Got the 'rear bulb failure' message intermittently appearing on the dash. Panic! Read lots on the forum. Prepared for the worst. Watched videos and read all about how to repair the rear computer, put new earth's on the lights, repair burnt lamp connections, replace the microswitch in the impossible to get at brake pedal. Planned a spare day, went out to the car, ready to do battle..

Guess what...

Replaced the bulb and all is well... yay! woop! woop!... it worked like it was mean to. There's a first time for everything.

and Relax. Made tea, ate cake.

 

We all get so accustomed to spurious messages randomly displaying on our dashboards. Good to hear that sometimes a displayed message simply means exactly what it says....

 

my baby is almost a month old, and when i got that dash light, along with "suspension fault" i cried. but i have learned in 3+ weeks, that i need to continue to spend at least a few hours a week on these forums to learn about things.

i repaired my burnt out 3rd brake light for $10, when i was told by a mechanic that it could not be done, and i would need a $500 repair. thanks to a post on the forum...

the suspension fault turned out to be a pinched wire from when i adjusted the passenger seat for my son...no dash lights since. *sigh of relief

this cat will keep you on your toes. i wish you the best of luck with yours.
and now i want cake...

 

Your car is obviously due a recall. A message that leads to a direct solution.
What is the world coming too.

Great car now that you have done such a great job.

 

I get that fault message once and a while. If I just pull the bulb (always the left rear)and reseat it in the socket, the fault message goes away...might be weeks, might be months before it reoccurs.


I have decided it takes far less effort, time, and money to just do this than to try to cure it .

 

I had same in my 97, except right rear side. I think the socket is just slightly larger than the bulb diameter. Applied a little bulb grease, which gave it some extra "reach" to contact better. It would still come up with the false warning, but maybe once per year instead of every other trip.