3rd Brake Light Not Working (13 Viewers)

[landy470]

Hello, I purchased my 02 LX470 several months ago and was going through the car top to bottom and discovered the infamous water leak from the 3rd (high mount) brake light on top of the tailgate. The PO attempted a bodge job with butyl tape to seal it. The housing was bowed from the sun and cracked in the middle, but it still worked. I wanted to replace it because it looked horrible, lo and behold they're hundreds of dollars. I went with an aftermarket for $30-$60. The first one I got a month ago I wired up but didn't work. I went ahead and tried another one thinking I got a bad unit, and this one doesn't work either. I'd rather not fork out hundreds for a brake light especially when these aftermarkets come in cool colors. Has anyone swapped theirs with an aftermarket? I got mine from CarID or something like that on eBay. Thanks.

 

[JunkCrzr89]

I got an OEM replacement from a salvage yard for $30.

 

[anhizer]

Do you have a test light or multi-meter? I would check to see if its getting power. Second thing to check is to hook the aftermarket unit up to a 9v battery on the bench and see if it illuminates there. LEDs will only work with the correct polarity, if it doesn't illuminate when connected with the 'correct' polarity, switch it to reverse polarity and see if it illuminates then. If it doesn't work with the 9v battery it may need 12v to go, but usually LED's will work (albiet not at full brightness) with a lower voltage power source. its possible you were unlucky and got two bad units in a row, but my guess is that is unlikely.

 

[landy470]

Do you have a test light or multi-meter? I would check to see if its getting power. Second thing to check is to hook the aftermarket unit up to a 9v battery on the bench and see if it illuminates there. LEDs will only work with the correct polarity, if it doesn't illuminate when connected with the 'correct' polarity, switch it to reverse polarity and see if it illuminates then. If it doesn't work with the 9v battery it may need 12v to go, but usually LED's will work (albiet not at full brightness) with a lower voltage power source. its possible you were unlucky and got two bad units in a row, but my guess is that is unlikely.

I tapped the light on the battery under the hood and it lights up. When I used a multimeter on the brake light plug on the rear hatch, the voltage was jumping all over the place and wasnt giving a constant reading. I got a used brake light because I cant see spending over a hundred on a damn light. The used one is bowed in the middle like most of em so i wish I could get the aftermarket one to work. Any ideas or other wiring I can tap into? Thanks