So today I was getting an Identity check so i could register the car down here in South Australia. Anyway it turned out that the 3rd brakelight (not that i even noticed i had one) wasnt working. So i needed to get it fixed. I called Nissan and several other dismantlers and no one had one. So i decided to build my own quickly, and i thought others might find this interesting or helpfull.

So to start off lets take this rear brake light out of the parcel shelf. Place your hands either side with your thumbs on the rear of the housing (opposite end to which the break light shines).

Gently with your thumbs press forwards while lifting it up a bit.

You should hear it click a little then pull it towards you and it should come out. Beware the brake light cable is normally connected under there do push down on the clip on the connection to pull it off.

Once unplugged turn over and pull the insulation out where the wire is coming from. Grab a phillips head and undo the two screws holding the light (put them somewhere safe you will need these).


This is the back of the housing without the insulation and screws taken out.

Empty housing.

I went down to Jaycar and grabbed a pack of ZD0456 RGB LED Modules 12VDC (I would have grabbed pure red but they didnt have any and i was in a hurry) for about $14 (online sais they are more expensive), but here you could use any 12V led system as long as its the same size as the housing. These particular ones from jaycar came with all cables and mounting brackets.

I removed the old strip with leds by using a small flathead on the two tabs above and it popped out of the clear housing.

I cut the two wires leading to the PCB, Also using a set of pliers I removed the old dead LED’s (This is just to give the new LED’s housings somewhere to sit)

I attached the old wires to the new wires (simple connector i have used when i have time i will go back and solder and heat shrink but this works at the moment) NOTE… As the black is positive on the LEDS You must go from BLACK -> RED and RED -> BLACK, i also cut the Red and Green wires as they have no use.

I broke one end off the old LED strip to allow the cables through, (you could most probably drill a hole in the side of the housing but i was all about time at this point)

I mounted the new LEDs on top of the old led strip using the Jaycar supplied mounts (with the little ears snapped off)

Popped the rest of the reflector on and its ready to go. Plug it in and test the brake in the car, if it lights up .. were all good, if it only flashes when you take your foot off its because you wired one end of the connector wrong.

If successful mount the unit back into the housing.  And go reinstall it in the car.

Hopefully shoudl look like this..

All done, It may not be as super bright as the originals, But for $20 its a damn load cheaper then the 160 they want to bring one in. If you had a lot of time you could buy the leds and solder them on yourself and get it working again, but who know how long for, as I quickly probed it and nothing seemed to be letting current through.