C.J.

Hello!

I am having some odd lighting issues with my A4 (1997 Audi A4 - 2.8 (no quattro); Auto transmission)

Here are some of the details:

If the running lights or headlights are OFF and the break pedal is pressed, my rear break lights work fine, but the driver side front running lights turn on.

When the headlights are ON, my driver side headlight does NOT turn on, but running lights stay on; only passenger side front light work fine.

Also, when the running lights or headlights are ON and the break pedal is pressed, the rear headlights get brighter by an unnoticeable (and dangerously low) amount. This bullet concerns me the most.


Now on the “break safety lock”... (not sure if this is the correct term but...)

When the running lights or headlights are switched ON, I am able to shift from Park to Reverse without having to press the break. Essentially, I can go from Park, through both Reverse and Neutral, and into Drive without having to press the break.

Fwiw, I am only able to shift from Neutral to Reverse by first pressing in the break (we are OK here - thank goodness!).

If the running lights or headlights are NOT on, the break lights work fine. Also, I can only shift out of Park into Reverse by only pressing the break pedal (we are OK here as well).


Light bulbs all seem OK.


Any thoughts? Thank you!

TheChenga

Make sure to check your all rear bulbs and that it has the right bulb in side, the brake light bulb requires i think a 382 bulb which is a double filament bulb, if you put a 380 bulb single filament this can cause the brake light fault.
If that doesn't help you might have to replace your brake light switch which is on top of the brake pedal, that part costs around $25 and is a easy fix.

GTA_Driver

Re-seat your brake bulbs. I bought new ones, installed, and one light was always on as if breaks were pressed.

After fiddling with the bulb countless times, reseating it after turning 180 degrees, it finally worked.

AudiMick

BRAKES!!!!!!

Otherwise agree, the cheap Chinese bulbs do this a lot.

Audi is not the only culprit, our Lexus won't work with anything but a factory bulb.

Spray some contact cleaner in the sockets to clean up the connections as well.

C.J.

Thank you all for the shared insight and timely replies!

I’ll hit up AutoZone this week and hammer it out. I’m going to clean out the connections and replace the bulbs b/c I bet I have the wrong ones in there; ended burning one out today from just fiddling around this evening.

If that doesn’t work, I’ll go through the exercise of repositioning the bulbs around.

Then if all that still doesn’t work, I’ll replace the break light switch.

Brief update: When I pressed the break yesterday w/ the running or headlights OFF, my front driver side running lights would turn on. On my ride home from work, I noticed both front sides were lighting up when I press the break. And after reconnecting and connecting the rear bulbs this evening, the front passenger side running light turns on and the drive side is off!!! Very frustrating (and funny), but I’m hopeful I’ll be able to correct this issue soon!

Stay tuned...

C.J.

Hey everyone. Thanks for the help! Seems I had the wrong bulbs in. Here is what I learned.

Rear break lights have 2 filaments and two connections. I also noted they have the mounting pins are offset on the break lights. Please see the pictures below. I hope they help out others just as much as you all helped me.

As far as the headlights, I’m assuming that power was running back to the front running lights and the receiver of the break switch looking for a ground. This allowed me to override the safety controls. This could also explain why the front running lights were acting funny and possibly why my headlight burnt out 2x in a short amount of time. All speculations after a quick scan of the electrical layout, but I could be wrong.

Either way, the right bulbs w/ the 2x filaments solved it. I went ahead and replaced all the tail light bulbs and headlights to ensure they were all the correct ones. Result: everything is working well!

4Driver4

You learned everything about brake light bulbs except how to spell the word. ;-/

turbo510

4D4, once again you say what I was going to say and beat me to it!