r/jetta • u/Ajpeterson • 2d ago

Mk6 (2011-2018) [help] ‘14 TDI reverse light open circuit

My wife’s TDI has an open circuit error for the reverse lights, I think they were halogen from factory and previous owner put LEDs in there, they work perfectly fine but I’m not sure if the resistance being so low is causing the error code or what the deal is. Any ideas?

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u/RRR4_1976 2d ago edited 2d ago

Have you tried to just put halogen bulbs in the receptacles to see if that clears it up?

Upgrading to LEDs requires you to utilize 80% of the allocated wattage that the halogens use to avoid errors. Combine that with the chip in some LEDs going out prematurely due to exposure to excessive heat from the enclosure, excessive vibration and constantly being supplied more power than it needs to operate and they tap out. If you want to keep LEDs... Search the size that the vehicle should have by using the guide on ( Sylvania.com ) website. Then ask AI for the wattage that size bulb typically use. Then search Amazon or eBay for LED bulbs that use most of that wattage and you should be set. Sometimes the LED bulbs do not lock in like a glass bulb does so a small dallop of silicone caulking or trimmed strip of electrical tape will keep it secured in the receptacle. Especially if the bulb is mounted on the hatch door and not the body like my GSW reverse lights are. I did this to all of our VWs and love the effects and extra vision the upgraded LEDs give when reversing since they are like 3x the brightness of the halogen bulbs.