Rear Light Bar Flickering

[tsedge]

My rear light bar seems to be failing. It is flickering on the left hand side and the zig-zag pattern on top is flickering.

I don't know if this has anything to do with condensation but I have always had condensation in the bar and it never fully goes away even in summer.

After my last experience with the footrest, I am concerned that this won't be covered by the warranty and will be expensive to replace.

I might simply try and see if I can unplug this on its own as I don't need it for rear lights, but I am not sure if this is possible without losing the rear high/level brake light that is still working fine.

Anyone else had this experience? The car is 2.5 years old now.

Thanks.

 

[pollenface]

ask dealer to replace it under warranty

 

[tsedge]

ask dealer to replace it under warranty

Well, past experience says:

£100+ diagnostic fee (applies if car more than 3 months old) to then be told it isn't covered at this point in the warranty and will cost £100s of pounds to fix. They will insist on the diagnostic ("in case it is a loose connection").

Not keen to go down that route again for something I don't really care about (I never see it, it is for everyone else).

And before you say it, I have one of the better dealers in the area and there aren't many.

 

[MG Clive]

All MG4s have the high level brake light, but they don't all have the rear light bar, so it must be possible to disconnect one independently of the other.

 

[tsedge]

All MG4s have the high level brake light, but they don't all have the rear light bar, so it must be possible to disconnect one independently of the other.

Good point Clive, I shall consult the engineering
manuals to see what is involved.

 

[salty]

That's a pain. But would bug the hell out of me. And would just have to be sorted, one way or another. Passed an MG4 the other day, with a DRL not working, Thought that would have to be fixed ASAP.

 

[tsedge]

That's a pain. But would bug the hell out of me. And would just have to be sorted, one way or another. Passed an MG4 the other day, with a DRL not working, Thought that would have to be fixed ASAP.

Yes, I get that many people would want to have it working. Don't get me wrong, I'd prefer that, but it isn't like a DRL - it isn't required legally - and I am loathed to keep paying these fees just to be told stuff isn't covered.

Anyone had one of these replaced under warranty after 2+ years? Would help to know if that is likely at this point.

I don't object to diagnostic fees per se, the garage need to pay their staff, it is the chicken-and-egg of not knowing if it is covered beforehand that is the problem.

I suppose I might be able to get a replacement unit from a breaker's, if it turns out to be expensive.

 

[gary333]

Yes, I get that many people would want to have it working. Don't get me wrong, I'd prefer that, but it isn't like a DRL - it isn't required legally - and I am loathed to keep paying these fees just to be told stuff isn't covered.

Anyone had one of these replaced under warranty after 2+ years? Would help to know if that is likely at this point.

I don't object to diagnostic fees per se, the garage need to pay their staff, it is the chicken-and-egg of not knowing if it is covered beforehand that is the problem.

I suppose I might be able to get a replacement unit from a breaker's, if it turns out to be expensive.

Why would the dealer charge if you have a fault the is clear to see? Yes, a third party garage would expected they would want to charge, but these are the dealers, they represent the brand and as such the onus falls on them to perform the required checks to submit a warranty claim.

I've never had any experience with any brand of having to pay anything when it's under warranty, even when this includes no fault found situations.

 

[salty]

Why would the dealer charge if you have a fault the is clear to see? Yes, a third party garage would expected they would want to charge, but these are the dealers, they represent the brand and as such the onus falls on them to perform the required checks to submit a warranty claim.

I've never had any experience with any brand of having to pay anything when it's under warranty, even when this includes no fault found situations.

Totally agree. But we are talking about MG here, who seem to have a totally different set of rules.

 

[Alb]

I recently had a rear parking sensor replaced under warranty and my car is 4 years old. They had to do a diagnosis first but there was no charge for that.

 

[MG Clive]

Being a curious type of person, I've just had a look at the wiring loom going into the tailgate, and there are 13 wires inside the rubber on the left hand side. When you start looking, you realize there are wires for the camera, boot release, and number plate lights, as well as the brake light and light bar with it's leds. I know this doesn't help you @tsedge, just my observations.

 

[tsedge]

Why would the dealer charge if you have a fault the is clear to see? Yes, a third party garage would expected they would want to charge, but these are the dealers, they represent the brand and as such the onus falls on them to perform the required checks to submit a warranty claim.

I've never had any experience with any brand of having to pay anything when it's under warranty, even when this includes no fault found situations.

