larryincmh

I hope it's not too soon to say I have finally fixed this issue - but - I went to the dealer today and replaced all five bulbs in the tail light assembly at a cost of $18.00. So far - even on this 90 degree day where I am - with high humidity - I have received no bulb out warnings. I have been in and out of the car for a couple of hours today already and in the past the bulb out system would have gone out every time I used the car on this hot of a day.

The service tech I spoke with said that the system is so sensitive that, even when a bulb is still working, if it's out of spec by enough, or starting to go bad, it can trigger the system.

They also showed me where the bolt is to hold in the tail light - which can be removed with a 13mm socket - and then the whole assembly comes out of the rear of the car and you can easily get to the socket - the bulbs - everything.

This also lets you get to the prong connectors for the socket to thoroughly clean them if needed as well.

Cheap fix so far - if it continues to work.

schalliol

Thanks for the great info! Any idea what bulbs those are so I can order some to replace? I'm excited to hear that it seems like it could be an easy fix! Very excited here!

larryincmh

I think they are 7507's - not sure though - I looked at the number and then quickly forgot. They are a standard shaped bulb like can be found in any auto parts store from the looks of them.

There are four clear bulbs - incandescent - in the rear tail light of the 2005 and then one amber bulb. I just replaced them all.

There is one rubber cap on the inside trim piece of the trunk - right next to the door that opens to expose the jack on one side or the Sirius radio on the other side. Pop off that cap and then use the 13mm socket to remove the nut - once that is off the whole tail light will pull out of the car from the rear.

larryincmh

Well - the issue has started up again by the end of the day even replacing the bulbs. Step two tomorrow will be to install the load equilizers I have on each tail light and then also to clean the contacts on the socket going into the tail light. Not sure why this went all day and then decided to recur - but it did.

More on this later - the issue however, for me, is not fixed.

PersonaNonGrata

Funny this thread should be revived as my '06 Avant has given me a few warnings about the third brake light being out. Like others, it is an intermittent problem. It seems most of you have had tails go out. Anyone with the third brake light go?

schalliol

Bummer. It looks like a lot of people have this problem. Who has gotten it fixed? If anyone who has had it resolved could let us know specifically what fixed the problem, I (and a number of others) would very much appreciate it! Thanks :-)

bobsmo

OK I finally went to my dealer. Here is the story.

First off you can remove the rear light assembly by removing the little black plug behind the Nav panel, then either use a 13 mm wrench or a small blade screwdriver to take off the nut. Once that is done you pull the whole assemble backwards, straight out. There are two ball pins on the other side that hold the assembly in. Don't pull it sideways or it will break the lens. The dealer gave me a pry tool but I really didn’t need it.

Once off the problem can be one of 3 things.
1) A simple bulb you can test them on the other side if you need to. Dealer suggested getting bulbs from Audi. There are a total of 6 in the assembly 5 white and one yellow. they are about $3 each.

2) The other thing it can be is the bulb holder. This is a $39 part, it’s the white piece that holds the bulbs in place. According to the tech i spoke to these have been suspect and if you have no other outward indication he suggested this be replaced.

3) Lastly, and in my case, it was the LED array that is actually part of the lens assembly. You can't just buy the array you have to buy the whole lens. This is a $240 part (of course) but it's simple enough to do yourself at least saving probably $100 in labor.

Hope that helps.

schalliol

That does help. Thank you! Do you have the part numbers you could relay? I figure I could go ahead and replace the bulbs and cheaper part. I understand that Carson@riverside is no longer available, so if anyone recommends where these parts could be obtained easily, that would be great!

larryincmh

Thanks for the tip on the $39 bulb holder. I am going to try this as well -as I continue to have bulb out issues on my 2005 A6. I have replaced the bulbs - and now will try the holder. I am holding off until the last doing the LED assembly which is $220 at my local dealer.

My car is still under warranty but the dealer will not trouble shoot this issue as they are blaming the trailer light package I had installed. I note, however, that none of the other people on this thread have trailer lights packages installed - yet - are experiencing the same issue as I.

Another week of bulb out warnings so off I got to try to fix it.

By the way, it seems very very very environmentally unfriendly in this day and age to require the replacement of an entire assembly - the whole tail light - just to replace one LED. That just does not seem right. What a waste.

schalliol

I will try some of these things if I can figure out part numbers. I need to open mine up to take a look at it, but I pulled out the service manual to see what it says:

"Depending on market version, LEDs may be used for brake lamps and a 21 W halogen bulb may be used for rear fog lamp" I have a 2005 with Bi-Xenon/Adaptive Lighting (not sure if that matters in any way).

It looks like there are 5 bulbs in the picture labeled "A94-10094." The numbers below refer to the 5 bulbs, as labeled in the picture.

2-Lamp Bulb
"For turn signal lamp, 12 V, 21 W, Orange"

3, 4, 13-Lamp Bulb
"12 V, 21W"

14-Lamp Bulb
"Back-up lamp, Basis version, drivers and passengers side, as well as USA vehicles: 12V, 21 W

Rear fog lamp, High version, drivers side: 12 V, 21 W Halogen lamp bulb.

Back-up lamp, High version, passengers side: 12 V, 21W"

It then gives info on replacing the Rear Lamp Bulb Holder, which looks easy enough. However, I can't find parts on any of this. This is my first time to use the service manual, but I would think they'd be listed in the manual somewhere. That would make sense. I see no mention of how to tell what kind of bulbs are needed (it's 12V, 21W, but what size, connection-type, etc). I then also don't see how to find the part number for that bulb holder.

I would love to order these items today if I could possibly find out what bulbs I should order and holder. I'll wait on the LED array until I know I need to do that. Does anyone have any ideas? I'm sorry for the "newbie" questions for repairing this car!