Stop light stupidity.

Shocked to discover that it was more than just a failed bulb when the stop light in the NS rear light cluster failed to light up. After drawing a blank looking at the fuses and wiring, I looked here to find that it is a sealed unit and the whole light cluster needs to be replaced at a cost of about £150. This is such a stupid design, as it means that the car is not road legal while the light is out. However, I have now managed to get 3 of the LEDs working by cutting off pieces of plastic behind the lights, removing the LEDs and rewiring them to just use the good ones. There is no fancy circuit and the LEDs are wired in a series of 3 so that each one draws about 4 volts. When they fail, they either go out or draw a lot more voltage making the others so dim that they cannot be seen.

 

This is a 2004 vehicle. I was not aware that the top sections which are black were actually stop lights. I jumped in by checking the bulbs etc. behind the red lower sections. Incidentally, the fuses for the stop light are beneath the steering wheel and really difficult to service. They are numbered wrongly in my handbook, which did not help and Haynes was about as much use as that 'chocolate fireguard'.