Audi TT Mk2 Rear Light Error Repair OEM Method Earthing Issue
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- Опубліковано 16 січ 2015
- Just a little video I did to help people repair the earthing issue on the mk2 Audi TT. I found the info to do this on the audi TT forum and figured a video is a better way of showing how to tackle this common problem
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Thank you very much for taking the time to produce this video, it's brilliant and very clear what to do. I wouldn't normally attempt any job like this, but felt confident after watching it. My daughter's 2012 Mk 2 TT had this problem about 2 years and I found a video on how to clean the terminal and that worked and lasted as I say 2 years. This time I wanted a more permanent solution and I found these instructions. I too went with the earth grounding posts in the bottom of the boot as mentioned below. I am happy to report I managed the complete the job in about an hour and the rear light is working perfectly - THANK YOU
persistrich
Excellent video, I just finished following your instructions. They made the job easier.
The main difference I made was to ground the wire to grounding posts in the trunk. You just need to remove the tray cover, lift the styrofoam pieces out, and then pull upward on the trunk sill. There are special purpose grounding posts on both sides of the car near the tail lights so less chance of corrosion. Mine were painted red.
Thanks again!
Just used this to fix my boyfriend's Audi. This happened to him 5 years ago, and Audi replaced the light/connector and sure enough it went out again. So with supplies I already had on hand, it was a free permanent fix! Thanks so much for making this video!
I have a much simplified solution that has worked faultlessly on my TT for the last 8 years. On the back of the light cluster is a breather hole capped off with a plastic cap. I passed a stout insulated stranded cable through the hole and on the inside soldered the cable to the earth strip just the other side of the hole. The earth strip is shown clearly in your video. The plastic cap can be pushed back to support the cable. I then cut the wire that goes to the burnt out pin on the connector block and joined it to the new cable using a chocolate block connector. No need to drill any holes in either the lamp or the car body.
I shall try this, this coming Friday on my TT; hopefully it will work!
The ground rail inside of the tail lamp is not easy to get a solid solder connection to, as its requires a lot of heat (due to its size). I soldered to the rail, then passed that through the vent hole, through the wiring grommet behind the tail lamp, and then ran that wire to a chassis ground behind the trunk side carpet. Getting a good solder joint was the hardest part, I used 14AWG stranded wire with a green jacket (US ground color) from my local hardware store.
You my friend are a bloody life saver. Spent an hour on this today and it's solved the issue, it was getting to be unbearably annoying, hopefully it's gone for good now. Thanks again. Legend.
Thanks for the vid... Double left-hander here, and managed to attach an extra earth cable as shown in the vid. Immense sense of satisfaction when it worked :)
Nice one mate, my A6 left rear light cluster kept switching off perfectly good bulbs while driving, making it really dangerous when turning left. Your video helped me sort the issue in no time, with no extra cost. Top man!! thanks for taking the time to post the video.
Well Done my friend. Seems to have worked a treat. Original contacts definitely damaged / dirty. Followed your lead but drilled directly through the earth circuit plate ( at widest part) and bolted a jumper wire directly to it, drilled and silcone sealed a hole in the plastic for the wire, to spade connector joint and just scotch locked the other end onto the earth wire. (Saved me going underneath looking for a suitable connection.) Great stuff. Thanks for your video.
Thanks mate for your repair method of this fault, I have had this problem for several months, your repair method worked, No more faults !! , you are a legend , take care mate.
Fantastic video, thanks for putting it together. The bolts you attached the earth to were rusted up on mine so I attached to a bolt holding the wheel liner in place. I used a hacksaw blade to expose more bare metal and tested with a multimeter.Did both sides just to be sure. Thanks again
Thanks a lot for your extensive demonstration. This ghost is bothering me for the last year!! Fixed the problem thanks to you! Good show!!
Hey Brother Just stopping by to say you helped me tremendously and Im genuinely very thankful for your efforts on putting this video up . It worked like a charm . I'm surprised how it actually worked after taking it to mechanics and it keep messing up . You saved me an arm and a leg. Once again thank you !!!!!!!
Alejandro Cervantes glad it helped
Awesome video! Just used this tutorial to fix my friends taillight. She had all the bulbs replaced several times because they kept blowing. So I assume the bad ground caused it. Repaired it, put new bulbs, now only time will tell if it goes out again. Thanks again for the tutorial!
Thanks for posting this helpful video. My MkII TTS is fixed because I followed your advice and re-wired a new earth connection. Lights work and no warning alerts. Great job.
