After a quick wash today, I got a message to "check left rear light" and not long after, "check left rear turn signal". I checked both, along with the tail light and all are functioning properly. I got out the scan tool and checked for the codes, cleared the error codes and they came right back. At that point, the left turn indicator on the front dash clicked more rapidly, when signaling left.

I removed the left rear tail light, disconnected it and had a look. All looked good (but it's just a sealed box, so no surprises there!), dried it off (a clue?) and cleaned the area, reconnected and reinstalled. Same warnings, so I again connected the scan tool and cleared the error codes and this time, voila! No more codes, no messages on the information display and light working properly, left turn signal indicator clicking at the proper (slower) rate.

Gremlins. Worried it will return! Maybe a faulty circuit board somewhere?

 

Just a guess, but how old is your battery?

 

good thought. i haven’t been putting it on the maintainer lately. five years old. I’ll charge it fully and test.

 

You mentioned drying it off and then the next time you cleared the code, the problem was gone. Wondering if that’s your culprit.

 

I wondered about that as well. But why after this bath, and not all the others. 🤷🏻‍♂️

 

returned after another wash...added some dielectric grease to the plug and adjusted the rear light position to fit more tightly. problem solved!

 

Posted this in another thread but adding here as well.

Something similar happened to me yesterday. I only captured this one image but out of nowhere I received this error along with the same one for the right side simultaneously. This happened while suddenly while sitting waiting to move. Both lights appeared to be working fine. Turned the car off and on and the error messages were gone.

Although this error appeared suddenly while the car was sitting idle, the only thing I could say that was different that day was that I did take the car on an aggressive and spirited drive through some ‘country back roads’ that were bumpy and not in the greatest condition. But between the time of that drive and the time the errors appeared, a few hours had lapsed as well as multiple start & stop cycles.

What I somewhat suspect and am hopeful might have been the culprit for these error messages is the battery as its original manufacture date 2016 (now almost 2024). I know that at any moment it will be time for replacement so battery gremlins is always suspect when odd & unexplained error codes appear.

 

Since adding dielectric grease, mine hasn’t returned. My battery is a bit younger, 11/19.

🤞🏼

 

@rchaas would you mind explaining to me precisely where are you applied the dielectric grease?

 

Not at all! i applied it to the male (car) side of the plug, on its face and around the sides. That way, all the small connectors are surrounded by grease as they mate.

i don’t know if that is the correct way to use it, but that’s what i did and it seems to have worked. 😊