hello,

nice to have found such helpful site...

anyhow i have 02 a6 3.0 and been having few major problems over the recent years. hopefully someone could shed some light on what'z goin' on as i love this car dearly (it still only has about 60k on it).

first problem is the BRAKE LIGHTS (actual lights, not the warning sign) which stays on sometimes and even worse comes on in the middle of the night without any pattern eating up my battery. i first noticed the problem about 3~4 years ago and took it to the dealer as i still had full warranty left but they said something about adjusting the brake sensor but didn't do any good as the problem reappear time to time after that. i did notice whenever prior to the problem appears, the ESP sign comes on while i'm driving so it maybe some kind of electrical issue rather than switch or sensor as it comes and goes...these days i just take out the brake light fuse whenever i park for lengthy period of time but of course that's real pain in the ***.

now i haven't search the whole forum for the same issue as i'm pretty sure i'm not the only one with that problem but would really appreciate any help so i won't have to worry about the damn lights coming on while i'm in sleep ~


i do have a bigger issue with ESP sign with engine stalling / rpm going nuts but let's take care of this one first and (hopefully) take it from there.

thanx in advance !!

 

woah sounds like a serious electrical prob... only advice i can think of is if the dealer/mechanic cannot fix it go get a viper alarm installed with a remote kill switch and just power it down everynight. just route the kill switch to the lighting system and leave the rest of the car alone.... sorry thats the best i got to offer.

 

Sounds like a faulty brake light switch.

 

I'm going to have to agree with the brake light switch. I have the same car and ran into the same problem. This also caused some strange RPM and cruise control issues. I replaced the brake light switch (about $10 bought at a VW dealership because the parts are interchangeable) and did it myself in about a half hour. It's a really easy job. Here is the link that helped me to get to the switch. http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=967146
The only thing I almost forgot was to pull up on the upside down U shaped piece of plastic sitting on top of the steering wheel and leaning against the dash. Try this and hopefully it will solve your problem.

 

wow, thank u so much for detail info.
i'm gonna try that indeed.

thanx again !!