Good show, my man… I tightened the connectors and made sure that they were mating properly to the spades, so far this is working, however an extra ground may be necessary in the future. Thanks for your research
Absolutely brilliant , simple , cheap solution , done in 20mins , great easy to follow vid , thanks
THANK YOU !!! Brilliant simple solution , well described / shown and sorted my issue of indicator and rear right light fault
I used this to fix my ‘passenger’ side light cluster.
The only issue I had was that I couldn’t get to the bolt/screw directly underneath because the exhaust restricted access!
So I had to run the wire along to the drivers side and fix to the bolt/screw on that side instead, the whole job took a while, but well worth the trouble!
Thanks for the video/tuition!
Brilliant, followed your advice and sorted my back light in about 30 mins
You saved me $300!!! Thanks! From Los Angeles, California.
Just got done doing this to my TT. I had cleaned the contacts previously, but it didn't last long. It was a bit of a challenge since the bolt is in a tricky spot. Once I got the wire attached to the car, drilling through the assembly was nothing. It seems to be working like a charm. I just wanted to say thanks for putting this method out there!
+Mack Brown Awesome, glad it was some help
Mack Brown 中
hero's don't always wear capes. my right rear cluster had completely died which was leading to hairy situations whilst trying to change lanes etc. Thanks to this vid I now have a working light!
Awesome, so happy to have helped.
I know this a like a year ago but I have done this but now my reverse light doesn't work. Which is weird because that always worked before
Just used this video to revert the rear disco lights on my 8J back to lights more acceptable to the road. It was a big big help. I wouldn't have even attempted it without first seeing this concise demonstration. The only bit I found a right pig was undoing, and doing up, the bolt on the bumper bracket. Now I see why you didn't film that bit! Nightmare! Many thanks though.
YelpBullhorn....yes, the bolt on the bumper bracket was tough to do, you certainly have to ‘earn it’!....don’t the same thing yesterday for the first time!
Thanks for this buddy, saved me a fortune!
Just done mine, but I was too lazy to clean up a bolt, so ran it straight down to the negative battery terminal ... fiddly to route, but no getting dirty!
Thanks very much this seems to have worked, you have saved me from a big repair bill as I'm sure the garage would have just replaced the whole unit and plug in.
Excellent upload, will do mine Saturday thanks. 👍
Just followed the approach in this video- worked a treat.
Just wanted to say thank you for posting this video... the light is gone :-).
Best wishes
Well done mate ,all fixed now. I up graded the earth wire to a larger size , Audi`s earth was always underdone .Nice video
Great video. Sidenote: Got to love Audi`s choice of using one million screws to hold the tail light assembly together which you have to unscrew just to change a single lightbulb. Because why make it easy and fast by designing a solid clamp/latch system when you instead can make it really timeconsuming by using a ton of screws threaded in to plastic that gets easly damaged.
thanks so much for posting this, it saved me putting mine into a garage, I thought it was a ECU problem. Made a bolt connection into the Earth strap in the bulb holder but then cut it back into the Earth wire just to bypass the poor connector
This repair is right on! I fixed it the "Audi" way and it lasted 2 years. I did this repair on the second one and it has lasted 5 and still going.
Got this exact problem at the moment and me and a friend are going to give it ago 👍
Thanks so much
Many thanks for making this video, I have this exact issue, cleaned all the corrosion today and its working, but this is a better fix, will be doing this tomorrow.. cheers
Thanks for taking the time to video and post this.
Hey.. So many thanks to you.. I have exactly the same problem!
Regards from Mexico.. Thank you Bro !
Hope it helps
Thanks for the upload! I've just got the dreaded light come up on the dash so I'll see if this solves it. I'll let you know how I get on at the weekend :)
Appreciate the very clear step-by-step instructions, problem now solved, many thanks👍
This tip worked awesome!!!
THANK YOU!!!!
Thanks for saving me money excellent advice. :)
Thank you very much for this video, on my way home the warning light came on and it toke me 20mins to do it quicker then I thought and now my light is all working again 🙏🏼
I used this method except I didn't need (and perhaps you won't either) to fix a new earth cable under the car as shown. The brown earth cable running from inside the car to the block connector was good right up to the block, so I snipped it as close to the block as possible and stuck a female bullet connector onto it. Then connected the new wire coming from the headlight unit (as shown) to it and 'hey presto' - all good. Thanks for the vid:)
Awesome video. I have tried it but im going to now. Thanks!
Great walk though vid as only had pictures before. Will be doing this tonight as both sides of mine are playing up now.
Like you say can just strip some household electric cord and crimp on some ends to the green/yellow earth part.
Hopefully there's nut or something under the car to attach the NS light too.
