unexplained bulb out indicator
 

My bulb out indicator idiot light comes on every time I turn my lights on (also on first click position marker lights), but I checked, and allll my lights work. Taillights, brake lights, turn signals, marker lights, city lights, highs, lows....all of it works. What gives??

Sometimes this gets overlooked - Your 3rd brake light

If I recall correctly, I read in another thread within this site, that cheap bulbs, could cause this. Have you changed bulbs lately? Did you purchase the correct bulb?

I read something that about the fittings on cheap bulbs that though they make contact, it is not as good as OEM.

I could be wrong.

Iggy

Well....I have no third brake light :) As far as cheap bulbs....hmm. I have bought new H4 bulbs for the headlights, but they were by no means cheap, and the indicator comes on on marker light position, so I am assuming that the trouble bulb is a marker light. I cannot recall if I have a new bulb in one of those or not...but they work!

Here's another "twist" to this that I just remembered. I had the wood refinished that goes behind the steering wheel. So I had the cluster out. If I recall correctly, the bulb out indicator only started coming on after I put the wood/cluster back in. Could there be something in the dash causing this?

If you ahd the cluster removed beforehand and now this light is coming on intermittley, are you sure that the cluster was properly re-installed. I read on another thread that after someone had their cluster removed, it was reinstalled incorrectly, therefore a light blinking for X reason was really for another problem because the light indicator wires were not correctly matched to the proper indicator light!

Are you having other problems that you cannot explain? i would start by going back to teh shop where you had the cluster removed and have them verify everything is right.

Also, when you turn the key to the first position, do you get all the lights on the instrument cluster that should light up actually light up? Might be an easy way to see if they crossed some wires?

Finally as for the bulbs, also check the quality of the brake bulbs and regular bulbs does not ahve to be the headlight lamps per se.

I removed the cluster myself. The wires are numbered, so I am sure I got them in the right hole. Also, the bulb out indicator comes on right when I switch my headlight switch on and goes off as soon as I switch it off....so it has to be the correct one.

Maybe I'll just take the bulbs out and maybe "wiggle them around" a little bit to see if maybe it is a connection problem of some sort..... :confused:

Sounds like a good place to start to wiggle the bulbs around. maker sure the connectors are also clean.

And, though I do not mean to insult, being an averge DIY'er, but are you sure you numbered correctly? Check the if all the proper lights come on (like the CE Light) when you turn the key to the first position?

The idiot lights have to be in correct just for the fact that the light pops right on when I switch on the marker lights, and turns right off when I switch it off.

Check license plate lights too...you may have more than one bulb.

If this doesn't work, then try this:

Remove the covers off of both taillight housings and turn your lights on (engine running).

Are any of the bulbs (especially the night bulbs) on one of the housings dimmer than on the other?

A common problem is that over time, the metal strips that house the bulbs loosen from vibration and cause ground faults.

The cure is to press along the strips to reseat them firmly. You will see the results if pressing one of the strips changes the bulb illumination on either of the housings.

The "bulb out" indicator may or may not go out immediately...you may have to shut everything off and restart to see if the indicator stays off.

I keep reading about a " bulb out " light coming on with a licence plate light out.
About 2 weeks ago I noticed one of my ( 2 ) plate lights was burned out, but no " bulb out " light on. :confused:

Mine did the same thing. Turned out that after getting out of the car & slammed the door, the bulb (side marker) lit up - thus I had never seen any burn outs...Replaced it with a new one fixed the problem (the old one had the lead(?) end deformed which resulted in a bad e-contact when first turned on).

Frank.

I now drive an E320, but over the past 4 years have spent lots of time in a similar forum for Volvo, i.e., "brickboard.com". The very same problem frequently occurs, and is often attributed to bulbs of different manufacturers in corresponding positions. A previous poster's reference to "cheap bulbs" comes close to identifynig the problem, but the probable cause is the diference in resistance between bulbs of different manufacturers. For example, If your right front turn signal bulb (say Sylvania) burns out and is replaced with another of different resistance (say GE), even if it is the correct bulb size and fits in the socket, the "bulb out" indicator light may illuminate. This is the result of what the circuit is designed to monitor: that is the difference in the resistance between bulbs in similar circuits. So, if you replaced the right front turn signal bulb with a bulb of different resistance (Sylvania) than the current left front bulb,(GE), you will likely be annoyed by the "bulb out" light even though all bulbs are working properly. The solution is to replace the perfectly good left (Sylvania) bulb with the same bulb now used in the right (GE).

Caveat: Sometimes even this won't work. In frustration, some have either removed the offending "bulb out" indicator bulb, or obscured it with black tape.

good luck,

Mark

liscense plate bulbs are not created equal. I had the wrong ones in and did not know it. Intermittent idiot light issue. I went to Schucks and found two bulbs of the same size and number code -- but the MB spec ones carried an "R" after the #s (for resistance? I dunno). Replaced and problem fixed.

Another thought.

Could it be that you had the problem all along but that your bulb-out indicator was not functioning. It then started functioning when you removed and reinstalled the instrument cluster?

Hence the problem showed-up only now?

Hello, I have the same problem the "burnt out bulb" indicator on my dash appeared again and now it stays on all the time. I went through the whole car and inspected all the outside lights as well as the inside dome light, lights on the bottom of the doors etc..
I took some sand paper and lightly brushed the contacts on the bulbs and every bulb was ok. All of the bulbs appear to have the same brightness. However one of the bulbs in the left tail light appears to be little smoked, very slightly though.

THe idiot light stays on and I am wondering what would you guys suggest to do next.