted steel plated or rusted pins in the better plated plug sockets, I thought that I would be smart and destroy the plastic casing of the plug to salvage the sockets - you can buy a new plug casing as its got a VAG part number. Anyway as I said I destroyed the plug, broke off one socket pin then realised that corrosion had crept quite far up the wiring harness. So, as well as buying a new light assembly and plug casing, I had to chop the wire quite far back so that I could find sound wiring and then I fitted an in-line connector bought from Maplin, then I fixed two wires to the mating in-line connector, again from Maplin, and soldered the two wires to the new light assembly, or at least its bus bars at convenient points so as not to cause a foul condition. That sorted that out. You could save some money by just soldering two wires to the original light and splicing these two wires into teh original cable assembly after chopping out the corroded section.

Strange thing for me was that while my B5 Passat MY2000 has LEDs, my wife's 9N Polo MY2003 has lots of little flangeless bulbs!

[BennoGTi]

Dreading this going on mine after reading this thread, looks like a right pain in the backside!

[chris meardon]

Very helpful! So it looks like spoiler removal ismt needed just a bit of playing about with wires! I need to sort this out.

Thanks for your help, need to get it sorted ASAP.

[chris meardon]

Just for refrence for anybody that ever has this problem it is a faulty light unit

You need to remove the spoiler (3 bolts and some sealent) and unscrew the unit and replace then seal the spoiler back on

part number is 1k6 945 097E

Found it for 26 quid delivered, tiger seal 7 quid and foam trim tape 4 quid.

[MODDED9N]

Glad my dad was of some assistance!

[chris meardon]

Usefull chap to know! thanks for the introduction, the spoilers off so the car looks horrible, going back to yours tomorrow to sort everything out and get the cambelt done as well!

Then we just need to sort the cruise control and I will be happy!