kino1161

When my third brake light went out on my Toyota Landcruiser a forum member explained how to take the light off and replace one of the diodes with a $2.00 replacement. Has anyone done this? My third brake light is not solid all the way across? Do I have to replace the whole unit or can I repair myself? Thanks!

08 GTS

kino1161

Anyone?

jej3

on my 2006, you replace the entire light assembly. Pelican stocks them and it's not too hard to do.

Rossi

The new third light unit for my 2009 was $110.
I am happy with it as it stopped the brake light warning beep on the dash.

kino1161

My brake light warning beep started yesterday. It did it a couple of times but not every time I was in the rig. That's when I took a look and my brake lights worked except my third brake light only worked on the left side and right side. A great portion of the middle was out. Is that what happened to you Rossi?

Rossi

Every time I got the warning beep, I checked the Brake lights and the only thing I noticed was my third brake light not bright enough, I hit it couple times and it lit up 100%. The warning indicator (!) went instantly away, this started to happen quite often, but not every time . I replaced the light, no more issues. Once the electricity level going into the light is not right, the sensor will let you know .... It drove me crazy. PelicanParts has a nice DIY how to replace it. Easy and not the expensive to fix.

kino1161

Thanks Rossi!

morrisdl

Thanks for the info! Same thing here on a 2008 CTT. I thought either the cayenne or I were going crazy until I caught it doing the same as you described.

ScootCherHienie

You could try removing the LED assembly (generally a long circuit board) and soldering the connections for the LEDs that are not illuminating. If that fixes the problem, you're done. 12 vold LEDs should work for 50,000 hours. Considering your 3rd brake light is on for maybe 1 minute every 10 miles or so (a guess, much depends on your mix of city and highway driving and how much traffic is involved in the highway driving). So if the car has 50,000 miles on it, the brake lights have been on maybe 5000 minutes or maybe as much as 10,000 minutes if in a high-traffic area. That works out to 83 to 166 hours versus the 50,000 hour estimated life of the LEDs (even if they are rated for just 20,000 hours it's still way overkill for what they will experience in a car/SUV). So it's not very likely that the LEDs actually burned out... it's possible, just not very likely. Trying to replace a single LED that has stopped working is tricky because there is no guarantee that the replacement will have the same color and light output (it could be dimmer or brighter) as the LEDs Porsche used. Also, LEDs get dimmer with age so putting a new one in a spot next to "aged" LEDs may reveal that the new LED is brighter than the ones beside it. If there really is a bad LED or 2 or 3, getting the $110 part will insure that the replacement looks right (all LEDs the same brightness and the same color). LED color is determined by the chemical doping used in the manufacture of the LED... there is no "standard" color for red or green or blue or whatever. Each LED manufacturer uses their own doping formula to produce the colors. Even white LEDs vary in color quite a bit from a warm yellow to a cold blue.

Andy E.

Good point. Cold solder joints would be more prominent on a tailgate-mounted LED than anywhere else on the vehicle; after constant slamming when closing.

EPA restrictions on using lead-based solder has forced mfrs to use alternative soldering techniques and formulas. ACDelco had a nightmare with this back in the '80's...

Tex Willer

Has anyone fixed the LED assembly successfully? Is the housing easy to open, so that you get access to the LEDs, or is it somehow irreversibly glued together? I am not happy to pay $100 just because of a bad soldering job.