Tail gate brake light

[chiefgroover]

My car came standard with a dummy insert. I took it out bought the proper light, @ about ?120, plugged it in and no go?. I have tried to trace the wiring, difficult it is without stripping much of the car interior, and would love to get it going, has anyone any experience of this?

[Martin F]

Funny i thought all you had to do was plug it in like you have done.

I'm pretty sure Ibrar on here has done one of these may want to drop him a PM.

I've just checked the Electrical Manual and there is no seperate fuse for this high level brake light. Its a pretty simple circuit and if your normal brake lights are working then it should work fine.

Weird.

[chiefgroover]

After many hours of head scratching, I am baffled too. Why did the car come with a dummy? it seems a very hungry way to turn a ?42.5K motor out?http://www.mkivsupra.co.uk/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif http://www.mkivsupra.co.uk/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif

[Martin F]

LOL, don't know why but yours isn't the first UK spec not to have one. The car i was breaking didn't have one either.

Something just occured to me. They are LED's in that assembly and if you have managed to hook it up incorrectly (which i didn't think was possible due to the plugs) then they won't light up.

[chiefgroover]

got to be impossible to plug it in wrong, lol, I seem to be able to find power leaving the drivers kickwell (green with a white stripe and peach colour band), along the sill, where it goes to then I dont know exactly (trying to aviod stripping any more).. Inside the tailgate the wires on the light are all white and white with a black stripe which joins onto a connector with the green/white with peach band and a white with black stripe.

[Martin F]

The through connection to the hatchback is at the hinge of the hatch on the passengers side. There is a plug inside the rear passengers trim panel but i think its multiway carrying the power for the wiper as well so if it was disconnected you'd have no rear wiper.

Good Luck

http://www.mkivsupra.co.uk/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/sad.gif

[suprarob]

I,ve not seen any uk cars with this light working
its one of those things I,ll be sorting out my self in the future

[Martin F]

Mine does. Think it could have been the earlier years where it didn't work, mine is a 95 car.

[chiefgroover]

OK dudes, got it sussed out. When you fit your real tailgate brake light, you plug it into the spare connector for it. That seems fine until you go to use it and realise that it isn't getting any power, or earth for that matter!. The wiring in the tailgate goes al the way into the cars first connector, which is located behind the passenger rear window. You need to remove the quarter panel beside the back seat and then the panel above behind which the connector is located. Here you need to cut the wires where they enter the connector, (green with a white stripe and peach banding being the live, and the white with and black stripe being the earth.) and extend them. The earth only needs about 8 inches to the closest earthing point which is beside the rear seat belt holder.
The live needs to go across to the other quarter panel, which once removed you will find a Green with with stripe and peach band, (careful there is one with a yellow stripe right beside it). It is important not to use a connector here. Solder and heat shrink only as this is the live for your other two brake lights and cannot fail ever!. Make a three way joint with plenty of solder and then heatshrink it, which by the way shrinks best with a heat gun rather than a match ot lighter. I had to strip much more of my car apart to discover how to do this, lucky you can do it easy now! http://www.mkivsupra.co.uk/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif http://www.mkivsupra.co.uk/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif p.s. I have pics taken but my poor computer skills cant get them into this post.

[Martin F]

Wayyy Heyyy

Well done that man, but what a palava (or however you spell it ! )

[chiefgroover]

Wish I'd been the bloke to do it next, might not have stuck the stanley knife into the thumb bone! aaghhhh!!! Actually when you get as for as removing the two rear quarter panels, why not follow the sound deadening tips I have posted else where on this forum, and actually hear your passenger talk or your radio as you move. Tyre noise sucks needs to be wiped out as much as possible in every Supra.