Third Break Light
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Third Break Light
Went the other day to get the car inspected and the guy failed it b/c my 3rd breaklight doesn't work. I know its up to the inspector to pass or fail it and I guess I just took it to an *** that day. Well either way I looked at the wiring to the light and the rear defroster wire on the drivers side of the is missing( the little thin wire that runs along the top of the window). Now my question is how do I either replace that wire or just rewire the light. Are those wires pos or neg charged or what. I have a book but the setup looks kind of funny to me. Can any1 help with this?
I took the light off but it looks funny to me so I would rather have it on there. Also I have the external light.
Thanks in advance!
I took the light off but it looks funny to me so I would rather have it on there. Also I have the external light.
Thanks in advance!
#2
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Re: Third Break Light
Originally Posted by Derickab
I looked at the wiring to the light and the rear defroster wire on the drivers side of the is missing( the little thin wire that runs along the top of the window)....
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Re: Third Break Light
See you have the internal brake light but mines sits external. I'll post some pictures later on after i get home from work. When I disassembled the light I didn't see anywhere else the wires ran but to the wires for the rear defroster. I could be wrong though and the wires were cut and stuck somewhere.
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Re: Third Break Light
I could only snap a quick picture of my '91 Formula's hatch for reference, as that's the only 3rd gen that I have left. However, any mid to late 80's F-Body, w/the 3rd brake light mounted externally (on the top of the hatch) should still be wired the same exact way though, with the wiring running forward along toward the dome light, then following it down toward the main harness....
Originally Posted by Derickab
See you have the internal brake light but mines sits external. I'll post some pictures later on after i get home from work. When I disassembled the light I didn't see anywhere else the wires ran but to the wires for the rear defroster. I could be wrong though and the wires were cut and stuck somewhere....
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Re: Third Break Light
Was very curious now, so I ran a quick search and found a response from a similar scenario by Trickster. If these 3rd brake light's (like your's) are in fact feeded through the defroster grounds, what an absolutely ridiculous configuration (with GM, I'm not surprised though), and I'm not surprised as to why they changed it later on. Gonna delve a little bit deeper into this myself, because now I'm very curious, but in the interim, Click Here, ....
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Re: Third Break Light
Was very curious now, so I ran a quick search and found a response from a similar scenario by Trickster. If these 3rd brake light's (like your's) are in fact feeded through the defroster grounds, what an absolutely ridiculous configuration (with GM, I'm not surprised though), and I'm not surprised as to why they changed it later on. Gonna delve a little bit deeper into this myself, because now I'm very curious, but in the interim, Click Here, ....
Thanks man! When i did this search I came up with nothing.
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Re: Third Break Light
I had a problem with my third brake light many years ago, and my memory is a little fuzzy. Yes I think that the rear defrost share a common ground, because if one of the wires get pulled off the struts when you hit your brake the rear defrost comes "on". The contacts next to the latch is where the brake gets it's power, but the problem that I had was that the contacts on the underside of the glass under the brake light wheren't making contact, so I had to take a strip of rubber(old bike innertube) under the lens so that the contacts stayed in contact.
I hope this helps, if not I can go home and take pictures of what I have when I get home.
I hope this helps, if not I can go home and take pictures of what I have when I get home.
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Re: Third Break Light
I had a problem with my third brake light many years ago, and my memory is a little fuzzy. Yes I think that the rear defrost share a common ground, because if one of the wires get pulled off the struts when you hit your brake the rear defrost comes "on". The contacts next to the latch is where the brake gets it's power, but the problem that I had was that the contacts on the underside of the glass under the brake light wheren't making contact, so I had to take a strip of rubber(old bike innertube) under the lens so that the contacts stayed in contact.
I hope this helps, if not I can go home and take pictures of what I have when I get home.
I hope this helps, if not I can go home and take pictures of what I have when I get home.
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Re: Third Break Light
this picture doesn't show it well but, (12 years ago) I took the light apart and under the the rubber strip I jammed a piece of rubber under to get the contact under to connect.
And this last picture shows how there are 2 wires on this side(1 on the other side) 1 for the defrost 1 for the light. (the other side is ground)
I hope this helps, tell me if you need more pictures, my car is easy to get pictures of.(collecting dust in the garage )
Last edited by david86camaro; 09-06-2007 at 10:05 PM. Reason: bad links
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Re: Third Break Light
Yea I got what you're saying. When you look at the middle pic the wire from the top in the drivers side on my car leading from the light down is missing. So I'm thinking I can either rewire it to one of the breaklight wires or just find that wire and rerun it. Not sure but I will have to try and hit up a junkyard this weekend.
Thanks again!
Thanks again!
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