Third Brake Light (High Mount) repair using LED's - Warning...A Lot Of Pictures!!

First let me say that I would not have attempted this without the write up that Joe posted here
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=146303

I'm posting this because I took pictures of the high mount brake light (also known as the third brake light) during disassembly. Honestly it was more work to remove the lens than to do the conversion. So here is how I started.

I realized my third brake light wasn't working a few weeks ago while driving behind my wife. God knows how long its been not working.

So I searched on the board and found it to be a common problem, and that the bulb was very expensive. I saw Joe's post about converting to LED's and figured that's what I'd do.
Then the other day I was behind a Chevy Venture van and noticed it had a strip of LED's for a third brake light.

Well this weekend was 1/2 price weekend at LKQ, and lucky for me they had one Chevy Venture. I popped the third brake light apart and found a nice strip of LED's.



I had my drill with me, so I cut some wire, hooked them up using the battery, and they glowed bright red!
$3.00 later I was on my way home (with a bunch of other stuff too.
- cowl covers - cause my washer fluid mounts are broken $6.00
- L and R front axles - $12.50 each
But that's for another day...

I was eager to get working in the brake light, so here is where I started.

1 - Remove the interior door panel. BE CAREFULL it will be brittle.
There are 2 screws in the pull down strap
There is a screw by the lock pull too (I missed this one and put a small crack in my panel)
Lay the panel aside and remove the ballast for the existing bulb. 2 philips screws.



2 - Disconnect the ballast harness and the funny looking blue and white wires going to the lens.



3 - Remove the 3 bolts holding the lens in. One is in the middle, the other 2 are in the holes at either side.



There are also 5-6 rivets you need to drill out. You can see these with the back glass up.



You also need to remove the 2 bolts on each side of the door. These hold the ends of the black trim the light is mounted in on each side of the hatch



Once you get the trim piece off, disconnect the washer fluid hose, and pull the white and blue wires and their grommets out.



- Nice goatee.. anyway...

4 - Turn the trim piece over, you'll have to get the lens out by prying on the side where the rivets were.
There is a metal bracket holding it in on the other side that has small melted tabs holding the lens in. I cracked these off and it all came apart.



From the outside you're left with this



5 - Other threads suggested heating the lens in the oven, there is no way my wife would go for that, so I used a heat gun. After a few minutes it was not too

hard to pry the back and the lens apart. hint.. use gloves... that damn thing got hot.



6 - Using the heat gun I cleaned up the glue that was left. And removed the bulb.



7 - I cut the harness off the ballast so I could use it on the new wires to the LED's





8 - I removed the wire harness from the LED's and soldered on longer wires to go through the door.
hint - don't solder the other end of the harness on yet as there's not a hold big enough to get it through the door.
--> don't ask me how I know



I used a hot glue gun to fill the remaining holes and to mount the LED strip in place.
I angled it down a little because the slope of the hatch. I want the LEDs to shine straight out.



And here are the LED's mounted and glued.



9 - Using the bead of silicone all around the lip, I clamped the lens back on and let it dry.




--> That's as far as I got tonight.... Will continue tomorrow and post further details of putting it all back together.

Thanks for the tip on buying a third brake light from another vehicle. I wish I had read this earlier because when I went to LKQ today all I ended up getting was a keypad from a merc. mount. because I like it better than mine and a better surround for the stereo, since mine is really screwed up. I guess I just have to go back tomorrow and see what I can find.

do u got updated pics of the lights installed curtis

Sams01XplrSprt said:

do u got updated pics of the lights installed curtis

Click to expand...

Sam, I post this at 9:56 pm... and at 11:51 you ask me already for updated pictures...LOL

Well lucky for you at 10:30 pm I was so anxious to get this done, I went back out to finish.

10 - The silicone had dried, I mounted the lens back into the metal trim
Added new Rivets you see here.



DON'T FORGET to hook up your washer fluid hose before you add the final rivets and bolts.
-- don't ask me how I know

I then soldered on the connection so I could use the factory harness to hook up the wires.
Poke the wires inside the door where the ballast used to be.

Now is the time to test the brake light, because it will only work with proper polarity. If you have it reversed, no lights.

Put the Interior door panel back on,
DON'T FORGET to make sure the up/down lock button is lined up with the hole before you put the screws and push rivets back in
-- don't ask me how I know

11 - Finally, wait until dark, get your wife to sit in the truck and hold on the brake while you sit back and have a beer or two and admire your work.

fenderbender2002 said:

Thanks for the tip on buying a third brake light from another vehicle. I wish I had read this earlier because when I went to LKQ today all I ended up getting was a keypad from a merc. mount. because I like it better than mine and a better surround for the stereo, since mine is really screwed up. I guess I just have to go back tomorrow and see what I can find.

Click to expand...

The best part about it is not having to wire up the LED's yourself. And figure out the diodes etc. Its all done in a nice little package.

