My left rear brake light on my 2003 X-type stopped working the other day, while the right rear one still works. I was wondering if this is a bulb that needs replacing or a fuse. Thank you for your help.

 

Could be either or something else. Impossible to say. Start simple with checking/replacing the bulb and see what you get and go from there.

How long have you had the car? If you have had it for awhile, have you had any issues previously with the rear tailights or have you changed buls in the past? If no, it just might be time. The car is 17 years old.

 

I've had the car only a few months. The tail light had never been a problem in the past. The car has been left outdoors for all its life, but it has not been driven much at all, only about 24,000 miles on this 17-year old car. Will check out the fuses, and the bulb. I don't want to spend a lot of money on this car, so will try to handle it myself and not bring it to a dealer.

 

X-typenewbie, I have seen this problem a few times now. What you will want to do is to access the back of the taillight in question. Remove the plug and look at the pins. The plug is white in the center in most cases and what you will find is that the second pin in from the corner is burnt. This is from the pin either handling too much current or the pin developing a high resistance connection. This pin is the ground wire for all of the lights in the tail light.

As for the fix, the first step will be to remove the back cover off of the tail light (the one that holds all the bulbs) and then with it on your lap/on a bench, use a scribe or exacto knife and clean up the terminal that is discolored. As for the other side of the plug, you will find that you can remove the center of the plug and then depressing a little retainer tab (looks like a metal sliver sticking up from the terminal), you can pull the wire out of the back of the plug. From there, you will need to go to your local auto parts store and find a new pin. From there, you can cut off the old pin, strip back a little bit of insulation and crimp on a new pin. Reassemble and you should be good.

If this is not the case, then let me know and I am sure we can help you figure things out.

 

Thanks for the detailed description Thermo! I'm afraid that procedure might exceed my auto repair skills. I was thinking I could either replace a fuse or replace a bulb. So from what I gather, I can do the first step easily from the inside of the trunk. If it's just a bulb that needs replacing, can I replace the bulb from the inside too, or do I need to remove the whole assembly? Thanks again.

 

Also, it's only the left brake light that isn't working. The running lights, turn signal, and reverse lights all work fine.

 

Can anyone help me to find the fuse box on an 03 x-type. Thanks

 

Actually only 22371 miles on the car. It's still brand new!

 

Here is a link to a Youtube video on how to replace a bulb in the tail light. Very simple to access.

 

Thanks for all your help; rear brake light has been replaced, won't get pulled over by the police, saved me a few bucks. Pretty straightforward procedure. Hardest part was removing the hard plastic section covering the trunk latch area. Much appreciated.

 

X-Typenewbie, sorry, I misread what you said. I took what you said to be the whole tail light out, not just the brake light. Sorry about that confusion. Believe it or not, the X-Type is a good car to learn some mechanical skills on. Most think it is this complicated piece. It isn't. Read up on some of the posts here and we can step you through a lot of things.

 

Like I mentioned, start with the simple things first. Glad you got it squared away quickly. This will give you some confidence for when you will need to fix your first vacuum leak.

Enjoy your "new" car. They are a great bang for the buck and pretty reliable f taken care of through the years.

 

Thanks to all again, very helpful forum this is.