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 ), 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
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
I took the trim panel off the tailgate, cut a hole in it for the brakelight (without stabbing myself or chopping my arm off ), 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
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
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