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Outer Tail lights Not Working

Cory7R

New member
Location
USA
Car(s)
MK7 Golf R
thanks for anybodys help in advance,

Since i bought my 2016 R last year it came with a rear tail light issue.
the outer tail lights completely do not function. i found a work around to just make my inners functions as breaklights and blinkers so i didnt look into it much.
i recently bought and installed the Helix 7.5 euro lights hoping that it may have just been the light assembly's and that these would work perfectly fine.
unfortunately that isn't the case and the same exact thing persists with them as well. no i do not have warrenty.
as far as troubleshooting goes i have done the following;

verified OBD11 Coding is correct and is the default adaptations
verified the aftermarket lights work
checked possible fuses
did battery dc/rc
note: after digging i found that there isnt a single wire in common between both outer tail lights.


any and all help would be greatly appreciated as im at my wits end and desperately wish to have working tail lights and blinkers.
 

Escape Hatch

Autocross Champion
Location
USA
Car(s)
Mk7 GTI
My guess would be wiring as you have validated OBD11 and swapped tails with the issue still occurring.
 

Cory7R

New member
Location
USA
Car(s)
MK7 Golf R
Do you thinking taking it to a VW dealership to have them verify correct wiring would destroy my wallet?
 

ZERO815

Autocross Champion
Location
Köln Germany
Car(s)
2017 GTI SE DSG
Please take some pictures of your outer light harness plugs to verify they are pinned correctly.

Sample picture, note it’s from an inner light.
2611A100-5235-40D9-A369-492B3464AF5F.jpeg
 

Escape Hatch

Autocross Champion
Location
USA
Car(s)
Mk7 GTI
Looks like a lot of electrical tape there...
 

ZERO815

Autocross Champion
Location
Köln Germany
Car(s)
2017 GTI SE DSG
That doesn’t look right. The grey/black is in Pin3 but it needs to be in Pin4. But that doesn’t solve your issue. The grey/black is for the side marker lights.

To me it looks like the previous owner added European tail lights and there is some custom wiring going on. The red spade connector in the first picture doesn’t belong there either.
 

ZERO815

Autocross Champion
Location
Köln Germany
Car(s)
2017 GTI SE DSG
I guess if you open up the inner-light covers you‘ll find wires that don’t belong there too.
 

Cory7R

New member
Location
USA
Car(s)
MK7 Golf R
That doesn’t look right. The grey/black is in Pin3 but it needs to be in Pin4. But that doesn’t solve your issue. The grey/black is for the side marker lights.

To me it looks like the previous owner added European tail lights and there is some custom wiring going on. The red spade connector in the first picture doesn’t belong there either.
i was able to get in touch with the original owner and (to preface we are both US military and have lived in europe) when the car was in England for a time to meet their fog light laws a VW dealership installed a fog light and did some wiring. However, the fog lights only affect the inside taillights and dont have anything to do with the outer.
 

Cory7R

New member
Location
USA
Car(s)
MK7 Golf R
I guess if you open up the inner-light covers you‘ll find wires that don’t belong there too.
there is one extra red wire on the right side that i can only assume was for that fog light i just mentioned.
 

ZERO815

Autocross Champion
Location
Köln Germany
Car(s)
2017 GTI SE DSG
Okay that was connected to the grey/black on the passenger side with the red spade connector?
 

ZERO815

Autocross Champion
Location
Köln Germany
Car(s)
2017 GTI SE DSG
Please share the current coding of Leuchte20 and Leuchte21.
 

Cory7R

New member
Location
USA
Car(s)
MK7 Golf R
Okay that was connected to the grey/black on the passenger side with the red spade connector?
1D20032C-CCF2-49F9-AFBC-BF8791E6A7BD.jpeg
Here’s the wire I was talking about for the passenger inner light, the wire I think you’re talking about Is simply not connected to anything and I haven’t made any modifications at all.
 
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