Top mount brake light not working

[Chase2008]

Wife's car . 2001 Mazda Tribute. The 3rd brake light or top mount is not working.  The left and right brake lights work.  Pulled it out and it has five bulbs.  All look good. Pulled the fuse and all is good as well. Any ideas?

[Buzz2401]

Just because the bulbs look good doesn't mean they are.  I would try a new bulb first just in case.  Other wise it would be a ground or wiring issue because  the wiring should come straight from same harness as rear brake lights.

[follow maggie]

I had a pickup do that. It was because of leaking water.

[Don_D]

I've had this happen and it was due to moisture getting into the housing and corroding up the terminals that the bulb connects to. If it were me I would pull each bulb one at a time and take a thin file or some sandpaper and try to clean up the terminals. In my case the bulbs were fine just needed to be cleaned and then I put a little dialectic grease in each to try to ward off having it happen again.

Hope you get it fixed.

[Duffer]

1) have you tried rebooting it?
2) does it have the latest software updates?
3) does it have air conditioning?












   sorry in advance. 

[MADMAX]

sounds like a ground issue

[coachcw]

power and ground , what don't you have , the hi mount comes off the brake switch and typically uses the same circuit as the gear shift lock out . so if that works your issue is most likely in the rear .

[Woodchuck]

  I would just add that since that brake light is in the hatch, be sure to look at the harness where it comes from the body into the hatch. Lot's of up and down folding on those wires over 15 years can take a toll.