Can somebody hook me up with a website where I can order a third brake light assembly for my 2003 G35 sedan, please? The sucker seems to have gone out...

Thanks!

 

http://www.infinitipartsusa.com/part...layCatalogid=0

It's very hard to change that brake light. You have to take out the rear seat, all the trims, the subwooffer to be able to get to that light. For $133, you can buy a nice painted spoiler with LED brake light. I went for that option 'cus it seems to much to change the damn light, not worth my time.

 

Thanks for the reply.

I thought I read somewhere you can get to it from the trunk. Has anybody tried that?

 

I would like to know, as well. After driving behind my girlfriend's '04 G sedan, I noticed of the 6 LEDs that are in the 3rd brake light, the 3rd LED from the left was burned out.
I do not know how to get to it, but I want to try before telling her to take it to the dealership.
I know there, they'll try to rip her off if it's not under warranty.

 

I tried that too. Just remove the trim then you can touch the light but it's no way you can get it out from the trunk.

 

I found a way to fix and replace the third brake light on the rear seat deck without having to remove the back seat of a 2004 Infiniti G-35 sedan.

If you get in the trunk and look under the rear shelf deck, there should be a round hole with a piece of insulation above it (there was in my car, at least). Remove the insulation to give yourself some working room. The third brake light is next to this round hole (you can see it in the rear window, right?). Remove the piece of insulation under it, which is glued in place. You now should actually see the bottom of the third brake light, which is clear plastic. It is held in place by a screw on each end (may be hard to see due to scraps of remaining insulation, but you can find them).

The screw on the driver's side end is easily accessible and removed (it is only about 1/4 inch long - don't lose it). The problem is the screw on the opposite side. You have to eyeball its location, then carefully drill a half inch hole through the two pieces of sheet metal underneath to access this screw. It's not that hard; it took me all of ten minutes. Now, you can insert a screwdriver through the hole you just drilled, find the screw head (use your finger as a feeler if necessary) and unscrew it (a magnetic bit may help you from losing it). The LED unit is now free and can be slid through the adjacent opening. All you have to do is disconnect the power wire. It has a compression strip on one side (Murphy's Law - usually the side you can't easily see). Depress the strip and the power connector will disengage.

You now have two choices: Buy a replacement unit from a dealer or eBay (I saw one sell for $100 in June of 2009) or try to fix yours. In my case, only one LED was bad, and it caused the others to be dim and flicker. It was a simple matter to remove the LED electronics from the plastic housing. The LEDs are held in place mechanically and it was easy to remove the bad one with a shop knife. I then managed to buy a defective LED unit on eBay for fourteen dollars, mechanically remove a good LED from it and then use solder to put it in place. When this was done, my LED unit was perfect again - six bright lights! Reinstallation only took about 10 minutes and I then was able to pass my safety inspection.

All in all, I think I saved several hundred dollars and got a lot of satisfaction in the process.

Note: If all LEDs are not working, your problem may lie elsewhere (no power getting to the connector when you step on the brake; bad diode or resistor in the LED circuit board). So, I can't guarantee you can repair the LED unit. But, you should at least be able to save the dealer labor on the replacement and avoid having to remove the back seat. Email me if you need further info. Good luck.

 

This is not an isolated issue, and i am very suprised that Nissan has not recalled these brake lights from even vehicles out of warranty..

Every 03-05 that i see, is running without the 3rd brake light.. so annoying

 

mine doesn't even work anymore, it will turn on when ever it want's to actually haha. I would rather buy the spoiler like someone here said.

 

i just replaced mine.same problem was happening, blinking then going out,or work well when it wanted to. so i snatched one up from ebay brand new for $50 ,which was a great deal if you ask me. Anyways , yeah its a pain to replace it but it can be done. Same steps as ssmolkin said exept you dont have to drill that hole if you dont want to or dont have tools,just get a magnetic slim screw driver so you wont loose that small screw and mess with it. takes a lilttle bit longer if you having a hard time seeing it. After the screw is out just jerk it around so you can get it out(it can be done just be careful not to brake any trimmings), and the replacement should be easier to put back in after that. I was able to do a 05 06 tail light upgrade,third brake light replacement in i would say...about 3 hours. considering i've never done either one on a G. hope this helps somehow, Good Luck!

 

I seem to have the same problem. My car didn't pass inspection yesterday b/c the third brake light is out, and when I called the dealership, they quoted me $350!! So if there's a work around, I'd like to try avoid spending that much.

I don't know much about cars, so any help would be appreciated. So just to make sure, if the third brake light goes out, it's not an actual bulb, but a whole unit needs to be replaced, correct? That's what the dealer told me anyway. So I'm kinda confused by the method described for changing the light through the trunk, if the whole unit needs to be replaced. I have a 2006 G35 coupe, so not sure if that makes a difference.

Also, I had an aftermarket spoiler put on after I got the car, so if the brake light stopped working on the spoiler, does that mean it's a different issue and can be fixed some other way? My friend put the spoiler on for me and I know he disconnected the wires going to the third brake light in the rear windshield so that only the spoiler brake light would go on and not both.

I don't want to waste money replacing an entire unit if there's a simple fix for this. I'm car retarded, so I'll probably forward any suggestions to my guy friends.

Please help!

 

Mine has an LED out as well, and im super fricken OCD about things and this is bothering me lol

Any suggestions to replacing it? is there a DIY?

 

Mine is out completely and the dealer said $350 for just the part, not including labor.

This sucks, I really don't want to take the whole car apart to change a damn bulb.

 

I noticed you are in MN, Did you ever fix your brake light? If yes, how did you do it.

 

I am in MN as well. No clue how to do this. I still have an LED out and it looks SUPER tacky and is bothering me.

Still no DIY?

 

Ssmolkin posted a DIY in this thread detailing the removal of the light through the trunk; I will probably try it this weekend. I was courious if people are buying the OEM part and still having such a high rate of failure, of if there is a different manufacturer making a cheaper and better quality part.