3rd Brake light on ARE Cap

[trixareforkidss]

I got my 02 sport trac with a ARE cap, the 3rd brake light never worked so I thought I would make it work but am having issues. When I removed the drivers taillight there was this corroded relay and missing wires stuck in the light socket. So I tried to rewire it and nothing worked got it to work with the brake lights but my 3rd brake light would blink with the blinkers. Any idea about what that relay was for and how it goes back in to correctly illuminate only with the brakes? Or how to wire it correctly?

 

[Kjhadfield]

I just posted in my thread 'cap and hardware' how I wired up my 3rd brake light. There is also a project on mysporttrac 'wiring a camper shell'.

From your description it seems they wired it up the easy way which is not the correct way, why your brake light flashes when your turn signal is on (I think this happens because the truck has 1 light socket for the brake and turn?). 1st check to see if you have 2 wires sticking out of your wiring harness directly behind your rear bumper (center) again look at the photos I put in my thread for clarification. If you want it to not blink/flash you will need to re wire it.

 

[Kjhadfield]

I think the relay would of been used because they added it to the trucks tail light socket?? The way I wired mine, I didn't use a relay…didn't think it was needed, pls chime in if I'm wrong

 

[ncyrider]

My 01 is having a problem with the 3rd brake light too, the middle brake bulb works after I replaced it, but the 2 cargo bulbs on the sides dont work (replaced them too). I need to get these working! Any ideas?

 

[Kjhadfield]

The op was referring to the truck cap brake light. Your talking about the trucks 3rd brake light. I'm not sure but the 1st thing I would check are the sockets (that hold the bulbs) see if they look corroded or burnt up. I don't know if there is a fuse. But after that would be to check if you have power to the bulbs.

I'm no expert by any means but that's what I would do