General broke my 3rd brake light.

[Jedidev]

hey all Newbie here, just got a 2001 Brava 1.2 and the 3rd brake light wasn't working. Checked fuses cleaned the boot contacts and still nothing opened the light strip after an hour of fighting to get the cover off lol.

wiggled one of the bulbs out and it kinda snapped the small metal pins on the bulb, does that mean i have now ruined the whole brake light fitting? do i need to replace it?

thanks in advance...

Charlie

 

[Jedidev]

come on people please reply Fiat want £50 for a new light, isn't there a way to fix it?

 

[Stroke]

come on.. could have pic, can tell for sure.
anyway
it shuld be very simple electric... so probably repairable.... maybe not as nice but sure possible to fix.
u could have 3rd party "custom" one for less...

 

[Jedidev]

ok i'm interested in this 3rd party idea. will it fit into the same fitting as is on the car already? if so thats a perfect idea, i dont wanna be shelling out £50 for one light fitting but will post a pic of the bit to show whats happened...

 

[Adrian Bravo]

You should just buy an original from a scrap yard or ebay, anything else would be a waste of time and money.

 

[Stroke]

well scrappy would be another idea... cheaper i think...

 

[Jedidev]

well picture as promised, as you can see i have pulled out 3 bulbs and think i've broken it since the pins on the bulbs snapped as i took them out... should i try to prize apart the fitting to se if its serviceable?

 

[JoskeJTD]

well picture as promised, as you can see i have pulled out 3 bulbs and think i've broken it since the pins on the bulbs snapped as i took them out... should i try to prize apart the fitting to se if its serviceable?

Thats because the Brava high level brake light doesn't use bulbs, they are LEDs.

Replace with LEDs and it'll work.

 

[Stroke]

cant give advice on that pic

 

[goodgirl156]

There LED's you will probably need to solder in a new one. Make sure you put it in the right way around as LED's only work one way (the longer side is positive)
Other than that, go get a cheep one from a scrap yard, just reamber to put 12v though it of another car battery before you buy it, at this age there stands a good chance any one you get from a scrappy will have at least one broken LED

 

[rickylittle]

Hi jedijev, i have two of those light boards in my garage you can have, as i replaced them with high power leds.They booth work.
Just send me your address and i'll pop them in the post.
Cheers
Rick:slayer:

 

[bpetersb]

They are definately not LED's they are capless type bulbs but hard wired rather than push in. You cannot take them out without breaking them, replacements are also very hard to locate as all the similar sized auto bulbs are only about 1 watt whereas the Brava ones are 3 watt.
I rewired my Brava with high power LED's which I bought from a German company on line, it cost me about £6 for 12 LED's including postage.
I took the light apart and removed the board the existing bulbs are on leaving me with the lens with the 10 or so holes in. I fixed the LED's in place first with clear silicone then connected them all up. The result was great except that the high power white LED's were so bright the lens looked a bit pink rather than red when the brakes were applied. If I did it again I would use hi power red LED's.