The driver's side tail light on my 2001 Discovery II is out. I pulled it and found the bulbs were good. By cleaning them, I could get one at a time working but not both then I couldn't get either of them working. Is this a known problem?
I suspect the insert the bulbs rest in my be dodgy.

I know with a different car I had that I had to improve the ground to fix a similar problem.

 

On early model DII's the drivers side tail light seal will leak and water will get in and corrode the tail light.
You will need to replace the whole light assembly.
If it is bad enough the passenger side will not work either and it piggy backs off of the drivers side.
www.roverlandparts.com
www.autosportsunlimited.com

 

Can I just get the insert? I didn't notice any corrosion inside but I don't doubt you are right.

 

Not as far as I know.
Also look for the tail lights on e-bay and at your local junk yards.

 

damn... i am having the same problem.

 

Has anyone found a solution to this?
I just encountered the same problem as well. The two top tail lights stopped working on the driver side as well as the license plate lights and the front driver side (city light) inside the head light.

I've checked ALL bulbs and they ALL work. I know its not corrosion in the socket as I had to replace the driver side tail light assembly anyways, so that is brand new.

I've check ALL fuses and the fuses are fine. Any one have any clue why this happens? I read a post on here from back in 2008 who had the same exact problem as I have but there was no solution posted.

Here are the details leading up to the problem:

1. Forgot to secure the driver side lamp assembly while replacing and tail light fell off while driving and the bottom half was almost completely destroyed.

2. Re-installed the destroyed driver side assembly and taped off the bottom half that was exposed, so no rain (moister) would get inside. NOTE: the two top running lights as well as the brake light were working when I re-installed the busted tail light as well as the license plate lights. The reverse light and socket were completely destroyed, so there was nothing there for the reverse light to work.

3. After about a week or two I noticed the the two top running lights were out (brake light was still working). Thought it was because of the almost destroyed back-side electronic bracket.

4. New (aftermarket) driver side light assembly was installed this morning and found even with the new assembly the two top running lights still not working. I did a lot of switching and interchanging as far as switching bulbs and switching left and right assembly's.

I am wondering if it did get wet while the bottom half was taped up. I may have not taped it up as well as I believed and it does rain a lot here.

NOTE: And I have a DISCO 2 2002

 

Not a lot of help for the op, but after 2 weeks with my 03 and taillight assys filled with water, I did 2 things: I scraped all of the old dried sealant away from the top and down the side of the housings, and replaced with new sealant, and I drilled a small hole in the very bottom (on the backside) of the housing for any moisture to evap/drip away. No issues since.