Is it just me or does anyone elses 3rd brake lite work. I have tried 3 different ones and none seem to work consistantly. It seems the bulb does not need to be all the way in or something. I don't think it's a short.

For now I have removed the entire assembly and I kinds like the look but would prefer to have the light working. Anyone else have problems with this?

 

LOL join the club. Ive had two 92's and neither brake light worked correctly. I always just thought it was the contact because I could move the bulb around and it would temporarily work on and off. I just want to take the whole assembly off because Im tired of people saying, "hey you're third light isn't working"

 

check the contact pads? make sure they are working correctly?

 

Where exactly are the contact located? I know they are probably inside where the bulb goes but what and how do we move the contacts? Any pics would help. It seems when I move the bulb around it works for a moment.

 

[bottom of the pic, just off to the left.. little pad

 

Hate to break it to you rabbit but that is the contact patch for the power hatch pull down.

 

Actually you are both wrong in this case Phoenix305 & Rabbit, that contact you have pictured has nothing to do with the top mounted brake light of either car in his profile. However if the car in question was the 86 berlinetta, then rabbit would be correct.
BTW, on a side note here, for a 92 model the ground wire for the 3rd stoplight is located under the headliner by the dome light and the power wire is a yellow wire located behind the left kick panel in the access hole below the hood release.
On the 86 model, the ground wire is located behind the center trim panel in the cargo compartment and the yellow power wire is located in the same location as the 92 model.
BTW, since I had to edit and retract the original comments that I made in this post. Let me add this, the contacts that are shown in the picture are for the rear hatch defroster and rear wiper motor if so equipped. They have nothing to do with the rear hatch release or pull down on either car. The rear hatch pull down assembly is located under the center trim panel in the cargo compartment to the right of that contact.

 

hatch pulldown? ... IIRC, when i was playing with my hatch pulldown, it would go down then something hit a switch down in there... meh, i'll check it out tomorrow

 

Please read my edited and revised post above.

 

My third brake light doesn't work either. I haven't even tried to figure out what was wrong with it. I'm thinking about just yanking it out. I don't like the big blind spot in my rear view mirror.

 

MIne's never NOT worked. I guess I'm glad it's one less thing to mess with.

 

back to my original question. How do I get my 92 third brake light to work?

 

Easy as pie. The problem is, the lightbulb it too loose in its socket, plus, the hatch is angled down when you close it, so it loses any contact. Pull the bulb out, look at the metal contacts on the bulb, should be 2, and should be a thin wire. Very carefully, preferably with a mini flathead screwdriver, work the tip under each wire and turn the screwdriver a bit to pry up the wire, just a bit for both. If its still too loose, pry it up a little more. Pry it up towards the bottom of the bulb, not up towards the bulb itself. You want the highest part to be right when the contacts first touch the contacts in the socket or it'll just fall out again. Soon it should feel nice and snug when you put the bulb in. Will it last forever? Eh, I dunno. Mine's still going for some time now.

I suppose you could mess with the contacts in the socket itself, using the same idea but i've found the whole assembly to be fragile and too likely to break. My original was shattered when I took it apart.

Now, if your socket is melted or you have some other problem with it, such as bad wiring, then this won't do you any good until you get that fixed.

 

I was having the same problem myself until I did the following. I cleaned the 2 contacts that touch the bulb wires. I noticed that they barely touched the bulb wires. So behind each contact I placed a small spring from a ball point pen. Only 3 coils of the spring per side. The same premise as small appliance brushes. Put in a new bulb. Good to go ever since. Hope this helps.