SL350 R230 tail light flicker

[RobertNewton]

So I have a dash board fault message - brake light fail and RH tail light out and then LH tail light out

The rear LED light flicker - the right hand one more then the left and the RH one sometimes goes out.

have read quite a bit about this problem today and have come to the conclusion that its eighter water / fault in the tail light units OR a faulty rear SAM unit. Its has been exceptionally wet here.

I have taken one of the tail light units off the car and it looks OK and whilst not absolutely dry its not wet. Tomorrow morning the other one comes off for the same treatment.

From my limited experiece its looks just like a poor connection BUT where??

Any further suggestions please.

Also where is the rear SAM unit located.

Is it a good idea to get it connected to a Star unit for diagnosis ?

 

[BlackC55]

Its very likely to be a SAM issue. Plugging it in may help in diagnosing this. The SAM is behind the drivers seat, inside oddments compartment. There is a flap you can remove to access it.

 

[RobertNewton]

Update I have had it on a STAR diagnostic computer and there are no fault codes reported as such but when asked it does say that there are bulbs out in the tail light clusters.

The guy I use is very bright and after mucking around with his computer he thinks its an earth problem - maybe specific to the LED strip.

Where do the R230 rear lights earth please??

 

[BlackC55]

Update I have had it on a STAR diagnostic computer and there are no fault codes reported as such but when asked it does say that there are bulbs out in the tail light clusters.

The guy I use is very bright and after mucking around with his computer he thinks its an earth problem - maybe specific to the LED strip.

Where do the R230 rear lights earth please??

Somewhere very near the light cluster. Pull the carpet out and have a look. I can find it for you but need a chassis number.

 

[RobertNewton]

Somewhere very near the light cluster. Pull the carpet out and have a look. I can find it for you but need a chassis number.

Thanks for that!........its WDB2304672F109969

 

[RobertNewton]

I have not made any serious progress during this holiday period but I have been thinking about the issue.

The thought in my head is that this is still an earth / grounding issue.

In the image above the one illuminated block at low level is, I am pretty sure the end LED on the strip of LED circuit boards that make up the whole of the bottom area of the light.

I would have thought that the earth connection on each of the circuit boards would have been common (they are all daisy chained with ribbon cable) there isn't enough width of ribbon cable to earth each board I dont think.

So the query in my head at the moment is why are these two LEDS illuminated and the rest not ??

Anyone shed any light (sorry) on this ? Could it still be a supply issue ?

 

[RobertNewton]

These are the daisy chained circuit boards I am thinking of - it seems that the very end one (furthest away from the connector) is working properly

There must be some logic here ??

 

[BlackC55]

W points are grounds.

 

[RobertNewton]

W points are grounds.

Many thanks

 

[RobertNewton]

I think I may have found the issue - I unplugged the connector to the LED circuit board and found this:




I that burning damage do you think or corrosion?


There are no failed components on the individual boards.

Is this the problem do you think ?

Is it possible to buy the circuit boards on their own ?

Thanks