Facelift Brake Lights

[Turbo Tony]

OK, so in a desperate attempt to get through the week before picking up my car this weekend, this is the first of a few questions I'd like to put to you all. I'll separate each topic for easier searching later.

So, almost by fluke (I did an emergency stop to let him out of a junction), I was behind an A8 D3 today and I noticed that when the brake lights came on, both the inside and outside lights came on.

In mine, only the outer lights come on with the brakes. I don't think all the LEDs will have failed in both lights, so is there a setting somewhere that turns them on or off?

Also, why do the failed LEDs not trigger a fault code?

[Delboy]

It's because the board can't monitor each individual led, instead it monitors the function as a whole so when it gets to a point where they are mostly not working you get a bulb failure warning.

That's what gappened on my pre facelift tail lights.

As to why the entire lights not working is a strange one.

These lights are one of the weak points of the cars tbh and I am on my second set in a two year ownership as they always get condensation building up in them.

They are sealed units too so it much you can do with them.

[Turbo Tony]

Humph. That probably means I'll eventually be on the hunt for a new set.

Has anyone found anywhere that sells them at a less eye-watering price than Audi?

I suspect I'll need to fix something else too, as I can't imagine both inside lights have exactly the same fault - it must be either wiring or coding.

[tonupkid]

Tony. The forum sponsors are your first port of call for anything like that, Fast delivery, good prices.

[Turbo Tony]

I've contacted them and I'm awaiting a reply

[Rick]

Brand new for facelift type......
£630 delivered.
Not sure what audi want but I bet my left arm its more than that!

[Norretal]

Originally Posted by Delboy

It's because the board can't monitor each individual led, instead it monitors the function as a whole so when it gets to a point where they are mostly not working you get a bulb failure warning.

That's what gappened on my pre facelift tail lights.

As to why the entire lights not working is a strange one.

These lights are one of the weak points of the cars tbh and I am on my second set in a two year ownership as they always get condensation building up in them.

They are sealed units too so it much you can do with them.

Just wanted to add my own findings on these facelift rear lights. I had one fail (NS) due to water build-up in it. They're approximately three years old, as the previous owner (IT) fitted them during his ownership of the car. I've noticed the condensation for ages and heard the experiences of others with these so I felt it somewhat inevitable that I'd have to replace them at some time.

I fancied doing all four but money restraints and an upcoming MOT meant common sense prevailed and I only ordered the NS outer. I ordered on Sunday from Spareto (Thanks Rick ) and it arrived Wednesday and I fitted it within ten minutes without a problem. What I did notice when removing the power supply was when I turned it over water poured out all over my hand, quite a lot of water in fact. I looked closely at the top edge or seam and can't see an obvious opening at all, and running it under a tap doesn't seem to enable water ingress, so maybe pressure washing is a contributing factor??

Anyway, I've decided that running a thin seam of clear silicone along the groove on the top edge might be a worthwhile exercise to prevent any future ingress, anyone tried this already? I'll also be checking closely for water in future as I suspect if I'd noticed the level building up I'd have been able to empty it and prevent failure and avoid buying a new one. At £167 they're a relative bargain compared to Audi prices but I don't want to be shelling out every three years or so for what seems a design fault.