When I got my motor, the boot light didn't work.
I popped a bulb in, it worked. Great.
When putting the light unit back into its hole so to speak, the bulb unseated, there was a spark, then nothing!
I have popped in a new bulb, it is dead.
I have checked the fuse box, all fuses are ok.
Any ideas please?
Do the other interior lights work? They are all in parallel and fed from fuse 15, which is a 20A fuse, so it would need to be a pretty big spark to blow that. You should have a permanent live on a purple wire and the other side (purple/red wire) is grounded through the BeCM when they are on. the only difference with the boot light compared with the others, is the power goes via C309, a white 2 way connector) that lurks between the roof and the headlining shell in the centre rear of the roof. You can get to this by pulling the tailgate rubber off and pulling the headlining shell down.
I found on mine that there was corrosion in the terminals at the boot lamp end, to the point where one of the wires had corroded out of the terminal.
Could be something along the same lines as what you've had happen, except with a spark as it's contacted the paintwork, or broken under load...
I've follow as much of the wire as I can without taking the car apart and it's all fine.
1 spark, then nothing.
It was working fine until it shorted some how, which obviously made me think of a fuse popping.
As Richard says - does the other interior lights work? They are all fed from F15, and then they are controlled in the BECM by a transistor/MOSFET - which also will likely have short circuit protection - so if none of the lights work then it could be there's a short still there somewhere.
If the rest of the interior lighting works, then has to be a break in the wiring between where the loadspace light wires splice off the main loom, and the connector.
If there was a spark and then nothing then it could be an internal break in one of the wires which from the outside looks fine, but there's no connection in the copper strands.
Everything works perfectly... literally everything apart for the boot light, which is why it's so annoying!!
I'll get out tomorrow and have another look at the wiring. Cheers.
Well today I've had another look.
And I've come up blank. For some reason there's just no power getting to the bulb.. stupid!
So, does your right interior light work? If yes, do you have power at the purple wire at C309 up in headlining? If not then the problem is between splice 302 (don't know where that is unfortunately) and C309. If you have power at C309 then the problem is between there and the lamp itself.
I believe the splices are probably going to be somewhere around the RHR light, either in the 'C' Pillar, or above the headlining, as that's where the loom splits off to go to the RHR light, and then forwards and around to the sunroof etc. (from memory) with the other side of the loom running along the back to the top of the tailgate.
If you pull the tailgate seal away at the top, you should be able to get into the space above the headlining card and get to the connectors. It would probably be worth checking for voltage there, as it will tell you if the issue is in the vehicle side of the loom (back as far as the splice if the other lamps are working inside the vehicle), or if there is voltage there, then the issue is in the tailgate section of the loom.
I'd still be looking carefully at the last few inches of wiring to the boot light itself. If that's where the spark was, then to me, the problem must be around there. As I mentioned before, my boot light just stopped working (I swapped it for a couple of LED panels ages ago) one day. When I got around to looking at it, one of the wires had corroded inside the insulation, and broken right through, so no voltage at the connectors. The other wire had corroded through at the connector, and pretty much fell apart in my hands.
Thanks for all the advice guys.
I popped a bulb in earlier.. and guess what? It works! So its obviously a dodgy connection somewhere.
I'll see if it stops working again, if it does i'll run in a new wire.
DevonP38 wrote:
Thanks for all the advice guys.
I popped a bulb in earlier.. and guess what? It works! So its obviously a dodgy connection somewhere.
I'll see if it stops working again, if it does i'll run in a new wire.
I've had it before with the festoon type bulb that they differ in length slightly - I don't think they are supposed to, but some are as much as 2mm shorter than others. It may be that the clip isn't making as good contact as it should be? Or possibly just a poorly made bulb and the flash was it blowing the filament?
I tried a couple of different bulbs and neither worked.
I'll put it down to P38 trickery haha!
Funnily I found the tailgate light out this morning. I know it was good yesterday as was checking all the lamps.
I hit it. Problem solved!
GeorgeB wrote:
Funnily I found the tailgate light out this morning. I know it was good yesterday as was checking all the lamps.
I hit it. Problem solved!
I did that many years ago to my tail light when I got pulled over, plods reply was, try hitting your windscreen, your tax has expired,, sometimes you can't win !
hahahahahaha!!!!!!