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Third Brake Light

15K views 6 replies 5 participants last post by  Wildflower 
#1 ·
Can someone please tell me how the hell you change the 3rd brake light? I have the new light (I know you can't just change the bulb)

I've removed the molding on the inside of the back windshield. I then removed the 5 nuts that APPEAR to be securing the long bar that houses the brake light on the outside of the vehicle. I can't get the long bar off of the vehicle in order to remove the old brake light.

The only other nuts and I bolts I see that can be removed are the ones that attach the rear gate to the truck.

Please help. I have a 05 Aramda. :crikey:

OK...i thought i'd post some pics so maybe i could help you guys, help me...

The first pic is of black bar on the outside of the vehicle that houses the third brake light. I'm assuming this black bar has to come off in order to replace the light.

The second, third, and fourth pics are of the inside of the top of the tailgate where all the screws and connections are. I've already removed the molding. They're in sequence from left to right.

The first of these pics is the left side of the vehicle and you can see my thumb and index finger pointing to the 2 screws i removed. The second of these pics is the center of the vehicle and you can see my index finger pointing to the screw I removed. The third of these pics is the right side of the vehicle and you can see my index and thumb pointing to the screws I removed.

I don't see any other screws that can be removed to get the outer black bar off that houses the light. Can anyone please tell me what I'm doing wrong. Thanks!
 

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#2 ·
I'll do my best to help you out, as I just went through this with my '04 Armada LE recently. In my case, my spoiler flew off on the highway, took the light and washer nozzle with it, and got smashed into tiny little pieces by a big rig. You shouldn't worry though, I believe Nissan re-designed the attachment system with the '05 spoiler, which is what I used for a replacement.

Anyway....the black bar to which you're referring is the spoiler itself. And as far as I could tell, there's no way to replace the light without removing the spoiler. You are most of the way there with the removal of the nuts. I thought there may be 5 total, can't recall. Might just be 3. The bad news is that the spoiler is also held down with a series of single-use plastic pop-in type clips, and a strip of adhesive, double-sided tape at the front of the spoiler. (You may or may not have adhesive, but definitely should have clips). So it will take some force to pop the spoiler off, but be careful, because being too aggressive my break the clip mounting spots within the spoiler, and not pop the clips themselves. I suppose you could use a utility knife to slice the adhesive (about 1" wide, I think), and then use a long slotted screwdriver to try to pop the clips. Not sure, as I took mine off the easy way (wind).

Once you do remove the spoiler, you most likely won't be able to put it back on without new clips and adhesive. You might be able to get them at the dealer, but I ordered everything I needed through Courtesy Parts Nissan, I think. It was like $20 or so for the adhesive kit, and just a few bucks for new clips and nuts/bolts. Either Courtesy Parts or mynissanparts.com should have everything you need. The re-installation is easy to do (comes with good instructions), but you just need the hardware first. No biggie.

One caveat: the 2 mounting nuts that I ordered with my brake light wouldn't work with the mounting posts on the spoiler, so I had to get a little creative with how I attached the light (from the inside of the spoiler, of course) to the mounting posts. I think I used different locknuts. In your case, you are just removing the old light, and swapping in the new one. Everything else should be the original equipment, so it should be a non-issue.

Hope this helps. Feel free to PM me if you need more clarification.

-Kurt
 
#3 ·
See attachments. You will need to get new double sticky tape. Be sure to clean off all the old tape before re-installing the spoiler.
 

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#4 ·
Hey guys thanks for the response. Yah, by black bar I meant the spoiler. I didn't think to call it that because I always think of The Fast and the Furious type spoilers when using the word spoiler.

I think after having read your replies my next stop will be to just pay the dealer to replace. I really feel like I'm about to break the spoiler when trying to pull it off so I think I'll just pay the dealer 50 bucks rather than buying all the adhesive and possibly damaging the spoiler in the removal process.

Whatever happened to just changing the bulbs? When a light goes at out at home I don't throw away the lamp. Sheesh.
 
#6 ·
The light uses LEDs. They are soldered in place, no bulbs to replace.
 
#7 ·
Thanks for the info on this, I followed the stream because my '06 failed inspection because of that third light, I was trying to get around the dealer by not handing them over my $128.00, but I am a little squeamish about removing all the bolts myself. Dealer wins this time..
 
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