Hi,
The left brake light on my '04 Montero Sport will not come on when I press the pedal. Both brake lights come on when I turn the headlights on but only the right one brightens when I press the brake pedal. I've checked the bulb, it looks ok, went ahead and replaced it anyway but that didn't fix it.

I've checked the fuse and it looks ok, shouldn't be the cause anyway because both lights would be out if fuse was blown. I was just reading about the brake light switch, haven't had a chance to look at it yet. Is it possible that a faulty switch is causing just one light to be off?

Other possibility is a broken wire, I checked the light connector itself and it looks OK at that end. How can I determine whether it is a broken wire?

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

The tail lights and the brake lights run off of 2 circuits. If all the rest of the BRAKE lights work when the brake pedal is depressed, i'd suspect the bulb. If you already replaced it and it still doesn't work- try another bulb (better yet swap it out with the bulb from the other side since you know that one works). If that doesn't fix it, you have a wiring/connection issue.

JJ

 

Hi Joel,
Thanks for replying. Turns out it isn't the bulb but the socket itself. The plastic around the stud where the brake light filament terminal is supposed to make contact has melted and the stud has gotten pushed down so that it doesn't touch the terminal anymore.

I've been googling to try and find a replacement but haven't had much luck; looks like I might have to go to the dealer for the parts. I haven't had any luck in taking the socket apart either (if that's possible at all), are the wires crimped in there or is it something else holding them in place? I ask because I don't have a crimping tool so if that's the case I'll just have the dealer do the replacement.

Regards.