My third brake light has about 3 or 4 lights on the right hand side out. I didn't really notice that it was dim.

Could this be my problem or is there something else I should check?

 

It's 99% the switch. I had the same problem just like the rest. Even if it isn't, it's only $10-15, better than a diagnostic fee at the dealership.

I changed mine out in 5 minutes flat. It was drizzling outside door open, pooped off the plastic cover, unplug the sensor, twist, reinstall, twist back in, pop cover back on, test - done. No tools require except for a flashlight.

Thanks AZ!

 

once i get my car back, i will be doing this, i already have the part, just have to wait to get my car back form the body shop. I found another thread about a month ago dealing with the exact same issue.

 

success story for me. the part cost $8.95 from AcuraPartsWarehouse.com and took about 10 minutes.

it took my 9 minutes to get the access panel out of the way, and 1 minute to replace the new switch, test it, and reinstall the access panel

 

wish i seen this earlier. went to the dealer and bought the part for 35$ and took literally 3 minutes to change. my 3rd brake light works now

 

Was just informed I have 1 of the lights in my third brake light out. I thought I would have to replace the whole light (which I wouldn't bother with) to fix it, maybe I'll give this a try since people are saying it fixes burned out LED's.

 

it's worth a shot. Is your 3rd tail also dim? The switch would fix it.

the led bar was uneven in lighting with some LEDs being very dim. You should try replacing a 12 dollar switch.

 

so the brake light LED never goes bad? its always the brake switch??

 

Excellent information in this thread, I think I saw mine flickering tonight but then they were alright so I'm not sure. I had the wife look from behind and she thinks things are fine but we all know how that goes....lol

Go figure, state inspection tomorrow morning. lol

 

This is a great thread. Thank you for the info on fixing. Just did mine yesterday and works like a charm.

FYI, Autozone sells 2 one specific for TL that is green in color. DO NOT waste money and buy the green on. Just get autozone part JA4411 for $8.99. Same exact part but is not colored green for "newer" vehicles. I call the Duralast who makes the part and they confirmed that both parts are exactly the same. They were requested to make a color coded one and thus a new price was created. Again, just get the all black part# JA4411 or $8.99.

 

Wow...this is great to know. As I have an 04 and I eventually have had to replace everything I stumble upon in the forums, it's only a matter of time before I have tackle this! Thanks!

J.

 

great fix!! Honda wants $62 CAD up here, picked it up from Lordco for $28. Still a bargain when considering a diagnostic fee is usually $50 and up. Literally 10-15 minutes to install. Thanks a mill!!

 

Such an easy fix! A random driver told me my third brake light was dim, and the dealer confirmed it. They said it would cost $160 to diagnose the problem, so I came to AZ and found this DIY. I bought the new switch for $20 bucks from the dealer and installed it in no time. Thank you!

 

So helpful in that DIY took 2min and problem solved

 

Great thread. 5 minute job that saved me a good amount of money.
To add, the sensor in my 05 TL was all black. The new one was green as pictured.

 

$7.49 at the local Autozone (Duralast part#JA4411).....and about 5 minutes worth of work. Piece of cake.

Thanks all!!!

 

Thank you to all who have added to this post! I'm going to try this out when I get around to it. My brother-in-law was driving behind me and called me on my cell to say "hey you have some LED lights out on your high mount brake light." Sure enough there are about 4 lights on the right side that seem to be dim or not lit.

Has any gone into the dealership knowing this, but just to see what they will say...then call BS on them after they tell you it'll cost $200+ to fix? Sort of like when they wanted to charge me $80 to replace my cabin filter and I did it myself for $15 in under 5 minutes.

 

Are you sure you used part#JA4411? On the Autozone website it says that it isn't compatible, and instead says to use SW6271?

 

Quick question to those that replaced their switch.

My switch I bought at Napa (Canada doesn't have Autozone) came with the switch, and another part, pictured at the bottom.



Did you guys use it? Or just used the switch with the original one?

 

Okay so a few things to add:

1. No, you don't have to change out the threaded piece (if your switch came with a new one), the old threaded piece is perfectly fine.

