High Level Brake Light - Possibly the daftest enquiry of the week...

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malcolm_durant

Active Member
Posts
272
Location
Chatham, Kent
I had the day off as my foot's playing seriously silly buggers. Given some lovely strong painkillers which make me a "bit happy" to say the least. Anyway, early this evening when the worst effects had worn off I decided to fit the (OEM) high-level brake light I have to my (early) 1995 P38.

I took the trim panel off the tailgate, cut a hole in it for the brakelight (without stabbing myself or chopping my arm off :D), neatened it up so it looks pretty good and painted the bit around the hole with some black paint for a nice finish.

I then rigged up some fixing points for the brake light assembly using the piece of plastic I'd chopped out of the trim, held together with lashings of model-makers plastic solvent. Using some tiny woodscrews I found, I carefully screwed the brakelight to the trim moulding. Looks the dogs IMHO :p

Slight problem. When I clipped the plug to the spare socket in the wiring near the plugs for the internal tailgate light (this plug was the same pattern, so I'd assumed it's for the 3rd brake light), turned the ignition on and stamped the brake pedal, I got the "main" brake lights shining as expected but nothing from the high-level one - which is known to be a good 'un.

Before I go poking wires and chopping old connectors off looking for 12 volts and suchlight (I suspect the socket may be corroded internally but have doused it in switch cleaner more in hope than anything else), have I found the right connector and more irritatingly, does the BECM need to know a high-level light is fitted?

Just a final thought - does the high-level brakelight work if the tailgate is open..as it was all the time when I was fiddling about.

Cheers,

Malcolm
 
Last edited:
From memory I think its a small two pin connector that does the brake light. Mine was disconnected when I bought the car, plugged it in and it worked. Try it with the tailgate shut, after all being a P38 it may have some weird configuration that the brake light is only live when the catch is activated i.e. shut. When you think about it, it doesnt need to work when its pointing skyward. Still think you'll need to check for power though just to be sure. Ignition on?............
 
Just to round this thread off...it was the connector. I replaced it with some spade terminals and it worked first go (no BeCM electrickey or tailgate open issues then!).

Cheers,

Malcolm
 
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