Failed Brake Lights

I think the second socket is for towbar wiring, apparently the official Citroen kit just plugs in. Dead convenient fix for your problem though.

John

Hi Ciaran & John

On all the XM's I have looked at on both sides the second socket has a plug with a single yellow wire going down to a ring connector bolted to the boot chassis rear cross member. Without this earth the rear lights can turn into a disco display.

Regards

John

If someone has used the awful snap connectors to wire in a towbar then they could be the cause of a broken wire. I have a failed O/S brake lamp which is caused by this problem. Trailer lights are OK though.
Just a thought, R

Hi John,

Brilliant!!! Now why didn't I think of that. It makes so much sense. I wired the towbar on both my XM's and used the old scotchlok method which is none too clever. I saw the second connector tracks and wondered why they were there. Now I know. Top of the class and a gold star for you. (or am I just showing my ignorance )

cheers

noz

It is unfortunate that both the towbar and the rearlight wires had - in my S1 car - the same red plug fitted. When I mentioned this to Paul Johnson, he said "just swap them over and all will be well". And so it was! Did Citroen change this for the S2 trailer wiring kit?

OK I have been putting up with the ns brake warning in my S1, to be honest its been an issue for years on and off and as there is a backup light on each side (yes, Ciaran, I was wrong about the backup being in the tailgate but the double filament bulb on each side does double up as a tail light (duplicated in the tailgate) and a brake light (duplicated with a single filament bulb below it) I wan't so worried, but I was testing today and getting very erratic (disco lights) behaviour even after changing the double filament bulb, with both NS brake lights mostly not working.

Anyway, after revisiting this thread I discovered that (1) the nut holding the NS earthing wire onto the chasis was well undone, to the point of being a debateable electrical contact , but that doing it up tight didn't fix my problem (2) I have the 2 sockets on the cluster too, and the OS (which works solidly) was plugged into the lower one, but the NS was plugged into the upper one. Swapped to the lower connector on the
NS, and voila, rock solid both bulbs on no warning light, we'll see how it going driving in the week but looks like a defo fix to me,

Now, just got to work out how to fix the boot light, thats been broken for YEARS!