Audi A4 Iicense plate lights fix

This video shows you how to replace your license/number plate lights with LED’s and fix the problem of the lights not working even when there is 12 volts across the bulb holder terminal. The video also shows how to remove the boot/trunk liner and how to remove the boot/ trunk lock barrel. In this particular case we also had to drill out the rusted screws which hold in the number plate lights.

[@gsmdo8836]

Nice work - helped me replacing the entire casting today - I would have been lost without advice like the 1/4 turn of the lock mechanism. Many thanks 👍

[@MikesMercsandothercars]

Thanks for you comment - glad the video helped. Mike

[@tobiaslinlkken5307]

Hey its me the guy who got fed by not watching youtube first

[@Radek__]

5:27 Thank you so much for this part of video. You helped me a lot. Yesterday I was on the egde of mental-stability trying to remove that lock :) greetings from Poland.

[@MikesMercsandothercars]

Thanks for your comment. Really glad the video helped - it took me a while to work it out! Mike in UK

[@waynesalekin4737]

Great job! Thank you very much! This is one of the best full instructional video clips I've seen.

[@MikesMercsandothercars]

Thanks for your kind comment! Monty Python once did a sketch of 'How To Play The Flute; where an expert came on, and said ' You blow in one end and move your fingers up and down the other end'. Some KZbin car videos are a bit like that - if I actually want to do the job (as opposed to watch a KZbin video to pass the time), I need to know the exact details from the perspective of someone who hasn't done the job before - thats what I try to do on this small channel and I am happy if these videos help someone. Mike

[@contexo9968]

Thanks for posting. I’ve just replaced the lights with LEDs on my wife’s car. All the best.

[@MikesMercsandothercars]

Thanks for your comment - glad it was helpful. Mike

[@danobable]

excellent, really clear video, and thanks for explaining about all the clips, I get impatient and rip things out breaking them, I won't any more! cheers

[@MikesMercsandothercars]

Thanks for your comment - yes you either need patience or a big wallet. Mike

[@gaming_allowed]

thanks for making this video, this is exactly what i needed. my A4 convertale number plate has complete corroded away and need to reapir it

[@MikesMercsandothercars]

Thanks for your comment - glad the video helped. Mike

[@TheIntrepidus]

Spot on mate. Good instructions but my bulbs work if glow bulbs but LED-Canbus won't work. I'm off researching further.

[@MikesMercsandothercars]

You mean they dont light at all...or they give an error? Mike

[@TheIntrepidus]

@@MikesMercsandothercars No light at all. I had at one point LED inserts for original housing and those didn't have a load module so they blinked and shut off with an error but this time no light at all.

[@MikesMercsandothercars]

@@TheIntrepidus Did you watch the whole video up to 8.50 time code? I had the same problem initially and solved it with a simple hack. What terrible sound that video has! Mike

[@TheIntrepidus]

@@MikesMercsandothercars yeah, i watched entire video. I have opened the entire setup which is in ABS plastic and most of the contacts were melted and or cracked. I had to mold new holders with Isocyanate and baking soda (free trick to instantly harden quick-fix glue). When I made everything stable, both lamps work now and no warning 👍🤓 Thank you for your concern!

[@MikesMercsandothercars]

@@TheIntrepidus Result! Mike

[@josedominguez2706]

Great video, in min 10 u said to fool the ECU you hold the bulb to BOTH positive cables?? I have an 2008 A8 quattro, the harness has two brown wire which I think are "earth" as you say, and the other two are the positive. One is for the number plate the other is for the door to open. So I am to touch the bulb to BOTH positive cables right?

[@MikesMercsandothercars]

Thanks for your comment - I think I meant to say touch the bulb across the blue and brown wires NOT 2 positive wires. All you need to do is ensure that the bulb lights up...there is not much you can do to mess things up....just try not to touch the positive and he earth together... Mike

[@WiJoY78]

Nice video, thanks. Can you tell me which fuse box and fuse are for the license plate lights?

[@MikesMercsandothercars]

Hi - I'm not sure if the license plate lights have their own fuse. These lights only come on when you turn on the lights so you should be OK to work on these lights if you don't turn on the lights. To be on the safe side you can always disconnect the battery....although I wouldn't recommend it. Mike

[@WiJoY78]

@@MikesMercsandothercars I just replaced the lights but they are not working. 😔

[@MikesMercsandothercars]

@@WiJoY78 Did you replace them with standard light fittings or with LED's? Mike

[@WiJoY78]

@@MikesMercsandothercars I got the same LED.

[@MikesMercsandothercars]

@@WiJoY78 Probably a stupid question, but are you sure they are in the right way round....eg so that the metal contacts are touching the metal contacts of the light socket? The reason for asking is that mine were labeled back to front eg right was left and left was right. If you are 100% certain they are in the right way, put a 9v battery across the terminals of the LEDs to make sure they work. Did your number plate lights work OK before the switch to LEDs?

[@ROBdr]

nice batman sticker vid very helpfully cheers buddy

[@MikesMercsandothercars]

Glad the vid was useful. Funny how a £2 Batman sticker transforms that car! Mike

[@bedislovas]

Hi, why I got only 10.44V in number plate? Bulbs doesnt work. But then I connecting bulbs directly to batery it works good. Batery 12.36V

[@MikesMercsandothercars]

Thanks for your comment. You have high resistance in the wires. Could be corrosion. Mike

[@MrDonnie90]

Damn that’s a lot of work. I have a similar issue in terms of the screw that’s holding the lights have been destroyed. But thank you for the very informative video. Definitely helped. Just a question, after you installed these lights, did you get a canbus error ?

