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2013 LED Third Brake Light

blkravenz71

Full Member
Joined
May 14, 2015
Messages
11
Location
Southern Indiana
Well, as I stated in my last post, I can't get GM to warranty the $450 LED third brake light that went out due to moisture in it that corroded the circuit board. They offered to pay $150 of it, but that's not squat for a part that should last for years. :E:
So, I think that I have come up with an alternate solution. I had the light out the other day and it appears that it is two halves that are sonic welded together. I plan on taking it apart and mounting some of the white LED strips from the auto parts store inside of it, rewire it,  and seal it back up. My question though is on the wiring of it. When removing the light, the main plug is on the left hand side, and there is another plug where the circuit board is. There are also wires that tee off at the plug for the circuit board that go back into the cab of the truck. Anyone know what those wires are for? And if I will need to make sure the impedence load is the same with the new strips? Since my circuit board is fried, how can i find out what that load should be?
 
When you say circuit board, what do you mean?  I would think that there are just lights in there but, I'm not sure.  The other connector would probably go the tail lights or back to the brake light switch.  It looks like an aftermarket light is around $100.
 
When i pulled the plug grommet that goes into the housing, the connector is wired directly to a long circuit board. The LED's are soldered on an array on that board inside the light. You might be right about the lights being wired in series with the rear lights. I'll trace the wires down. Where did you find an aftermarket? I surfed the web and could only find an exchange place in CA.
 
How did you remove the 3rd brake light.  No way I'm giving the dealer 575$ to replace it.  I have a 2013  and have found several aftermarket lights that look like they will work. I just have to get the light out,
any suggestions
 
There are 6 torx bolts on the top of the fascia. Take those out, and the whole piece slides forward. Toward back of truck. Make sure you tape a rag or something on your sail panels as it's a tight fit and will scratch the paint when pulling forward. Let me know if you find a reasonable replacement.
 
Is there not double sided tape on the top part. ???
 
Thanks,  I am going to give it a try if I can find a light.  Even if I have to order it from GM it was only $295, far less than the dealer wanted.
 
No problem. Can't post pics, but heres the info that was on my light when removed:
Tag on wire : GROTE ELECTRONICS - 120723 - W.O.2517669 - LOT 01001 - CADILLAC - 7501200021- MADE IN CANADA
Molded into plastic of light: 22894256 - AUTOSYSTEMS - MADE IN CANADA
 
I had a hard time confirming that any of the aftermarket lights were the correct one.  I ended up ordering from GMpartsdirect.com  and paid $279 for the light.  When I took the old one out it was completely filled with water - guess that explains why a light that should last 20,000 hours burned out in three years.  I put the new one in - in total took me 20 minutes to swap them out.  Dealer said they would charge 1 1/2 hour labor $165, clearly rip off!!!  Now my quest is to see if I can modify the original light with a new LED strip so it will be ready if I need to replace it again.  Thanks for all the help.  Love, Love, Love, my Black Diamond LT!!
 
Resurrecting this thread.

I just replaced the third brake light on my 2013 with a new one. The old one quit working and was full of water.

I would like to get the old one repaired to have as a spare (just in case). I searched around the web but couldn't find a place that appears to repair these. Does anyone have any recommendations?
 
In hopes of helping those who have this problem with their 3rd brake lights I present the story of my light.

I have a 2013 Avalanche that I bought in Feb of 2016. I never bothered to check to see if the 3rd light worked when I bought it, because who does that? Anyways, I notice about 6 months back that it wasn't working, and I'm not sure if it worked when I bought the truck. This weekend I decided to fix it. Shouldn't be a big deal.

I had noticed before that it looked like it had some moisture on the lens. When I took it off the truck and popped off the rubber gasket that hold the wiring harness it dropped about a pint of water directly on my pants. Not a great start. I then got to work diagnosing why the LED assembly didn't work. Since I couldn't see the whole circuit board from the ~2" hole that the wiring harness goes through I decided to open the light up. Not as easy as I had hoped. I now understand where the water may be coming from. The seam between the lens and the backer seems to be sealed with a VHB double sided tape and the top side was very poorly sealed in a couple spots. The bottom was sealed much better which made sure the water didn't escape. I got the top disassembled but the bottom was stuck so well that in the end I ended up cracking the lens the whole width of the assembly. Do not try this, it won't turn out well.

