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Brake Light Warning Message

Ian Gilmour

Ian Gilmour

PCGB Member
Member
Got a 'check left brake light' warning message on the dash today. Sure enough, the lamp had expired. I managed to change it (despite losing one of the carpet screw heads down the back of the carpet) and it now works OK.

Trouble is the warning message comes on every time the ignition is switched on. Presumably, I have to get it cancelled at the nearest PC or specialist - can anyone confirm that this is the case?
 
Should clear at next ignition on after correct bulb has been fitted, did in my case, both times. You could check that you have fitted the exact required wattage bulb and that it matches the other side bulb first before venturing near a PC
 
Two ways to go on this one as I have experienced this first hand: Firstly always use the Porsche supplied bulbs and replace both sides at once, I even found that bulbs from differing batches can also throw an error. Secondly an fyi a weak battery can also produce the error and I have known spurious bulb warnings to be a precursor to a battery requiring replacement. Post above is correct with regards the error it should disappear having switched off the ignition, locked/unlocked the car with the key and then switching on the ignition.
 
Thanks for the replies! I tried locking / unlocking the car with the key but not only did the brake light warming message not disappear, now the computer disply on the dash shows only 'Navigation' when the radio is switched off and 'route giudance not active' when the radio is switched on. All the other displays (range, mpg, outside temp etc.) have been lost. Any suggestions or is it a trip to the local PC to get it fixed?
 
Well, I eventually got around to getting the correct bulb from my local PC - not cheap at £4.50 - but hey presto it worked! Warning message has disppeared and all computer displays are now normal. Still didn't manage to retrieve the carpet screw though - looks like it's gone forever!
 
I had exactly the same problem last week Had the warning, popped into Halfords and bought their recommended bulb Fitted it but the error didn't clear Asked a mate to check it was working and it was but it was nowhere near as bright So checked the spec of the bulb from Halfords with the right rear brake light that still worked and and found that the Halfrods one was 5v but the Porsche original was 4v!!!! So I replaced the 'new' bulb with a 4v and all was fine! Moral of the story is...don't trust Halfords!! S2RJN
 
ORIGINAL: s2rjn ... and found that the Halfrods one was 5v but the Porsche original was 4v!!!! So I replaced the 'new' bulb with a 4v and all was fine! Moral of the story is...don't trust Halfords!! S2RJN
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Shouldn't that be '5W' and not '5V'? Changing bulbs in pairs is good practice because both lamps will generally have run for the same time. I don't necessarily hold with buying bulbs at OPCs. Osram and Philips are OEM fitments and are widely available. Sadly, the market is awash with poor quality Chinese and Indian-made products where the internal resistance varies widely and is the cause of the familiar failure warnings even though the filaments are still intact.
 
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