Funny brake light story

[Adrian E]

Funny peculiar really, but in case anyone else gets these symptoms.....

I've been getting an occasional warning light on the dash saying I had a bulb out - seemed to coincide with braking so assumed it was that. However, when I got someone to check the lights they were all working. Strange, me thinks.....

This started before the car came off the road while the insurance on my mirrors was sorted, but was becoming more frequent. Finally it did it when the car was stationary so got my passenger to jump out and check if a bulb was out - sure enough the offside one wasn't working.

Took the light unit out and found the filaments were both intact (they're stop and tail bulbs for anyone not aware) which confused me somewhat. Decided to buy a pair of new bulbs, as had too many issues with cheap bulbs and with no idea when/by whom these were fitted I wasn't taking any chances.

77 pence later (Audi dealer price for a pair of bulbs - who'd have thought anything would be cheap from Audi?!) I go to swap the bulbs. First problem - the bulb doesn't want to come out check the other side and find it comes out really easily. Armed with knowledge of which way they should rotate, I still can't get the offside one out. After much twisting/pushing/swearing I eventually just yanked it out! It appears some moron had successfully inserted the bulb the wrong way round (the pins on the side are offset height) and in the process had sheered off the pin on one side causing the metal to tear and jam in the holder. Probably the reason for intermittent light fault.

New bulb popped in without any issues and all fine since - just goes to show there's always a numpty prepared to ram something into a space it's not intended to go, no matter what the hourly rate is.....

Adrian