2. Depending on how far you push the brake switch before twisting and locking it in place, your brake light engagement point will change. So there is a little trial and error to getting it "perfect".

If you push the brake switch too far in, then lock it in place, it will allow more brake pedal travel before the brake lights come on.

If you push the brake switch not enough, the brake lights come on.
I have it set to come on right when the pedal gets pressed like 2mm.
The first trial I had the brake lights come on when the pedal was pressed 5mm, which was a little too late for my liking.

How the brake switch works is there's a button at the end.
When the button is depressed, the brake lights are off.
When the button is not depressed, the brake lights come on. If you plug in your switch before even mounting it, you'll notice your brake lights come on.

 

Ordered the switch from my local Honda dealer for $12 and about 10 minutes fiddling around in the car and all is good. To note, it wasn't just my 3rd brake light that was dim. All of my brake lights were dim. I was following my wife home a few weeks ago and noticed that I could barely tell when she was hitting the brakes. There just wasn't that much difference in brightness levels on the main brake lights from the parking lights and the 3rd light was barely on. Replaced the switch and it is back to blindingly stupid bright.

 

'04 TL had dim brake lights and 3rd light was completely out. The switch fixed the problem; cost $10.72 from internet Acura dealer. Removal and installation literally took about 5 mins. Thank you very much for the tip.

 

My 3rd brake light on my 2006 Acura tl has 4 of the 12 led's out but the rest of them are bright and working fine. I replaced the brake switch and it didn't fix the problem.
So I guess the next thing to do is pull the light assembly and check for loose connection on that bank of led's.

 

Okay, so I pulled the high mounted led brake light assembly to investigate why four of the led lights are out.

Easy to remove, inspect and troubleshoot led's. There are twelve led's and the (from left to right) 5th to 8th were not working at all. ohm readings on those four were .01 ohms less than all eight others. All four resistors read the same ohms.

Figured by now it's about time to find a used one on ebay for $50 or less and replace it.

But wait a minute, since I now know the board has failed and will need to be replaced, I plugged it in and gave it a good hard flick with my finger at the area of bad led's and VOILA! All lights are working now.

This bad led board could've been faulty from new and I had remembered that about six months ago I had to take the cover off and remove a bug. I may have hit it hard enough to reverse what I just did to make it work.

Just wanted to add some information on here and if anyone doesn't have dimming or flickering lights this might be your problem.

BTW, they have these on Ebay for $50 free shipping.

 

I love that you had the know-how to test with a mutlimeter and such but a knucklehead flick was the fix hey if it works, it works!

 

A last resort when all else fails.

 

I replaced the switch and the LED's work except for one section. I attempted to remove the cover for the third brake light to try and mess with it like you did, but I got nervous about breaking the cover while pulling at it so I stopped. How exactly did you pull the cover off? Is it safe to simply pry at it with your fingers?

 

How do you pull the 3rd brake light or pull the cloth cover off it? You said it's easy, but I was kinda tugging on mine and it didn't seem to want to budge.

I can just pull harder, but didn't want to without a replacement in hand.

After years of Audi ownership, that experience taught me that pulling or yanking harder isn't usually best, and that means that there's some trick to it I haven't figure out yet.

 

Thanks for the help. I simply took the brake light switch out with these instructions to inspect it, and when I reinstalled it right back the high mount 3rd brake light worked again.

 

Thanks to this thread, I was able to fix the third brake light in my 04 tl.

 

I'll add my experience here.
Only the left side of my third brake light was flickering. I bought:
for 6.26 bucks on amazon through a warehouse deal(the original box was a bit dusty and had a small tear in it. Once I pulled the old switch out, it did not make a click sound like the new one did. It also came with the replacement bracket, which I didn't use.

Buttoned it all up and it works perfectly. I'll also add that I disconnected the negative terminal on the battery and let it sit for ~15-20 minutes JUST in case.

 

Erm.
Drove 65 miles to uni and back(round trip) and the flickering came back...
ah well