Taillights Flickering while off!?!
09-15-2016, 05:16 AM
#1
Junior Member
Thread Starter
Taillights Flickering while off!?!
Ok, so here's the scenario...
Wife had noticed 2 days ago she would park the car and at lunch come outside to see that the right taillight would be illuminated...she would unlock and then lock the car with the key fob and lights would all turn off as designed. Wait about 30-45 seconds and taillight would again illuminate and begin to flicker sporadically. Fast forward, I come home from work and noticed that the taillight was on at home, she informed me of the situation, thinking maybe a bad ground I go to the taillight from the interior and unplug the harness, look for burns or imperfections, none noticed, and plug the harness back in. No lights on and no flickering, ok cool, maybe just needed to be reseated in the harness and PCB.
2 AM rolls around and we're awakened to the sound of the GLK alarm going off, I grab my flashlight, boots and an ASP and head outside ready for battle only to realize that the right taillight, right headlight and alarm are all flickering, in unison, and then the audible alarm starts to fade and battery dies over about a 2 minute timespan...now battery is dead so no key fob or lights or anything.
Where should I start first on the troubleshooting, I hate electrical gremlins with a passion, but I like the GLK more than trading it in to have someone else have to deal with it, aka too much $$ invested in it already... seems to me to either look into bad ground at taillight or SAM or possibly bad PCB/bulb connection(s)? Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Wife had noticed 2 days ago she would park the car and at lunch come outside to see that the right taillight would be illuminated...she would unlock and then lock the car with the key fob and lights would all turn off as designed. Wait about 30-45 seconds and taillight would again illuminate and begin to flicker sporadically. Fast forward, I come home from work and noticed that the taillight was on at home, she informed me of the situation, thinking maybe a bad ground I go to the taillight from the interior and unplug the harness, look for burns or imperfections, none noticed, and plug the harness back in. No lights on and no flickering, ok cool, maybe just needed to be reseated in the harness and PCB.
2 AM rolls around and we're awakened to the sound of the GLK alarm going off, I grab my flashlight, boots and an ASP and head outside ready for battle only to realize that the right taillight, right headlight and alarm are all flickering, in unison, and then the audible alarm starts to fade and battery dies over about a 2 minute timespan...now battery is dead so no key fob or lights or anything.
Where should I start first on the troubleshooting, I hate electrical gremlins with a passion, but I like the GLK more than trading it in to have someone else have to deal with it, aka too much $$ invested in it already... seems to me to either look into bad ground at taillight or SAM or possibly bad PCB/bulb connection(s)? Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
09-15-2016, 07:48 AM
#2
Out Of Control!!
You have an electrical leak(not going to sleep) somewhere--find someone with SDscan, which is an app in DAS Xentry for investigating the CAN, who will be able to determine the leak in ten minutes----all else disconnect your battery every time you turn the engine off.
09-27-2016, 07:26 AM
#3
Junior Member
Thread Starter
UPDATE***
So the only thing that has worked thus far is I've changed the bulbs on the entire rear tail lights...that's it...no issues since...not saying its fixed but looking okay for last 2 weeks or so...
So the only thing that has worked thus far is I've changed the bulbs on the entire rear tail lights...that's it...no issues since...not saying its fixed but looking okay for last 2 weeks or so...
