absoluTT A3

OK, here's the story in a nutshell.

About 2~3 years ago, my right license plate light went out. I figured OK, it's the bulb. I replaced it but no change. I installed the previous bulb in a vanity light and it worked. NOT the bulb.

When I brought my A3 in for servicing, I asked them to look into the light. I was hit with a $30 "bulb replacement" labor charge. I told them I had done just that and it didn't make a difference. But the light was working now. Strange. And I couldn't get any other explanation from Audi service.

Fast forward a couple of months, I notice it is out again. WTF? Same deal. I wasn't going to go through that again, so I figured I'd just live with the yellow "X" on my dashboard.

Well... now BOTH of them are out. And both bulbs are FINE.

I figured there must be something wacky with the bulb mounting bracket. But I used a multimeter on the electrical connections in the hatch mounting and it shows 0.599 volts. BOTH sides. Certainly there is some electricity running through, but why so low? Heck, even with a 3V battery directly attached to the bulbs in their brackets produces a dim glow. I even hooked up wires from the bracket so I could physically make contact with the connection points. Obviously, no light.

The fuses for the lighting are just two, one for each side. And all other lights are on. I'm hoping there is some quirky reason for this issue that someone here may know. I'd rather fix it myself rather than Audi hitting me with a ridiculous charge that won't permanently solve the problem.

Thanks!

absoluTT A3

I found a posting over on the VW Vortex Audi A3 forum that may explain the problem I'm seeing: (http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthrea...late-Bulbs-off)

"Contacts are probably melted. Mine have been out for over a year i was replacing a headlight bulb on Saturday and finally decided to take a look, Pulled out both lights, bulbs are good but not making contact with the the terminals. Upon further inspection I notice the plastic is quite glossy and wavy a sign that it melted. Mine will not work unless I replace the panel with the electrical contacts so that may be your problem as well."

The plastic surrounding the license plate contacts looks glossy and a bit uneven, as if it were painted. I'm suspecting it's the same issue, that the heat of the license plate bulb fills into the chamber and doesn't vent well, compromising the plastic in the housing. It really looks like a design flaw to me and I'm surprised that there haven't been more complaints about it as A3's from '06/'07/'08 are well seasoned cars at this point.

absoluTT A3

So... I guess this is an uncommon problem? I wonder what factors could contribute to causing it. I live in the NYC metro area, so the car isn't subjected to high 90's temps for long periods of time in the summer. Maybe there are variances in the festoon bulbs that can cause some to run hotter than others?

absoluTT A3

I brought my car into Audi servicing for some TSB's I wasn't aware of until recently. I mentioned the license plate light issue and showed them the melted part. The service manager wasn't quite ready to declare it was a defect, but he negotiated with me that if I bought the replacement hatch release (that comes with the license plate lights), there wouldn't be any charge for the labor. In the interest of keeping things simple for myself, I decided to go for it.

The service center is Audi Meadowlands in NJ, owned by the Benzel Busch group (mostly Mercedes, but acquired the bankrupt Riverside Audi back in 2009).

When I picked up my car after all of the servicing that had been done, I was blown away by the presentation of the total bill: N/C for everything! So, I got the pesky license plate problem resolved professionally and for free.

I've got some time to do it, but I'm definitely going to replace those lights with the Q7 LED's that people have been getting. It definitely seems to be the way to go, especially if I plan to keep the car for a few more years.