This is the style Chevy Venture that I got the LED's out of. Its approx a 1998 It almost feels bad putting parts off a GM in my Ford, but it worked so good!

Thanks a lot for the write up. This looks like a pretty complicated process but your results are excellent.

01 venture success

Curtis ,
Thanks for the write up. Got me to the salvage yard looking for a Chevy Venture. Found a 2001 Venture. Extremely easy to remove that light since the screws are external and take just a phillips screwdriver and a wire cutter for removal. 15.99 at pick and pull,BTW.

I baked the brakelight for 10 minutes at 240 degrees. This did allow easy separation of the brakelight, but had to add it for another 10 minutes to help loosen up the white adhesive strip on the two pieces, this allowed me to peel this adhesive off with minimal scrubbing.

Be careful with the LED wire solder joint, when putting the brakelight halves together. Next phase for me is to glue the pieces together and reinstall. I op-checked the lights inside the gutted casing halves using my car battery it was pretty bright.

Nice write up

So you said replacing the light with a stock replacement is expensive. But if you wanted to pay up it's just a direct replacement and none of this fab-work is needed? Just curious.

Cranmaro99 said:

So you said replacing the light with a stock replacement is expensive. But if you wanted to pay up it's just a direct replacement and none of this fab-work is needed? Just curious.

Click to expand...

Correct
Last I checked it was well over $100... almost $200 to replace the light as It comes all in one unit.
The hard part is testing the lamp vs the ballast. And Ive been told that the voltage out of the balast is nothing to be played with. Hence the 'Danger Hazardous Voltage' sticker.
So why mess with it. My led strip cost me $3, and an evenings work.
I did a friends explorer last year too and did it in just about an hour

more info

Stock replacement would be risky. The ballast are very old now, and junkyard versions could be good or bad. I did just the ballast last time. It was good for 6 months and then went bad. Led lasts longerand i hated doing this twice. If a junkyard is unavailable or there is no venture then a 17 dollar LED is available at autozone/advance, they are definitely bright enough. 15 inch very flat strip designed to run off 12 Volt. What i will do if i have to repeat this. My jjnkyard is not as friendly as Curtis's. I GOT LUCKY AND DID NOT HAVE TO SOLDER. Yeah!!!

I realize some time has gone by since this was posted. However, if I had not found the the write up my replacement project would have been a long and frustrating ordeal. Thank you for your effort in writing it up.

good!thank you!

good! thank you!

For those who would rather just drink the beer, DORMAN Part # 923202 is an LED direct replacement for the neon bulb assembly that bypasses the ballast. $75 at Rock Auto.

Bill

Curtis said:

The best part about it is not having to wire up the LED's yourself. And figure out the diodes etc. Its all done in a nice little package.

This is the style Chevy Venture that I got the LED's out of. Its approx a 1998 It almost feels bad putting parts off a GM in my Ford, but it worked so good!

Click to expand...

Im going to try to pick one up tomorrow. Give it a shot. Didnt know I had an LKQ near by. Maybe they are cheaper than the rest in the area.

I finally got around to getting to the junk yard. I busted my light housing because one of the bolt/nuts were rusted and I cranked it. It snapped inside of the housing plastic.

My wife is not happy. Well I have an excuse to head back to the yard tomorrow when she is out of town to get another housing from an explorer.

I found 7 vechicles with the led third light at the yard. Pulled one out in 3 mins. Now the trouble of using a cordless drill to get the rivets out on an Explorer at the yard.

For what its worth. 2003 Pontiac Montana? Thats one that I pulled mine from.

How likely is it, that there will be led tail lights and accessory lights on these mini vans?

I don't know who posted the original set of instructions, but thank you to all who contributed. After multiple years without a 3rd break light (and still managing to make it through inspections), I finally followed the instructions and now have a functioning 3rd break light in LED (strip) that should last.

I could not have done this without following the advice from all who came before. Thanks!!!

Now for the cruise control clusters....

Anyway to separate the halves of the lens without a heat gun?

I am scared to use a lighter because it might melt the plastic....

mrnapolean1 said:

Anyway to separate the halves of the lens without a heat gun?

I am scared to use a lighter because it might melt the plastic....

Click to expand...

You can place the lens in an oven at 200-250 degrees for 8-10 minutes, that will soften the glue enough to separate the lens from the housing. Just make sure you don't forget the lens in the oven, 10 minutes is not enough time to melt it, but 30 minutes is.

Celeborn said:

You can place the lens in an oven at 200-250 degrees for 8-10 minutes, that will soften the glue enough to separate the lens from the housing. Just make sure you don't forget the lens in the oven, 10 minutes is not enough time to melt it, but 30 minutes is.

Click to expand...

Should I place with the lens facing up or should I place with the lens facing down on the cookie sheet?

Another thing What size rivets should be used for reassembly?
I am new to rivets....