Passat brake lights not working

**Ericinmd** · 31-12-2006,01:19 PM

recently our 2003 passat wagon's brake lights do not work - very weird. I have heard this could be related to the cruise control not working ..any thoughts?

**stuart** · 31-12-2006,01:23 PM

Sounds like you have just developed the very common brake light switch fault

These are very common to break, and, for safety reasons it will stop you using the cruise control, after all, when you put your foot on the brake it disenagages the CC.

Cheap repair, around £10 for a switch (if in UK)

Stuart

**Ericinmd** · 31-12-2006,01:27 PM

thanks! this is great news! thinking of going to a Sears auto place today (only shop open on sundays here) - do you think they will be able to fix?

**stuart** · 31-12-2006,01:35 PM

If they keep the switch in stock, I do not think this is a big job to do.

**maliceinwonderland** · 15-03-2007,12:00 PM

Hey Guys, Wondered if you could offer some help or advice?

I have recently notice that the drivers side rear brake lights fail to light up when depressing the brake pedal, having taken apart the rear light block and checked the bulbs, all four are working and lit up. I'm guessing that the top two bulbs have some sort of capacitor which makes them brighter when the pedal is depressed, the passenger side and mid level boot light still light up fine. I'm not sure this is a brake switch issue as my cruise control is working just fine.

I think this is probably a wiring fault but my local dealer would only quote me £70 an hour labour to fix it and i would rather have some idea about what they need to do to see if i can do it instead.

I have a 2000 1.8T vw passat.

any ideas gratefully recieved.

Michael

**davegwynn** · 15-03-2007,12:27 PM

Michael, this is just a bit of a shot in the dark here, but I changed the bulbs in my 2000 passat estate the other day, and thought to myself 'why the hell are there two filaments in this thing?'
Might it be that one filament = lights on, and both = brakeing?

Have you tried swapping the bulbs over?

Cheers,

Dave

**maliceinwonderland** · 15-03-2007,02:56 PM

Great, thanks for the suggestion, i will pop down to the dealer after work tonight and pick up a couple of spare bulbs and see if that makes any difference, can't hurt to have a couple of spare about anyway and see if that makes any difference.

Thanks

Michael

**davegwynn** · 15-03-2007,07:19 PM

One other thought, I noticed one of my rear lights was out today, and putting a new bulb in did nothing. Turns out the passat has a fuse for each side rear light, might be worth checking to see if yours has a seperate fuse for each rear brake bulb. I guess it would make sense, would be dangerous for one fuse to take out both.. Mine were tiny 5A jobbies.

**maliceinwonderland** · 15-03-2007,07:29 PM

hmm, sounds like it could be an answer, i have no idea which fuse is which and how to tell if they are blown or not? should make for some interesting experiments, can you get spares from vw?

Michael

**davegwynn** · 15-03-2007,11:15 PM

In the cover to the fuse box there should be a card with universal-no-one-can-understand-the-buggers symbols which show what each fuse does, and it's position. If you haven't got the card I can take a picture of mine and post here for you, useful information to have anyway!
You can get fuses from anywhere - don't have to be VW specific, I got a load from Halfords when I was fixing my rear washwipe.

Before you do check the fuses...

I just spent an inquistive and slightly drunken half hour messing about with the rear lights of my passat. Turns out that the bulbs are really sensitive to how they sit in the holder. I started out tonight with the same problem as yourself (noticed I had a brake light out this evening, even though the tail light worked fine). I swapped the bulbs around and had a fiddle, and now have two lights working again. From what I could see there appear to be no dedicated fuses for the brake lights per se. I fixed mine by taking the bulb out and reseating it again.

If I were you I would take the old bulb out, check to see if the two filaments in there look OK (if there is one broken, you need a new bulb). If they both look OK then put the bulb back in, check it works still with the normal tail lights on, then turn the lights off (otherwise it gets too hot to hold) and jam the brakes on with a broom handle or similar. Now give it a good wiggle about, and you should be able to get the brake light on again.

I put both bulbs back in mine, and neither brake light worked. Then I put the brakes on and just tapped the back of the bulb holder and they both came back on. I think the bulbs are perhaps getting old and knackered in my car, but I'll keep an eye on it and see if the problem comes back.

It definately doesn't look like a wiring problem, I bet we can fix it without you having to go to the ********!

Let me know how you get on...

Cheers,

Dave