Does anyone know how to get to the third (middle) brake light assembly? My husband has a doo-hickey he wants to install to make the third brake light blink a few times rapidly the first time you hit the brakes. He put one on our Mini Cooper, and it's quite cool, but I want one on my TCH.

 

Well its not that hard I don't think. I was just back there the other day to install my XM antenna. I wanted to put it under the that plastic cover to hide it. I did not pull the cover all the way off just slid my hand under that piece. I pulled it up just enough to put my hand under and I can see its held down by those plastic clips that just pop in and out. Now the rub is that you need to take the side covers off. The bottom piece goes under those side ones, but now keep in mind that there is an airbag under each of those pieces, so care must be taken if you pull those. If you are careful it should not be a problem but this would be a do at your own risk thing. Also you might want to remove the negative battery cable on the 12 volt in the trunk before you start. thats just my 2 cents!

 

elsifer — Getting the rear-deck plastic trim panel out is a real nightmare. See the attached pages from the Repair Manual. But, you likely don't actually need to get the panel out. All you need to do is to get at the wire that runs to the stoplight assembly. Perhaps this can be done from inside the trunk?

Stan

 

thats a good idea! I would add to that, if you fold down the rear seats (both of them) you can see the black plastic covering. If you remove all of the nylon clips holding them in, there are like 4-5 along the top right under the back panel then I think the wiring for the brake light is right there. There's a harness right at the top in the middle that is very easy to get to with the panels off. I discovered this when I had mine torn apart to put my XM antenna in under that package tray.

 

Thanks, you guys - I'll show this thread to my husband!