I have a 2002 Land Rover. Both tail lights occasionly go out at the same time. I can bang on the drives side one and it will come back on. If I bang on the passenger one though it still stays off. Any ideas? Thanks!
5 Answers
I got it for half of what its worth. I love the truck actually. Its my wisconsin winter car so I wont have to use my car.
Banging on it is a short term solution but is not a long term one. What happens is you just bridged a loose connection. Many times it's the filament inside the bulb that is no longer connected to the terminals. If you bang on it and the filament moves around it will connect itself and fuse together like a live-wire. Unfortunately when you shut the car off it cools and disconnects. It's a faulty bulb that needs replacing.
So its just a coincedence that both of them went out at the same time then?
It's possible. If it was a fuse or anything else, banging on it would not likely turn it on. It might be a rare occurrence that they both go out simultaneously but it happens. The best thing to do is remove both bulbs to do a quick inspection. Check the filaments on both of them. If it's not the filament you may want to the terminals on the bottom of the bulb, there could have been a short circuit and you will see black flash marks on them. Either way a new bulb should solve your problems.
I agree with vietle - my 2002 Discovery did exactly the same thing - Just replaced every bulb on the car - was just a few dollars - amazing difference to the brightness of (especially) the rear tail lights.