MG are not like that. The warranty has tons of limitations and exclusions in the small print, so a lot of things are not covered for even 3 years (eg 12 months on the interior), as I found out with my footrest and the leather splitting on my driver's seat.

It is a low cost model, which is why the dealers charge for diagnostics (which other brands do too but not as quickly/readily in my experience).

If it is covered by warranty, the diagnostic charge is refunded, the problem is not knowing whether it will be covered before asking for the diagnostic - I am always told a fault has to be properly diagnosed even if obvious in order to know what the fix is.

 

[Tuareg]

Clearly not all dealers in the UK charge for a 'diagnostic', maybe time to change dealer?

 

[tsedge]

Clearly not all dealers in the UK charge for a 'diagnostic', maybe time to change dealer?

As far as I know all the dealers near me do. But I can ring around to see if that has changed. Worth a try.

 

[pjmmk]

Have you tried the obvious? Buy a spray can of contact cleaner, pull the plug apart, spray the contacts on both sides, put it back together.

 

[tsedge]

Have you tried the obvious? Buy a spray can of contact cleaner, pull the plug apart, spray the contacts on both sides, put it back together.

It is a sealed LED unit, so there is no obvious plug and my experience with LEDs is when there is flickering it is usually component failure (eg a capacitor on the circuit board).

If I can find a plug I will try that, but if I have to disassemble too much to get at that, I likely won't bother.

 

[gary333]

MG are not like that. The warranty has tons of limitations and exclusions in the small print, so a lot of things are not covered for even 3 years (eg 12 months on the interior), as I found out with my footrest and the leather splitting on my driver's seat.

It is a low cost model, which is why the dealers charge for diagnostics (which other brands do too but not as quickly/readily in my experience).

If it is covered by warranty, the diagnostic charge is refunded, the problem is not knowing whether it will be covered before asking for the diagnostic - I am always told a fault has to be properly diagnosed even if obvious in order to know what the fix is.

If the issue is evident and on the list of things covered then it’s their problem not yours. Paying anything is ridiculous, the only time there should be a liability to you is if you’ve intentionally damaged something, such as letting a dog chew wiring or similar, or neglect, flooding etc.

Cheap car is an excuse, they sold a product, it’s faulty, and clearly visible, then it’s their problem. Customers accepting this state of affairs is baffling. There’s no chance I’d be standing for any of this at all. The dealer(s) accepted (by becoming brand ambassadors and representatives) this situation, they can lump it. This is the reason why dealers charge higher prices to account for this scenario.

I can only presume that certain parts of the country are hotspots for pee takers, and maybe you live in one so they hedge their bets. I've had many new cars by many different brands, and not once have I ever been charged for any warranty investigation.

 

[tsedge]

If the issue is evident and on the list of things covered then it’s their problem not yours. Paying anything is ridiculous, the only time there should be a liability to you is if you’ve intentionally damaged something, such as letting a dog chew wiring or similar, or neglect, flooding etc.

Cheap car is an excuse, they sold a product, it’s faulty, and clearly visible, then it’s their problem. Customers accepting this state of affairs is baffling. There’s no chance I’d be standing for any of this at all. The dealer(s) accepted (by becoming brand ambassadors and representatives) this situation, they can lump it. This is the reason why dealers charge higher prices to account for this scenario.

I can only presume that certain parts of the country are hotspots for pee takers, and maybe you live in one so they hedge their bets. I've had many new cars by many different brands, and not once have I ever been charged for any warranty investigation.

Well I sympathise with the sentiment, I also wish it were different and I understand your experience has been different to mine.

But there's no practical help in what you say, since insisting it should be different is something I have tried before.

Not standing for it doesn't get me anywhere and it simply isn't worth going legal for something like this.

All these responses have been helpful from everyone, I will explore my options and report back when I have something to share. Thanks for the input, much appreciated.

 

[siteguru]

"Going legal" has its own challenges, in that once 6 months from purchase have passed the seller can require the consumer to prove (on the balance of probabilities) that the fault is due to a manufacturing issue. Such proof would usually be by commissioning an inspection and report.

Please note that consumer rights are separate from any warranty. Just because a manufacturer excludes/sets a time limit on something doesn't mean the consumer has no claim - it's just that the claim route is different.

 

[tsedge]

Please note that consumer rights are separate from any warranty. Just because a manufacturer excludes/sets a time limit on something doesn't mean the consumer has no claim - it's just that the claim route is different.

That's a good point, thanks for the reminder.