3rd Brake light, Constantly lit up.

[mluton]

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I was wondering if anybody could help.


My dad has a 2014 B7 Passat estate and the 3rd brake light is constantly lit up. We have removed all of the rear boot paneling looking for water ingress but haven't found any.

When the boot is open the 3rd brake light goes out and brake lights function normally.

I have my dads old Passat B6 Estate and we have swapped out the 3rd brake light but this also stays lit up when connected.

Tonight whilst trying to find the Issue we got the 3rd brake light to work normally for a short amount of time by pressing, wobbling the brake pedal erratically, but then it soon returned.

Possible brake light switch Issue maybe ???? We are struggling to find the issue.

[UMEL]

My guess would be a faulty wire in the tailgate hinge joint because it is intermittent when open and closed.

[mluton]

Well after much more messing around we discovered that the cause of the issue is the Volkswagen Connect dongle that vw connected up after a recent service. Maybe a nice freebie but money spent by my dad and lots of time lost by us both.

[mluton]

Came back on again, Grrrrrrrr!

[UMEL]

I Googled and found a wiring diagram which showed one feed wire to all 3 rear brake lights with switching by the foot peddle. So I cannot think of what would make just one light come on when the tailgate is closed but off when open. This said I still think the flexing loom could be an issue. I have just had my rear washer pipe repaired at that joint and know its a fiddly job. That took the guy 5 hours to sort out.

Has the car ever been in an accident. How long has this problem been there. Has he owned the car from new.

[Milese]

I've got the same model Passat and have exactly the same issue. Did you ever get resolution?

Nothing has changed, no accidents. Light goes off when you unlock it, back on when you lock it. Behaves normally otherwise .