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The mkiv Supra Owners Club

3rd brake light


Phoenix_TT

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Elliot your right, my 94 UK had a dummy fitted.

A working one from toyota costs iro £127ish.

Then you have to wire it in. This really did my head in but when i mastered it I posted on co.uk the "how to guide". If itsa UK spec then go search and you'll save a load of headache. You have wiring to do!.

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I don't think my 3rd brake light is working. Can anybody tell me how the 3rd brake light works and how I check/change the bulbs ?
Not sure what you mean by 'how it works'.

The light has LEDs rather than bulbs, not easy to change unless you're very handy with a soldering iron.

 

Are the power wires in the hatch ?

yes.
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Ok, I'll check the power wires in the hatch. I thought they were just normal bulbs as opposed to LEDS.

 

Does anybody have any ideas as to why it has just stopped working ?

 

Will not having a functioning 3rd brake light fail the MOT ?

 

Cheers

 

Geoff

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I thought they were just normal bulbs as opposed to LEDS.
No mate

Does anybody have any ideas as to why it has just stopped working ?

I'd start by checking the fuses in the driver's side footwell. If any of the LEDs fail the other ones still illuminate OK, so it's most likely that they just aren't getting any power.

 

Will not having a functioning 3rd brake light fail the MOT ?

No, not a problem for the MoT. As mentioned above, the UK spec Supras never had a fuctioning high level stop light.

 

 

Just had a thought, the high level light hasn't been made into your fog light has it?

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Hi Geoff

 

Do you have a UK spec? Supposedly, they don't actually work on them, but no doubt someone will be on soon to shoot me down in flames!

 

Elliot

 

I think its only the earlier UK specs, Keith certainly has the third brake light and to his knowledge its always been working.

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Only the early UK cars had dummy lights as the LED type lights were not legal at that point (1993). But the later cars definitely had working ones, on the way home from the Donnington meet a few months back I was behind 'Slick' in his uk spec (M reg I think) and his was working.

 

Mine is one of the first UK cars registered to Toyota and it had a dummy. I actually made a light using led's from maplins only to find that the wiring inside the tailgate isn't live. :swear:

 

I'd love to see this how to guide mentioned by Chiefgroover, can anyone reply with the a link to it.

 

Cheers guys.

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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 all 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!

I have pics somewhere when i find them i'll post.

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Thanks for that Chief, another little project for me, that means I have to change the suspension, use your speaker mounting guide for the front doors, follow your advice to get rid of the whine from my sub, and wire up my 3rd brake light.

 

I certainly appreciate all the useful advice. :thanks:

 

I bought the Vvti springs from CW to go with my KYB's which arrived in Manchester Airport's freight terminal yesterday. They're the springs that go with yellow bilsteins and are fractionally lower I believe. I think this is a good compromise as I've read numerous posts that the Eibach springs would be a bit on the harsh side.

 

By the way, the brake pads arrived today, cheers mate, I guess the boxes are for the pads you are using now. :thumbs:

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Little rip off expensive kit and a bit of silicone hose, bit fiddly to fit but saves the car from sounding like a scobie.

 

Dyno'd yes. Got a few sheets, but very controversial so i could PM them but never post. The grief would be unreal. I thought they were pretty accurate as it was on a new RR just calibrated by factory techs and previous cars to me made the following

350Z 248bhp and FQ340 349bhp, both cars totally stock so i didnt think it was optimistic. Hopefully at last the F-con will get tuned on the 16th May (been postponed many times) and will have another dyno sheet this time from a fresh DYNOPACK, so i'll not need people to sit on the back to stop wheel spin. I trust dyno packs, its great to eliminate any wheelspin to aviod false low readings.

 

***The above RR comments are only my opinion, not necessaraly the views of anyone else or indeed correct***

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  • 4 weeks later...

Hi All

 

Well this thread has some good info on how to wire-up a 3rd brake light for UK cars that don't have them. However mine's a J-spec which did have a working light. I finally managed to check the fuse for the 3rd brake light and it seems fine, however I didn't replace it.

 

I still don't have a working 3rd brake light, with none of the LEDs coming on. Any ideas on what else could be wrong. Although the fuse looked fine, I will probably replace anyway.

 

Cheers

 

Geoff

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