Left Rear Fog Light Error Message on Dashboard

[Hanks]

I recently bought a 2008 convertible, after having it for a few days an error message came up on the dash which states "Rear Left Fog Light". The message has since disappeared and reappered.

First of all, the rear fog lights DO NOT work.
I have checked and tested all the bulbs and they seem fine.
I have checked the fuses and they seem okay (although they do not match the official placements)

I've looked on a number of boards and this seems to be a common problem. First of all, I did not think in the UK there should be a left rear fog light, only on the drivers side. Having said this, neither the left or right work, the error message is for the left, but all bulbs are okay.

Is this an eletric issue, a wiring issue, a coding issue, a fuse issue? Any advice or other things to check would be much appreciated.

[Sam]

Welcome to VWAF

Is the fog bulb blackened at all?

The warning system is very sensitive to the slightest voltage drop. Try a new bulb first, just to see.

[Hanks]

Thanks for the reply.

No all the bulbs looked okay. I will try replacing them to see what happens. Although should a RHD car in UK have a fog light on the left anyway?

[Hanks]

Okay, so I had a chance on the weekend to sort this out, and everything works fine.

In the UK (RHD) there is no "Left Rear Fog Light", the fog light will always be on the drivers side. So the fact that the error message was coming up made me convinced the problem was with the Fog Light on the Right Rear side. The bulb was tested okay, all fuses and relays were fine, whilst testing all the lights I wiggled the fog bulb in the socket and it intermitently came on. So essentially the socket itself wasn't connecting properly. I pulled out some of the metal pins so that the connection was more solid and hey presto the bulb now remained on with no problems, and the error message dissapeared.

So, if you're seeing the error signal it probably means the bulb is not working for whatever reason (faulty bulb or bad connection), ignore the "Left Rear" element of the message and just check the fog light on the drivers side.

Much happy now that error message has dissapeared, was really starting to annoy me.