42 month service at dealer, upper brake light is out

Took our 2011 in for service, they found the upper center brake light didn't light up. They said it wasn't covered by warranty, quoted $338 to replace the whole module. Anybody else have this happen? I haven't checked to see if it disassembles easily, will try and get a voltmeter on it. Any help is appreciated.

Comes apart easily,a right angle Phillips screwdriver is a must.

According to the schematic, its an LED, or an LED array, not a bulb, which is probably why they want to replace the whole thing. One side is connected to ground (cathode) and the other gets +12 volts when the brakes are applied. I'm sure that I will try to repair mine if it ever goes bad, instead of replacing it at $338. Did they give you a part number, so you could Google it on the Internet for a better price?

I had a similar problem with my 2005 Prius. The LED tail light went out, and the only thing the dealer could offer was to replace the whole thing at $400+ with labor. I ended up ordering an aftermarket tail light assembly for <$80 off of Amazon. I still had to do the whole thing, it was an easy swap. Sure enough the other one went out 8 months later. Might be harder to find one for the LEAF.

See this thread for part #

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=14302" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Good luck.

It's a brave new world in automotive technology, paved with recurring revenue.

$145 is cheapest I can find so far

https://www.parts.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=store.PartInfo&PartNumber=265903NA1A&VehicleID=377206&diagram=3722555&Title%3DNissan-HIGH-MOUNT-LAMP" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Oh sorry, that was for 2012. You should be able to get a 2011 around the same price anyway. Or wold it fit?

Update: Got out the right angle phillips and got the two screws out, the two holding the squirt nozzle and the two holding the light module in, all the same size screws. No power to the socket when brakes applied. Carefully applied 12v to the tiny pins of the light module, it lit up.

Now to find the fuse. Anybody know where it is? If it's not the fuse, would the bad wiring be covered under warranty? The light pillars on the sides light up just fine, and they're nearly the same height as the center module, so I'm not too worried about safety.

Thanks for the links and comments. I searched for brake light and didn't find anything.

HarryHouck said:

would the bad wiring be covered under warranty

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Doubt it. That should only be covered under the 3 year/36K mile basic warrany.

Once you're done and have fixed it, might be good to file a safety complaint w/NHTSA at http://www.safercar.gov/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;, as well as notifying Nissan (per page 9-16 of the '11 Leaf manual). There have been brake light related recalls for other cars in the past, just Google for brake light recall.

These should help:


There is no separate fuse for just the high mounted stoplight, so it has to be a connector or wiring issue. The light plugs into the other brake light wiring where D71 and B18 meet. Have you determined whether it is the ground or the hot (+) that is missing? I see one or 2 ground lugs on the diagram that could be a problem, but chances are that one of the connectors has just come loose.

THAT was some useful information! Way to go keydiver! Tracing bad connections can be a real pain.

Assuming that the small square boxes with nothing but a number inside them represent simple connectors, the schematic looks deceptively like it follows the normal conventions for electronic circuits, except for the part where a (presumably) DC supply voltage is able to push DC current through an LED and a capacitor (condenser) in series.

Obviously, automakers get to use their own schematic language, like AT&T did. Can someone explain what a two-terminal capacitor symbol means in "auto-ese"?

I think that is a feed-through type condenser, where a wire with positive voltage enters the one end, and exits the other, with the condenser itself grounded. But, you are right, the schematic is drawn wrong.

Great information, thanks everyone. I'll open the hatch cover and look at the wires during the holiday. I honestly don't know if the upper light ever worked. We've had no collisions or mechanical incidents with the car, so no pinched or stretched wires. Will update as we discover.

Looks like power has to go through the "condenser". Likely that it is open.

There were posts, a while back, about malfunctioning hatch release buttons, that turned out to be loose connectors. So I wouldn't be surprised if that was all it was.

DNAinaGoodWay said:

There were posts, a while back, about malfunctioning hatch release buttons, that turned out to be loose connectors. So I wouldn't be surprised if that was all it was.

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+1 I'm expecting to hear back that his $338 repair job was just a loose connector. It makes me wonder how the dealership would have handled it, after plugging in the new brake light, and it still didn't work.

keydiver said:

+1 I'm expecting to hear back that his $338 repair job was just a loose connector. It makes me wonder how the dealership would have handled it, after plugging in the new brake light, and it still didn't work.

Click to expand...

My guess is that it would have been the same bill. Or higher even, because the "repair" "took much longer than expected".

Update: Took a couple screwdrivers out to the car and popped the two fasteners on the left side, pried out the finger hold on the right and carefully popped out the hidden fasteners. If you can do this when the car is warm, the plastic will be less brittle.

See pics below. There's a 1.5 to 2 inch gap between the four wire connectors. I don't think that air gap was planned. There's no way to pull the long end up closer and the short end is in a thick grommet that may be molded or glued to the four wires. The second pic is after removing 6 inches of electrical tape and split conduit. A four wire jumper could bridge the gap.

Should I contact the dealer? It's clearly a manufacturing defect, only caught after 42 months. It's a 2011. Are the connectors available so I can make the jumper?