alright so my car is an 84 with an 86 hatch on it. either way if i want to get the damn thing tagged ill need to get this brake light to work, when you open the hatch all thats there is a ground looking wire(black like most of them lol) so im wondering if there is anywhere i need to have this wire touching when the hatch is closed to get the light to work, otherwise the bird wont be on the road.if you need pics it'll be a few days since i left my camera in the daily...which is in the shop, unless i can use my cell.

 

i believe the power for that light goes through the shocks that hold the rear hatch up

 

did this light ever work before??? reason im asking cars with the lights in the spoilers and on the back windows get their power from the 3 little plates beside the hatch motor. you need to check that out, cause i dont believe that its gonna work with out it, i think 86 and up came with that feature, and that includes the pull down hatch and motor. to see if your car has it just lift the hatch and there will be a rectangular plate there beside the lockdown latch, if it hasnt been modified it wont have it, but if you look on the trunk next to the latch hoop you will see a rectangular thing hanging with 2 or three prongs on it, thats what sends the power to the 3rd tail light's.

hope this helps.

 

Hook the wires to the hatch struts. That completes the power loop for the 3rd brake light. I used to have one, but changed the rear hatch to an earlier model sans light.

Jim.

 

...And the rear glass defogger, if you have one.

BTW - There are four sets of contact plates and fingers on mine: