Occasional Bulb Warning Lght

[Barracuda]

A few months ago the bulb warning light came on while I was driving, all the lights (headlights, tail lights, blinkers, high beams, etc) were working perfectly. I turned the car off and on again and the warning light was gone. Now just recently, the exact same thing happened again, turned it off and on again and like before it was gone.

Is this a known glitch? Has anyone else had this problem?

[ill0gitech]

A few months ago the bulb warning light came on while I was driving, all the lights (headlights, tail lights, blinkers, high beams, etc) were working perfectly. I turned the car off and on again and the warning light was gone. Now just recently, the exact same thing happened again, turned it off and on again and like before it was gone.
Is this a known glitch? Has anyone else had this problem?

I had this issue on Saturday & Sunday. Suddenly the Globe out light came on.
Checked all globes, including the licence plate lights - all good. Replaced my LED parkers with replacements - still happened. Replaced them with halogens, and no Globe-out light (for now)

Incidentally, this was a pain. The globe-out light only came on after some time driving (On Saturday and Sunday it was about 5 mins) And went off when I turned the engine off, came back on straight away when I keyed Accessory.
Pain in the arse that it didn't come on straight away

[Martin]

I am also experiencing this - but only on LED's (that are meant to be canbus friendly)
It appears that the car thinks the LED is ok when off, but once the LED is turned on the car thinks it's dead

[Barracuda]

Hmm, yeah it's a frustrating issue, but it always goes away for me after I turn the car off and then back on. I asked the dealer once and they said that it can sometimes happen if you've driven on a bumpy road or something where the bulb fitting could temporarily come loose or move... Sounds like a bit of a cover-up excuse to me, but who knows! Could also be a fuse or software thing.

[nomadx38]

Guess it depends what type (brand/quality) of led bulbs you are using. I have philips leds for everything (tails, parkers, licence plate and every interior light) and it has never thrown up an error ever.

[Barracuda]

Just on the topic, I'm also thinking of changing the rear number plate lights to LED's like the Audi A1's have. Can someone point me in the direction of some good quality LED globes that will fit the Polo's number plate lights? Thanks in advance

[BLN355]

Can you tell me what tail LED globes you used? Do you know if they have Red versions?

[GTI JOE]

Guess it depends what type (brand/quality) of led bulbs you are using. I have philips leds for everything (tails, parkers, licence plate and every interior light) and it has never thrown up an error ever.

Have you got the Philips part numbers? or better still, where you purchased them from? Because I've tried several brands and all kick up warning light

[ill0gitech]

Just on the topic, I'm also thinking of changing the rear number plate lights to LED's like the Audi A1's have. Can someone point me in the direction of some good quality LED globes that will fit the Polo's number plate lights? Thanks in advance

I used the ones from Super-cheap. Whilst it appears the MY11s and MY12s may have had "globe out" issues on these, I had no such issue - even with no globe in there, so it appears it may be coded differently in the MY12.5. Easy way to test, take the globes out

As an aside, the LED parkers I have are canbus friendly ones, and I have two sets that had been working for 6 months until last weekend

[nomadx38]

Hey guys

Here’s the links to the products I got:

Interior lighting (Front 3 under stereo + 1 in boot), number plate light (now using OEM LEDS – see bottom link), front parking lights (Again now got OEM as i fitted the Xenon’s w/DRL):

Philips X-treme Vision LED W5W T10 6000k (Twin Pack) | Car Bulbs Direct

Rear interior lighting and sun visor lights:

Philips Blue Vision LED C5W Festoon 6000K (Single Bulb) | Car Bulbs Direct

And if you are interested in getting the OEM licence plate LEDS

Original VW LED License Plate Lighting Set VW Polo 6R 2010 | eBay

Why did I change from Philips LED’s to OEM LED’s for the number plate lights?
This is because LED’s are very directional and only have about a 90 degree spread. What this meant is that a lot of light was lost with the number plate lights because the bulb sits sideways in the holder and thus shines into the side. Only the ambient light from that was actually lighting up the plate in a very uneven pattern. The OEM lights have a circuit board with the LEDs on it which point down and thus output much better light. The boot light suffers from the same problem but meh, who uses the boot.

All the other lights in the car face down (or forwards in the headlights) so there is no problem. As I said I have never had an error in my car BUT remember I have a MY11 Polo 77TSI. Revisions may have been made to the electronics module & the GTI has the full MFD+ which shows more info than the lower models. I did check VCDS though and there was no errors there either.

Don't bother getting any of these products here in australia. Autobarn want more than $50 for the philips globes (each) and VW want $95 for the OEM licence plate light (again each)

GTI JOE, send us a PM if you are ever around the eastern suburbs, I have a few spare bulbs and can test them out for you if you want.

Also they only make white so you can’t use them for brake or indicators

[GTI JOE]

^^^^ thanks for the info mate. Yeah, I'll shoot you a PM if I'm in your area

[Difinity]

Don't really know about VAG lights, but my Saab's show a bulb error if the viltage differs side to side. I always change both lights at the same time. Been using Narva + rated for some years now. Will see what it is like on the new Skoda...

[Nuggos]

god i really want led license plate lights but i dont want an error

[nomadx38]

Then get the OEM licence plate LED's which i posted in the previous post. These don't throw up an error (on mine anyway)

[Martin]

I asked the dealer once and they said that it can sometimes happen if you've driven on a bumpy road or something where the bulb fitting could temporarily come loose or move... Sounds like a bit of a cover-up excuse to me, but who knows!

Actually this just happened to me - just fiddled with the bulb and now no more dash errors