Top Rated PlusSellers with highest buyer ratingsReturns, money backShips in a business day with trackingLearn MoreMaintained by Thor Carlson (carlsont@ptd.net) This FAQ applies to at least 9-3 Sport Sedans, four door models. These are indicative of a bad ground in the rear bulb cluster. Bulb clusters are accessed from inside the trunk. Find the left (driver's) side by pulling open the hinged door. Find the right (passenger) side by pushing in the plastic retaining pin with a nail, then pull open the hinged door. Each bulb cluster has a wiring harness plug with four wires, one for each of the 3 bulbs and one black wire for the common ground. You may find that the ground wire looks burned or melted. You may find as you wiggle the black wire that your taillight cluster will work again for a short time. The image shows the four pin connector with a badly damaged ground pin. To repair the bad ground permanently, run an auxiliary ground wire from the ground tang on the printed circuit to the black ground wire on the wiring harness.

One way is to drill through the top, through the tang, then pass a wire through and screw it in place. Splice the other end of the auxiliary ground wire to the black wire that leads to the bulb cluster. This closeup shows the ground pin at the harness plug was almost completely gone, so none of the bulbs in the cluster worked at all. The fix described above resolved the problem and was accomplished at no cost using a spare piece of wire and a small sheet metal screw.Fixing a reversing light Did you find this helpful? You can now get the whole How A Car Works site as a beautiful PDF ebook. Over 250 illustrated pages Print out the pages you need and take them to the garage. It's just $5 to buy - exceptional value for money. The PDF is 80mb in size - it's high resolution! Read more essential guides Reversing is one of the most difficult manoeuvres you can perform with your car, especially at n... Half shafts, otherwise known as axle shafts, are fitted in rear-wheel-drive cars only.

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The taillight assembly on the Volkswagen GTI Mk4 is a modular unit that houses the running light, brake light, turn signal and reverse light (and rear fog light on Euro cars)all in the same housing. All of the bulbs can be replaced without removing the unit from the car by accessing and removing the bulb housing portion of the unit through the access panel in the trunk.If you have a bulb that is out or are getting a bulb error message always inspect the electrical connector and the taillight bulb socket before just replacing the bulb. The sockets can get corroded over time which can lead to a bulb not working. Make sure you clean all the sockets with a small wire brush or some Emory paper before installing new bulbs.All of the bulbs can be replaced without removing the unit from the car by accessing and removing the bulb housing portion of the unit through the access panel in the trunk. With the trunk open you will find an access panel on each side of the rear of the trunk behind the tail light assemblies.

The access panel on the right side has a single knob (red arrow) that you turn 90 degrees to open. The right light is serviced the same as the left. We are going to focus on the left assembly as there is a lot more stuff to be removed to remove the unit. The access panel on the left side has two knobs (red arrows) that you turn 90 degrees to open. The rear lock carrier trim piece has been removed as we are planning on removing the whole light assembly and also for photographic purposes. Please see our article on removing rear interior trim panels for help with this. If you are just changing bulbs you do not need to perform this work. With the access panel open you can unplug the wiring harness (yellow arrow) from the bulb holder. If you only want to change the bulbs, squeeze in the two clips (yellow arrows) on the bulb holder and remove it from the assembly. This photo illustrates the bulb holder out of the assembly. Brake Light (red arrow), Turn Signal (yellow arrow), Taillight (green arrow), Reverse light (blue arrow) and for Euro vehicles rear Fog Bulb (left side only, purple arrow).

Unlike the right side which has easy access to the three 8mm nuts, to remove the taillight assembly on the left side you must remove the stereo amp and bracket to get at one of the nuts. Begin by removing the two Philips head screws (red arrows) unplug the wiring connection and remove the amp. Next remove the two T27 Torx screws (red arrows) and the two 10mm nuts (yellow arrows) holding the bracket. Remove the bracket (red arrow). There are three 8mm nuts holding the assembly in place. Two (green arrows, already removed) are easily accessible and one (yellow arrow) is only accessible through the hole behind the wiring harness. This photo illustrates the taillight housing removed from the car. You can see the three studs (yellow arrows) that the 8mm nuts bolt to. Installation is the reverse of removal. Use caution reinstalling the hidden 8mm nut as it you drop it inside the panel of the car it is a pain to get out. The right side unit has a push clip on the lower forward part that needs to be pulled out from the body of the car when removing it.