rear LED bulbs

[sailonner]

2004 Jetta wagon BEW engine: Heard that occasionally a bad brake light circuit might indicate a problem to the computer, and it will go into limp mode? So, new driver's side rear light socket going in. The old one was falling apart at the metal circuit strips and housing, making bad connection to the upper bulb socket I can see the lower outside socket is turn signal. Lower inside is reverse. Upper dual circuit is tail/running light and brake. What the hell are the two middle sockets for? Also, wonder about using LED bulbs instead of the incandescent style. If the turn signal LED's don't have a resistor to increase the current through the circuit it can cause an error in the computer? I guess I'll order a pair of those with the built-in resistor. Any advice to avoid mistakes in this?

Diagnosing low turbo boost codes: First replaced the MAF, no joy. Checked all vacuum lines and actuators, replaced the N75 just in case, no joy. Pulled the lower turbo air tube to spin the turbo. Fine. Read about cleaning the exhaust variable vanes with oven cleaner, haven't done that yet. When I went to remove the lower EGR tube to dribble in the cleaner, it was broken completely through the ribbed section. Couldn't hear an exhaust leak there, but I suspect the exhaust side Turbo fan was getting low exhaust pressure and couldn't spin up the air side turbo. Does anybody agree?

 

[wonneber]

I tried the LED bulbs and had the CEL.
I tried the bulbs that said no CEL and still had the problem.
I forget the value resister I put in each side to fix it, 20 or 30 ohms iIrc.

 

[Mozambiquer]

2004 Jetta wagon BEW engine: Heard that occasionally a bad brake light circuit might indicate a problem to the computer, and it will go into limp mode? So, new driver's side rear light socket going in. The old one was falling apart at the metal circuit strips and housing, making bad connection to the upper bulb socket I can see the lower outside socket is turn signal. Lower inside is reverse. Upper dual circuit is tail/running light and brake. What the hell are the two middle sockets for? Also, wonder about using LED bulbs instead of the incandescent style. If the turn signal LED's don't have a resistor to increase the current through the circuit it can cause an error in the computer? I guess I'll order a pair of those with the built-in resistor. Any advice to avoid mistakes in this?

Diagnosing low turbo boost codes: First replaced the MAF, no joy. Checked all vacuum lines and actuators, replaced the N75 just in case, no joy. Pulled the lower turbo air tube to spin the turbo. Fine. Read about cleaning the exhaust variable vanes with oven cleaner, haven't done that yet. When I went to remove the lower EGR tube to dribble in the cleaner, it was broken completely through the ribbed section. Couldn't hear an exhaust leak there, but I suspect the exhaust side Turbo fan was getting low exhaust pressure and couldn't spin up the air side turbo. Does anybody agree?

LED lights don't work well for these, and its pretty pointless, as the computer will throw an error code.
Yea, you can put resistors, but that's a lot of work for not much gain. And its not likely that the limp mode issue has anything to do with the lights. Bad brake lights will cause the glow plug light to flash for a brake switch code, and the cruise control won't work.
The other light positions are for rear fog lights. A broken egr pipe would be a definite problem, fix that, and also check your camshaft and check how much vacuum the vacuum pump is pulling.

 

[KrashDH]

The only thing this car monitors is the brake lights. I'm running generic LEDs in all positions except for the brake lights. deAutoLED sells a specific LEDs for our brake lights. They are $60, lifetime warranty. Build in resistors that keep the CEL off. I've been running them since 2017 with no issues. I also am running the 5th brake light mod in the rear fog spots. Just ran a jumper wire. They are LEDs too, nothing special about them. Front turns are standard halogen (in the headlight). This is likely the reason no hyperflashing in the rear from the LED turns.

 

[kiwibru]

Also running the same deAuto LED bulbs. No problems now for the last eight years. Just use the OEM bulbs for turn signals and the Phillips long life bulb does the trick.

 

[J_dude]

No need to run resistors for the turn signals just snip one of the pins in the flasher switch so your signal lights won’t hyperflash. I had the link to that thread saved somewhere...
Doing this eliminates the “bulb-out sensing” capability but I just walk around and check my lights when I fuel up.

 

[sailonner]

Thanks to all for the replies. I ordered turn signal LED's with built in resistor - no CEL! Installed the other LED bulbs no problem. Tried putting in LED's where the socket had been empty, thinking if they didn't light up, at least I'd have spares. The whole socket assembly wouldn't go back in until I pulled the "spare' bulbs. They were hitting the the tail light backing. (no hole for the spare) DUH.. Now back to getting fuel through the new Tandem Pump.

 

[Nuje]

Cut out that plastic piece that prevents the rear fog ("spare bulb" in the holder tray) from inserting. Quick and easy.
Then you can jumper the brake wire to that position and have a "five-light" brake light if you like, too.

 

[KrashDH]

Cut out that plastic piece that prevents the rear fog ("spare bulb" in the holder tray) from inserting. Quick and easy.
Then you can jumper the brake wire to that position and have a "five-light" brake light you like, too.

I've done this mod, really like it. Believe it or not, it saved me last week when both my regular brake bulbs failed. Those 2 in the fog light position worked and I still had brake lights.

 

[drucifer]

You can replace the cooler pipe but is the cooler bracket present? If not it will just break again.

EGR Cooler Bracket (A4 BEW)

EGR Cooler bracket for PD engine A4 chassis cars, including Jetta TDI, Golf TDI and New Beetle TDI. If this bracket is missing it will cause the EGR cooler pipes to vibrate and crack....

www.idparts.com

 

[Nuje]

You can replace the cooler pipe but is the cooler bracket present? If not it will just break again.

EGR Cooler Bracket (A4 BEW)

EGR Cooler bracket for PD engine A4 chassis cars, including Jetta TDI, Golf TDI and New Beetle TDI. If this bracket is missing it will cause the EGR cooler pipes to vibrate and crack....

www.idparts.com

Wrong thread....?

 

[drucifer]

Wrong thread....?

He had two issues. Post 1 second paragraph.

 

[Nuje]