Very informative
Straight to the point
Really appreciate your work keep it up 👍
Awesome! I will definitly try this solution ;). Thanks buddy!
Thank you for this video even tho it's 7years old.my audi I have no lights on the drivers side cluster.so this answers why I don't have any lights
Cheers sorted mine out- Excellent vid👍🏻
By the time I got round to trying this the pin to the light housing had corroded and snapped . So I just cut the ground wire from behind the female plug and wired it to the bolt I screwed into the housing . Job done
great vid! going to try to clean the contacts tonight if not ground wire it is!
Super video, got me out of hole, many thanks
This is excellent. Saved a lot of money. Thank you.
Brilliant mate was so easy after watching this A+++
Thank you. Very helpful.
Really appreciate this video mate. I connected it to the earth wire at the back of the plug though. Wondering if I'll encounter any problems that way. Thanks for the help
what colour is the wire please
Hey, do you mean you cut the earth wire on the back of the plug and connected the new earth to it? I want to do it that way also.
Did you encounter any issues. Do you recall what colour the wire was that was for the earth. Thanks
rp200020 did this along time ago no issues up till now 👍
I have the exact same problem on my TT ... I'm glad that you posted this video.....but I think this is a problem of design by Audi and should not be a TT owner's problem .....the connections should not burn out....the amount of current passing through the earth connection can be much greater than the other connections ...yet they are all the same size...the earth connection should be bigger than the others as the brake light, rear light and indicators can be on at the same time....all passing through the same earth pin...
ATOMIKDOG23 yep it is Audi’s fault but they wouldn’t warranty it but instead will charge you ££££ to fix it 🤬
@@highcarbrider Just to let you know....I have done the repair on my TT now.... I did the repair in a slightly different way to your method. Instead of earthing the new cable to the underside of the car, I just cut the brown earth cable ( No 5 ) from the connector block and earthed the new cable from the lamp there by crimping on a bullet connectors. Works well. Cheers for the info in your video it helped a lot !
Very good video, thanks!
Great vid! Hoping to do mine this weekend as i have the earthing issue. Where can i source the new earth cable and ends? Cheers.
hello is there any way I can ask you some questions! I have had this issue for a while and need a way to fix it! I have read a lot on audi forums and yours is the only video I have found that actually shows the whole process. I would greatly appreciate it! this is genius! A lot of people have this problem!
Youre the guy who made the video right?? Can you tell me how you made the cables ad what I need. Also where I could get them would be great!
+Jeniece Linan Yes I did, the cables you need are just a basic cable you can get from Maplin's I actually cut an earth lead out an old mains leadI had knocking about. The connecters are also available from Maplin's but you'll need crimping pliers to fit them. Bolts were M5 Cap head socket screws.... Hope that helps
Can you tell me what the green end part is on the wire at 7:00 please?
Great video! thanx man!
Thanks for the great vid! It seems like I'm the only person so far for whom this hasn't worked. I'll double check all of my connections and that the bolt mounting points are well sanded. If that doesn't do it, do you have any suggestions on what else it could be? When I turn on my car it doesn't always specify which light is causing the malfunction, just the dead bulb symbol pops up.
Great video thanks... did not have drill handy do just cleaned contacts with end of screwdriver. That worked fine for quick fix to get home. 😉
Great video, thank you for putting this together. Would you by chance happen to remember the gauge of wire you used for this?
No I don't, I used some spare I had knocking about. You can always strip a main lead and steal the earth lead from that as it will be more than ample
Went with some 12 gauge solid wire I had laying around. Worked very well. Thanks again for the video.
Did this yesterday to both sides, seems to have worked a treat. Just used earth wire stripped out of some domestic 3 core cable. Just need to know if I need to test anything as I see some people use multimeter to check (haven't got one) also can this fix cause issues elsewhere in the car electrics and finally is this a permanent fix? Many thanks
Very very very helpful sir
thank you soo much!!! it worked
Thanks for the vid, worked out perfectly with som spare cable, nuts and bolts!
I would like to know where you get your cables or how you make them I don't know much about it. Also if you could tell me which screws and bolts to use that would be great. Essentially a list of what you used and where I can find the materials for the cable. Thanks! Also, After you have connected everything do the two bolts connect? like snap together? Thank you!!
Jeniece Linan....you need a male friend to help you out!
Thanks so much but the car used and they never fixed this problem. Make more videos this was a good one
Love your purple MK II TT. Mine is a 2012 Dakota Gray and looks gold/gray in the sun. What year is yours?
good video keep up the good work mate :-)
Thanks great vid :-)
Thank you for uploading this video just fixed my girlfriend tt using this method
Brilliant,thanks you have saved us a lot of money.top man.