[@MikesMercsandothercars]

Hi - Thanks for your comment. It is one of the those "Easy when you know how jobs"...I didn't get any errors once the lights were fitted....although I have read that with some lights you do get problems. Mike

[@d0lla625]

Hey not fair we don't get the triangle in America 🤦🏽‍♂️💀😤😂😂😂✌🏾👍🏾great video...

[@MikesMercsandothercars]

Is that true...I never knew that!.Mike

[@d0lla625]

@@MikesMercsandothercars 😂its crazy

[@burna3165]

Hi there mate, I have a problem with my number plate lights on my a3 2008, they used to work fine no problems but now they are intermittent, most of the time they flicker on and off and sometimes they aren’t on at all just one is on but very dim. The guy I bought the car off had replaced the stock lights with LEDs and were working fine for about a 8 months after I bought the car off him, when I went to take them out to try the stock lights, I noticed all screws were rounded off 😩 any help/ suggestions is much appreciated, thanks.

[@ninjasbrothers4529]

What size screws did you use? I need to replace mine on my a3 09 and what was the paper you used to clean the connections mine have limescaled from water getting in Thanks Casey

[@MikesMercsandothercars]

Thanks for you message. I used p1000 grit sandpaper to clean the contacts. Anything above p400 would do I reckon. I didn't buy any specific screws - I just used some that i had in my miscellaneous screw box. If possible use a type of screw that doesn't rust. Mike

[@dianaradu4720]

Hello, what are the screws size for the lamps?

[@peter.bacinsky]

very helpful, thanks

[@MikesMercsandothercars]

My pleasure - glad it was useful. Mike

[@Mookey1972]

Great video thank you very much!

[@MikesMercsandothercars]

Thanks for your comment - glad the vid was helpful. Mike

[@90210dk1]

Great tutirial thanks...liked and subbed..

[@MitkoFilipov]

also i think the warning/error beeps after you put it in drive.

[@hunainjaffar4996]

Hi the lights work on my car and they are leds but the number plate light keeps coming on?

[@MikesMercsandothercars]

Thanks for your comment. Do you mean that the number plate lights are LEDs and they come on even when the main headlights are off? If so, when did that problem start? Mike

[@davey4808]

Hello what size are the bulbs in the Audi

[@MikesMercsandothercars]

Hi - the old bulb in the car is 12v 5W. If you type “number plate light bulb in eBay you will find them. Mike.

[@jameshall5104]

How do you charge to this job please !!!!

[@MikesMercsandothercars]

Thanks for your comment, I don't take on work for other people but I reckon you could give this job a go your self....Mike

[@MitkoFilipov]

so the ones on my car, from the factory, werent working at all, threw them out, cleaned the pins as they were charcoaled and then installed the LED ones and they are working fine. so before i installed them, i obviously had error on the dash, that my license plate lights were not working. after i installed them and started up the car to see if the error is still there, luckily it was gone, but i guess the car doesnt want to stay without an error, so now it thinks my left rear indicator is out. but its not. now what should i do? 😂

[@MikesMercsandothercars]

Thanks for your comment and sorry to read you have a problem. Dont think the number plate lights are linked to the indicators. I would try and swapping the indicator bulbs and seeing if the error swaps over. Mike

[@MitkoFilipov]

@@MikesMercsandothercars ye, im thinking of dismantling the rear lights and see what the fuss is about, maybe use some contact spray as well. but i havent actually driven the car since installing the new number plate lights, so im gonna wait out a bit, maybe it will go away by itself, hopefully. 😂 cheers!

[@SuperWayneyb]

🤘😎🤘

[@MikesMercsandothercars]

Thanks for your comment. Mike

[@2bearQloza]

He won't work for me, and he reports a bug on the board, what could it be? Thanks everyone

[@MikesMercsandothercars]

Do you mean you have put in LED's number plate lights and they don't work? Mike

[@2bearQloza]

Yes that's right. when I put the old one back, where are the ordinary light bulbs then it works, if I put the LED it shows me an error on the board and it doesn't work

[@MikesMercsandothercars]

@@2bearQloza Hi - the reason is likely to be that your CANbus syste, (cars computer) is looking for a specific resistance in the bulb. If it doesn't see that resistance, it will cut power to that circuit. The solution is either to use CANbus compatible lights which jave an extra resistor built in (See ebay number 172971465076) OR to use some thing like the OSRAM LED Resistor kit (ebay item 163183045109) Every car is slightly different and with my Audi a4 cab the cheap lights from China worked just fine with no MODS. Hope that helps. Mike

[@Leopold-fy7bp]

8:20 there's no blue wire, its only brown, grey and black. But great video otherwise.

[@MikesMercsandothercars]

Well spotted - you are quite right! I usually pick these things up in the edit but not this time....and re-watching the video has reminded me never to try and shoot a video with a tornado in the background. Mike

[@rinaldsc]

Great video only if the lock came out.. literally impossible not to mention lost my long 10mm socket in the boot and one of the caps, I have now given up lol f this.

[@MikesMercsandothercars]

Thanks for your comment and sorry to read you are having problems. Are you able to rotate your lock 45 degrees as per 5.40 in the video. Sometimes these locks can be stuck to the outer casing and a real pig to tap out. Don't give up - it took me days of frustration to do this which is why I posted the video. Mike

[@МаксимНайден-б4н]

Ня́чЯ́

[@MikesMercsandothercars]

Is that a question...or are you testing my knowledge of the Belarusian language?