After getting my instrument cluster powering correctly as seen in a previous thread my next order of business was to fix the ubiquitous bulb failure message on my console.

When I purchased the vehicle my inspection had shown a lower tail light bulb that was out, but it lit back up during the test drive so I didn't sweat it too much at the time, especially as it was a redundant light. However, the fact that the turn signals were "fast-clicking" in both directions to denote a failure was unquestionably an annoyance.

I took a guess that everything was fine up front and focused on the rear tail light assemblies for my work.

Getting to the assemblies is super easy and fixing the board was pretty straightforward. Here were my steps:

1) Get inside the trunk and undo the plastic nuts holding the plastic cover over the tail light assembly. Remove the plastic cover.

2) Undo the plastic nuts holding the tail light circuit board assembly and gently remove the board.

3) Gently unplug the electrical connector.

4) Remove the tail light assembly circuit board. Unfortunately, getting to the underside of the board requires some destructive activity. The board is attached to the plastic holder with melted "mushrooms". These are the nine black dots, each looking like a wheel (a center circle surrounded by a ring) you will see holding the board on to the black plastic. After some experimentation with various types of blades I found it easiest to go in with a narrow wood chisel and essentially remove the "ring" part of the "mushroom". Once you have done this for all nine of the locations the board will lift out easily.

5) Lift the board out and take it to your soldering station. Remove the light bulbs. Do not use your bare hands as getting skin oil on the bulbs will shorten their life!

6) Re-flow and add solder to each and every joint on the back of the board.

7) I also used a polishing disc on a Dremel tool to remove some of the oxidation from the bulb sockets and springy connectors inside the sockets. Don't use anything coarse, just a gentle bit of work should do.

8) Replace the bulbs in the board. All my springy connectors (the positive terminals for the bulbs) were good, but if find your bulbs are loose in the socket and there is not enough resistance putting them in take a pair of needlenose pliers and pull the springy part up so the connection will be solid.

9) Once the work is completed on the board place it back in the holder and use a hot glue gun to replace the "mushrooms". It doesn't look great, but it should hold just fine and it's in a place where nobody can see. I wasn't entirely happy about this part but my car will never be concours anyway. I figured a free fix was better than dropping $100 or more on new tail light boards.

10) Re-install the boards and covers for the tail light assembly.

Now, if all is well and all bulbs were good that hopefully helped. In my case I did indeed still have a light out and it turned out it was a bad bulb. A quick trip to the auto parts store and a new bulb got things working, cleared the bulb failure message and had all my turn signals clicking normally.

So, after an extremely productive Thanksgiving weekend I now have exorcised the electrical gremlins I know about (knock on wood and peace be upon thee O Lucas, Prince of Darkness!). There are some other things to fix on the car but the instrument cluster power and bulb failure were really irritating to stare at every moment I was driving.

 

Well done, nice to see a repair rather than a bodge/work around.