After getting the circuit boards out I was able to check the components and test the board. Looking at the circuit board I do not believe the water has anything to do with the LEDs functionality. I did not see any evidence of corrosion and the board only has the LEDs, resistors, and a couple of diodes on it. Not really much to break. So what is the problem?

I can only speak as to my light assembly but the problem here was the diode labeled D1.

https://imgur.com/fSgEBVL

This diode showed about an 8.5v drop across it which left little voltage to actually light the LEDs. The only function of the diodes here seem to be as a reverse polarity protection. Since I had the board out I pulled out D1 and replaced it with a 1N4002 that I had in my parts box. I tested it out and I had a good LED strip again. A bit of glue and sticky fingers and the light assembly is back in service.

But what if you don't want to bust up your 3rd light to get into it? Well, D1 is accessible from the hole that the wiring harness goes through. Soldering a new diode (1N4001 or equivalent) to the back side of the circuit board (no real need to remove the faulty D1) should result in a working light assembly. Here is the spot you would put it:

Before:
https://imgur.com/s7Pz9uQ

After:
https://imgur.com/0xKegOI

My guess is that the manufacturer got a bad batch of diodes and some of them are not lasting long. Hopefully this will save some lights out there.
 
Nice write-up Keith. I removed my brake light in January as it was full of water but still worked. I used some silicone on it but it looks to be leaking again.
Did you seal your with anything?
 
I put the assembly back together with Go2Glue and drilled two drain holes in the bottom of the light. I expect that if it filled with water once it will do it again.
 
Thanks for the info. I will be checking this when it stops raining. I hope it's as simple as the diode. Another GM foul-up. :D
 
Ok , pulled the light assembly which was fairly easy. Checked the incoming voltage at the connector going into the opening shown by Keith.  See 12volts.
Put 12v directly on the connector ( to be sure the connector had good connection )leading in to the lamps. Zip. Based on Keith's thoughts and the fact applying voltage to the connector directly I will say it's the diode he found. I will be taking the assembly apart again when I find someone in the world who still sells electronic parts in less than million quantities.  Too bad Radio Shack is gone in my area. Amazon is the next best place for parts.
One thing I will do different is see If I can work on the board by taking the lamp apart. I visualize me melting the entire lamp assembly trying to solder from the small opening.

I will post a follow-up when I get it fixed.

Keith , thanks for the extremely valuable photos and info. (y)
 
Success Success Success !!!!!!
Removing the lamp assemble is fairly easy with mounting screws on top. I purchased a diode kit from Amazon ( only place I could find with low cost.)  and working thru the small hole on the rear as shown in Keith's photos I was able to solder a new 1N4002 diode in place as he did. Before replacing the assembly I checked with a 12 volt battery to see if it worked and jumped for joy.

I would not hesitate to try Keith's solution and if it saves big bucks it's worth the time . I would suggest doing it when you have a few hours and have all the tools ready including a soldering iron with a small tip so it fits into the opening. I used a pair of needle nose pliers to hold the diode in place. I also pre soldered the diode leads to make them attach faster.

I'm now very suspicious the lamp never worked. I back into my driveway and it lights up the area. something I never saw before and I purchased the truck new.



 
Thanks to this thread, I was also able to fix the light.

As far as water inside, it had/has some moisture droplets inside I can see through lens, but that's about it.

I (very carefully) replaced the diode with a 1N4001 through the opening.
When I measured across the existing diode, it had failed, but was not open.
So I took the time to remove it from the backside of the board before soldering
the new one on the other side (facing the opening) as show in the images.

Thanks again to the contributors for sharing their findings!
..
 
I registered just to say thank you to Keith for his write up on the D1 diode as a possible fix. I tried it yesterday on our 2013 BD LTZ and it worked like a charm saving us hundreds$. 
 
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