Here is the story....

My car is a 2010 R3. Today I went to a shop and to get my remote starter installed. After the installation, they told me my tail lights was not working and that it was already like that when I took the car in.

What is working in the tail light...

Brake lights, Left / Right signal, reverse light.

The only light that is not working is the rear parking light (not sure if that is what you call it, basically I have no rear lights at night). I tried turning into the Auto, manual start position of the light switch, still doesn't work. I will take the car to the dealer Monday morning, but the shop also told me that they would check the wiring.

Do you guys think that this is a wiring problem when they did the install?

Update: Just found out that my license plate light is not working either, so I am guessing that it must be the wiring for the switch. I just hate when the shop told me it wasn't their fault and I brought the car in that way.

 

didnt know R3 had Auto light switch.
could very well be that the shop who installed remote start unplugged something or blew a fuse.

 

I am not sure how the wiring works when installing the remote start.

But I hope I don't have to spend more to get this fix.

 

hope dealer wont say it was your remote and ask you to pay for it.

 

Can you blow a fuse if the battery was unplug during the installation?

 

You can only blow a fuse if power is flowing through it, so it shouldn't have been blown during the installation. They had to have tested the remote starter after the install to make sure it was working, so it could have been blown at that point.

I can't imagine they were near the connectors during the install and I'm sure you could easily find the areas they should have been working on for the install to figure out if they could have somehow messed up the wiring.

 

I will attempt to unplug the "tail light" fuse. I believe that is the fuse as indicated in the fuse box cover? It has a 15 on it, can someone confirm?

Maniac, are you saying that the wire they touched during the installation should have nothing to do with the tail lights? Could they have tap one of the head light switch wires during the install?

I am no electrician, so I am not sure how the installation works. But I promise, this is one of the most reputable shop in my area (Toronto). So I do believe them, but I doubt them at the same time.

 

I just pulled out a small 10 "tail" fuse, looks fine.

There is also another big black fuse block that I could not pull out in the fuse box. It is also labelled "tail".

 

So worried that I have to replace each tail lights.... 500$ each.

 

I can't imagine they would have used any of the headlight or tail light related components for an install like that. I'm not an expert on these installs either, but I'd imagine it's a pretty simple design that simply adds a new remote receiver that sends the signal to the ignition. I'd assume it just needs a power source to power the receiver and the receiver is tied into the ignition. Using the lights as a power source doesn't make sense, so the only way they could have messed up your tail lights is if they simply made a mistake.

I personally don't know exactly where all the wiring for the tail lights runs and obviously I don't know exactly where the shop installed everything, but it seems possible that they could have accidentally damaged some wiring during the install. Even the most reputable shops will make honest mistakes. I'm sure they'd be more than willing to fix it or pay to have it fixed if you find out it had to do with their work. But first, we need to figure out what's causing the problem.

I wouldn't worry about that. The $500 should be fore the housing, and it sounds like the housing is fine. It should be a relatively cheap and easy fix once you figure out what the problem is.

You might want to check the connectors for the lights... Part of one of my tail lights wasn't working because it hadn't been plugged back in when my tail light was replaced. I don't have my 8 anymore, so I'm just going from memory right now, but I believe you can access the connectors behind the carpeted lining of the trunk. It should be extremely easy to do... you'll just need to remove a few of the plastic screws/tabs that hold the lining in place. I don't remember how many plugs/connectors there are, but I believe there should be 3 or 4 per tail light.

Just to be clear, which light isn't working in this photo? And it's on both the left and right tail lights?

 

you should not need to. they are LED's and they are very hard to blow.

 

Yes, both of the circles of LEDs are not working when the tail light switch is ON. But the brakes are fine, and I believe they are the same LEDs.

There is also a little bulb in the far left of the picture where the red triangle is. That is not working as well.

Furthermore, my licenses plate light is not working either. So I am suspecting a switch problem.

I will report back in the morning tomorrow after going to the dealer shop.

 

I think it might be a replay/signal problem. somehow the remote start might be affecting the signal and replay operation.

 

Here's a thought, try the remote start and see if the tail lights turn on with it.

It is highly unlikely the running (parking or w/e) lights were not working in the first place, especially being LEDs. Though, I've seen a number of LED modules fail, so you just may be unlucky.

Thinking the fuse isn't blown, I would suspect a bad cut during installation, a bad splice if the running lights would be tied in to the starter, a pinched wire, or a forgotten connector.

 

Nope the tail lights does not come on with the remote start. I also can't see both LED modules failing at the same time. I also suspect it is the wiring problem.

 

Seeing how this problem was not evident till the install of the remote start, I would say it was related.
I would have the install company review the installation. Or have a third party look at the install.

But it sounds like the RS install is the culprit.

 

Alright, reporting back.

Dealer spent about 1.5 hours tracing back the problem. Fuse was good but there was a damaged wired which caused the problem.

They charged me 2 hours labour = 235$ tax includ.

I went to the shop that did my remote start installation with the receipt, and they basically paid for the cost. Owner was pissed at his installer, because he lied into both of our faces, saying that he checked all the lights before he started.

I am now stress free and a happy man!

Thank you all for the help.

 

Advertisement comical relief.

 

there you go.