Changing middle brake light

[TheVarix]

Hi everyone!!

A few days ago I have noticed that my car's middle brake light is not working. For some time, when I pressed the brake pedal the lights in the dashboard dim a tiny bit and I was wondering what could be the problem. Could that be the cause?

I have opened the plastic cover in the boot lid to gain access to the lamp by removing the 4 screws from the black plastic cover but the thing won't come off. It's still attached to the lid by the 2 bits of plastic where you clip the strings. You can wiggle them a bit but I have not tried to remove them as I dont want to break any of the plastics.
Can you pull out those 2 plastic things (I don't know what else to call them) safely or am I missing anything? inkeye:

Also, does anyone know how many bulbs will I need? I think it's 4 but not sure

Many thanks beforehand for your advice

 

[martinthrapston]

have you checked the connection on the boot strut :roll:

 

[TheVarix]

Thanks for your reply!

The black wire that goes to the right hand side boot strut is cut as if it had snapped. I have noticed that the length of the cable is very short....

Could this then be the cause??

How easy/difficult is to fix?

 

[Tawny]

How easy/difficult is to fix?

It's an easy fix.
Here's a picture of the repair I did to mine. :thumbs:

The fully insulated spade socket, the pink heat-shrinkable double-ended crimp connector, and the black heat-shrink round the spade socket base all came from Halfords. The length of wire I had lying around from another job, but Halfords'll sell that too.
You'll need a pair of crimping pliers and a hot air gun for the heat shink.

If you want to remove the parcel shelf hooks, theres a seller on ebay with new ones here, in case they break.

While I had my boot lid trim off, I replaced the bulbs with these, in the hope they'll last the life of the car.

 

[TheVarix]

Many thanks for your reply,advice and links Tawny! They are really useful!! k:

Unfortunately this morning I have taken it to repair before I read your post...

I took it to a friend of a friend of mine's and he's extended the cable (it comes quite short from factory, doesn't it?)
Gave him a tenner for the trouble but I am considering getting the tools for any future problems (soldering iron, etc...)

The damaged wire was the earth connection that goes to the top of the right strut, like in your case.

He also welded the 2 lengths of wire with a soldering iron so hopefully that gets it really fixed. The only negative thing is that he used insulating tape rather than heatshrink like you did, which looks much neater.

Now my middle brake light is working again! :thumbs:

 

[JonB]

That black wire that uses the strut is not the earth, it is the live feed that tees into the loom just below the o/s brake light.

 

[TheVarix]

Thanks for clarifying!! :grin:

 

[kert47]

I had the same problem with the middle brake light not working. Spent time trying to change bulbs, checking wiring before looking on the forum. Your advice was brillant, wire was broken. Definitely a design fault.

Thanks for the help. :grin:

 

[Hardy M]

Hi all

I have the same problem with the Middle break light, when I got the car the wire to the boot strut was cut. When I replaced the struts I also re grounded the wire, unfortunately it now shorts out at the fuse box and knocks out the instrument panel,

All bulbs in the light are fine

Any ideas,