A6 estate led high level brake light

[mhobson]

I have had my 2006 A6 Allroad for 11 years and today the high level LED brake light has blown for the third time, what is going on? LED lights are supposed to last for ages, and they are a bit of a nuisance to change. I have bought genuine AUDI lamps and cheap Chinese ones of Ebay and they blow just as quickly, only the one I fitted only 3 or 4 months ago has just blown again. I have all of the old ones and on examination there are no visible issues, does anyone else have similar experience and is there a solution?

[tyrerc]

I have had a similar issue. Mine was an intermittent ‘bulb out’ warning light.

Firstly I changed the connector plug that the wires are in that plugs into the 3rd light and then replaced the light itself. I went for an aftermarket version in the first instance incase it was a full wiring issue.

Been good for over a week now.


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[swalker]

I would say dry joint, get them reflowed with good 60/40.

[mhobson]

Do you mean a dry joint on the LED powering circuit board within the lamp unit?

[mhobson]

I am looking at two old dead ones, the wires that the plug connects to are very thin, the grey body of the lamp seems to be permanently glued to the red lamp cover, can they be detached?

[swalker]

I am in Norn Iron - A guy here on the NIAOC FB page fixes all the LED type tails lights it will be 1 on an LED somewhere - i am sure there will be someone near you that could sort it. The two parts of the light will be plastic welded - fused together but they can be split.
I have an intermittent brake light and i have not been brave enough to split the it yet.
60/40 is a reference to tin/lead mix the lights will be made with lead free solder

Lead free has been a thing for years. Mobile phone company's developed there own type of lead free to stop components falling off as it is more brittle and requires more heat to flow!!!

[mhobson]

I live in Frogland, don't know of anyone around here with that tech. I have been looking at the joint between the red and grey plastic and have run a sharp pointed knife along the joint to see if there was any chance of separating but no indication of separation as yet. I have two old u/s Audi lamps so if I wreck one it may give me a bit of experience for the other one, however I am not optimistic.

[swalker]

i have seen loads of youtubes and came away thinking that's not right. If i was to tackle it, I think having it warm so the lens wont crack when flexed, and a big screwdriver to separate the 2 bits is what i am currently thinking.
then what to glue it back with - super glue? what if you need to go back in there?

Good luck

[mhobson]

Could you give me the guy's details, maybe I could post two over. Thanks

[swalker]

I will see if i can dig him out - i haven't seen him post for a while.

[swalker]

PM sent

[mhobson]

Hello Stewart, I tried to reply to your private message, seems to be some kind of technical issue. I have looked again at the chap in NI's facebook page, my message is clearly there and unread and I have checked that my SMS to his number has been sent. I have cut one of my old lamp units up and it is clear that the two tiny feed pins are loose, to me it is definitely a design fault to have such thin pins soldered into the tiny circuit board, more substantial pins with more solder holding them in place would have fixed the problem. I think that the unit is maybe too broken to put back together but I think that when I fit my next high level brake light i may put something like silicone gel or vaseline in the socket to reduce ingress of moisture and extend the life of the unit. Thank again.

[swalker]

very odd when i reached out to see if he was ok with me passing on his info it was as if we had been best buds growing up?!?!
you would need to use dielectric or silicon grease for your new one the Vaseline may conduct and cause issues.
Glad you got sorted in the end up.

[mhobson]

OK I have sorted it myself, a bit of a bodge but it works. I separated one of my old original Audi lamps and cut the grey and red plastic parts with a mini tool fitted with a thin disc. Doing it by hand it was a bit rough but I cut away as little as possible. I removed the clear lens strip carefully but it broke in two. Then I removed the circuit board and it was very evident that the two tiny electrical connectors in the plug had come away from the circuit board. I sucker off the old solder with a solder sucker and re-soldered them carefully with more solder than originally used. I then refitted the circuit board and the lens strip which fitted cleanly, the break was no longer visible. Then I offered the red and grey plastic parts together and held them in place with four cable ties. When correctly lined up I used some adhesive made for perspex where the jagged humps met, it looks like water and you apply it with a syringe and it dries in an instant. Then I filled all other gaps with no more nails. I tried to keep the loss of plastic between the two halves to a minimum, maybe lost about 1.5mm total depth. The only other issue was the metal clips, the two central ones worked as normal but the two end ones were too long, so I had to bend the tips back a bit which fit under the red plastic. Then the black sliding plastic strip locked as normal. Put silicone grease in the plug hole and refitted into the car and it works. I am well pleased. People may wonder why an old retiree has such a complicated and expensive car, but I bought it 11 years ago when I was working, but now on basic pension it is difficult. The car is not worth much now so I do as much as I can and drive slowly to reduce wear, and my 3.0 tdi regularly achieves 47 mpg.

[swalker]

good stuff thanks for letting us know how it went, i still have that small section out in my tail light...
47mpg that's good mine is about 32, i get 40 odd on a motorway run

[mhobson]

But I have the benefit of living out in the sticks, and I am a past master at coasting, which I read is illegal in the UK, but how would they know. When I was a coach driver I was usually the one who received low fuel consumption bonus. Still waiting for the xenon ballast for my wife's A4, needs it doing soon as she is off to the UK, car in garage in bits. Price for the same part ranged from 59 Euros to 212 Euros, I wonder why.