rear skinny brake light (in hatchback)
 

Forgot to mention this in a previous question. My 96 ZX gives me the "lamp-out" indicator on the dash whenever I depress the brake pedal. All my brake lamps work except appartently for the center bulb (1 of 3 I think) in the skinny high-mount brake light on the hatchback.

First, has anyone else experienced the lamp warning indicator for the a skinny lamp outage? If I wasn't such a freak I guess it wouldn't bother me. :-] I really hate useless electronics such as a lamp-out indicators just for this reason!

Second, I assume to access the bulbs you unscrew the two nuts just under the back of the hatch? They're about 2.5 to 3 feet apart from each other. Mine are rusted on their and I'll try some hairspray to get them loose (an old plumber trick someone taught me). But before I go thru the trouble and possibly cracking a screw I wanted to make sure it'll give me access.

Thanks!

Yes, the warning light is supposed to come on when any brake light bulb is out.

that is exactly the reason you are getting the warning. congrats on diagnosing it, most people not familiar with this problem miss the cause.

have either of you replaced one of those bulbs and had to access them? Nothing more do I hate than breaking screws and seals just to discover the darned bulbs are hiding somewhere else.

Keep in mind that damned dash light will come on for any differance outside of the normal resistance in those circuits. Corrosion, moisture, loose connections....they all give the same indication of a bad bulb. If you don't see one burned out the best advice I can give is to pull them each, one at a time, clean the connectors and the bulb, blow out the house with canned air and pray to god you fixed it.

I hate that light so much.....it should really be a nice mellow amber and be lower in the dash and read "bulb".

have u swapped the hi-mount break bulbs before
 

I assume since no one is replying that no one has changed a hi-mount brake lamp before? If anyone can look at theirs and tell me whether it looks like you have 2 or 3 bulbs in that lens I'd appreciate it. Mine looks like there are 2 bulbs at each opposite end. However, those 2 do mostly light-up the entire lens so I'm wondering if it is just a lead problem and there is no 3rd/center bulb. But on the other hand it does look a little empty in the center, thus my assumption a bulb is blown in the center.

My screw posts that I think give access to those lamps are rusted tight. To free them I'll likely break off the stud and then I'm not sure if that trim piece requires to be replaced or if just another matching screw post can be inserted. So I'm cautious to open it up unless necessary.

thanks!

1. PB Blaster

2. There are 3 bulbs.

3. Only replace the bulbs with NISSAN bulbs (bulbs from Pep Boys/AutoZone/etc will cause the same problem because they are not the correct resistance - i.e. all of the bulbs in my brake lights work, but one of them is not a Nissan bulb, so I still get the "Lights" indicator on my dash).

hairspray?
 

Great, Nissan bulbs eh? That is job security engineering for ya if I ever saw it!

A friend of mine told me a plumber showed him how hairspray melted/broke the rust off of a pair of those toilet-to-floor studs. Said it was freaky. Sprayed it on there and 10 minutes later they turned off by hand. He had tried to free them with a wrench previously and couldn't. Wonder if it would ruin paint finish however....

I've got about 3 can's of various "break free" stuff and non of them work that well. Mostly seem to just make a mess and a greasy nut ;-)

ive used some cheepie 99c bulbs from albertsons once and never got the "bulb out" light, some to think of it, i think im still using them...:107:

Strange... in my experience, everyone I've known who used bulbs other than OEM Nissan brake light bulbs had the same problem due to different resistance. Of course, most of these people also put a piece of electrical tape over the light (or just remove the indicator's bulb) because they know the indicator is wrong in their case.

I bought a 3 dollar pack of replacement bulbs whne I last got the warning lamp, spent 20 minutes swapping them out....the light never went away....put the originals back in and the lamp turned off.

These cars are picky about silly things.....gotta love em :D

Access the bulbs by removing the plastic hatch trim from the underside of the hatch, not the exterior panel.