Just wanted to know what size cable did you use or doesn't it matter. Thanks
Did you replace the connector ??? If you did where do you find the part online ??? Or what’s it called??
Great video, I’m going to do this shortly, one question I have is do you leave the original earth connection unplugged completely as it is burnt out?
Instead of the bolt technique, you think i could just rough it up and solder onto it?
where can i buy the 2 earthing earthing connectors? and you didnt make the video on how to apply the second earthing connector to the audi... not the ones on the rear light
This right here is good stuff! My A7 is popping on both rear lights! SMH! I hook my OBD11 up hoping to just clear codes thinking maybe they would clear after I shut off my side markers.. No such luck. The one thing I didn’t see in this video (and maybe I missed it) did you cut the original ground wire once you bypassed it? Or did you just leave it?
left it and added the extra one
can i use the ground on the female connector? the brown one i supose.
Hi mate, thanks for vid, very informative. Don't you actually need a new bulb holder & wiring connector if the earth pins already burnt? I tried my a different way but didn't work lol. I cut the brown earth wire & attached a second earth wire into it using bullet connectors and earthed to bracket nearby cluster (mine was nearside cluster with problem) so not having to drill through bulb holder. I say, didn't work, but is that because earthing before connector was wrong or maybe pins too burned? Thanks
Hi mate, I was going to do it this way also, did you get it to work and if yes how did you fix it. Thanks
How do i locate whitch one of the pins i need to solder direct on to the cable?
Would it work as well if you took the new wire back to the ground wire of the car and just bypass the bad pin ?
That's what I'm doing and using a power connector plug from Maplin.
Good tip thanks
going to try this soon -if it saves the costs of new lampholder worth a try -why does it only happen on right turn though?
I've literally order a new lamp holder for 50 quid and only now just seen this video :(
Do you need to do both lights?. I have the 2 inner indicator bulbs on all the time with lights off.when lights on all 4 indicator bulbs are on permanent and flash very faint when used. Fronts ok. I done this mod on both lights but only the right had slight burn on connector but made no difference. Any ideas please💡
Also I had no warning light on dash It was another driver that flagged me down thats how I found out 👍👍
If the terminal is melting then it's a design flaw... Sale of Goods act gives you six years for this to happen. My TTS's six year anniversary was last week, so knowing my luck this'll happen to me shortly :')
I know this a like a year ago but I have done this but now my reverse light doesn't work. Which is weird because that always worked before. Any ideas?
Hi I have the same problem as you did... just a quick question where did you get all the parts from to fix the light .
Nathan McDonald hardware shops like screw fix or maplin if you live in the UK
Ahh ok mate is it called a earth strap by any chance.
Could you tell me what you used so I can take the list and get them all please I dont know the name of the things you used lol not familiar with electrical stuff.
Did you earth both tail lights or just one?
so i can't just polish up the bolt and re-use the same stuff?
Can the same problem happen on the rear left side of the car?
I have the same problem! I watched your video but I don't understand how you made the cable go from under the car to the headlight and how did you build the earth cable?...
Basically all you need to do is attach another cable (earth) from the earth on the light to a good earthing point on the cars chassis.
2:25 attach a cable to this
6:00 drill hole and attach cable to the light
Done and...it works!!! Thank you very much, I saved more than 250 euros!👍🔝
So i have a rear left fog light issue, will this fix the problem?? btw its located in the taillight itself i guess. Its an 02 audi a4 quattro
most likely and if you do add an earth it won't do any harm
Short wire good, long one to bumper bracket not necessary. Just snip the wire to the bad pin behind the plug and connect to it.
What gauge was the ground wire you used for this?
Mike Lechler I just used some 30A flex I had lying around.
Hello,
It didn’t work with me I tried to connect to different wires but no help...
Any other advice
Can I just replace the bulbs holder?
What kind of wires are you using? What amp? (Assuming the correct unit as I don't really know what I'm talking about lol)
this sort of thing cpc.farnell.com/lms-data/earth-kit/single-35cm-earthing-cable/dp/EN85228?mckv=sKtvgz4ep_dc|pcrid|491034915808|kword||match||plid||slid||product|EN85228|pgrid|47836417355|ptaid|pla-557909763816|&CMP=KNC-GUK-CPC-SHOPPING-945655906-47836417355-EN85228&s_kwcid=AL!5616!3!491034915808!!!network}!557909763816!&gclid=CjwKCAjwpuajBhBpEiwA_Ztfha8JYY7wADb3EHcX-KjTevTLnrQ46eBt6MAfpCCJ-VuYKuw2Ffug-RoCVrwQAvD_BwE