3rd Brake Light

My mazda 5 tail light failed as well. Connector is all corroded. Something is rattling inside the LED third light too... commencing search of online junk yards. thanks for the link.

Terrible design.

This is just another in a long line of repairs to this M5. Pretty sure I'll never buy another one. Pitty too as the previous Mazda I had was almost flawless for 7 years.
 
My mazda 5 tail light failed as well. Connector is all corroded. Something is rattling inside the LED third light too... commencing search of online junk yards. thanks for the link.

Terrible design.

This is just another in a long line of repairs to this M5. Pretty sure I'll never buy another one. Pitty too as the previous Mazda I had was almost flawless for 7 years.

What model year is your 5 and how many miles?
 
Posting diagram and part number (C235-51-580D) for MY '06-'10 as reference:

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Took mine in for an oil change and they told me it was out. Found this and decided to take it apart

Removal is easy on 2nd gen, not sure about others. Open the hatch. I used a screwdriver to pry off the panel, remove the connector, removed the nuts, and pulled it off. Like someone else mentioned, mine also has something rattling around. Took some pics of my work

Should there be more lights on a 2nd gen? Never paid that much attention before

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I could not find a replacement connector quickly, so I cut wire near rusty connector, put pigtails on 22-18 gauge wire, .110" female disconnects. You can buy them in pack of 10 at auto parts store. I then soldered pigtails to wiring harness. Taped joints and tucked wires out of problem areas. Works fine. Repairs are fairly simple.
 
I could not find a replacement connector quickly, so I cut wire near rusty connector, put pigtails on 22-18 gauge wire, .110" female disconnects. You can buy them in pack of 10 at auto parts store. I then soldered pigtails to wiring harness. Taped joints and tucked wires out of problem areas. Works fine. Repairs are fairly simple.

After replacing my taillight 6 months ago, the one I bought from the junk yard has failed... Gotta check the connections, but, I'm thinking the new one has rusted out.

This is getting old. I'm thinking of buying a 'new' one... I do NOT have a wiring harness that will work, unfortunately. Any suggestions? Would the .110 female disconnects work?
 
Hi, I have same issue with my 2008 mazda 5 3rd brake light.
Not liking everytime there's an issue, no choice but to buy expensive mazda parts, can't even change a bulb, need to buy whole assembly, built in obsolence. No more mazdas for me.

Ok got that out of my system :)

For mine, like the others on this thread, the connector on the light assembly itself was rusted through and no more electrical contact.
Also the connector on the wire connecting the light assembly to the car electrical system was also badly corroded.

So a friend got the idea to try to directly connect the wire to the LED strip inside to bypass all these corroded connectors.
Strange that inside the sealed assembly it looks like lots of pieces of dirt or small rocks when shaking it...

Spent over 1 hour with friend dremelling out the connector on the assembly and shook all the "rocks and dirt" out...the rocks and dirt turned out to be entire LED strip itself -- DISINTERGRATED --it seems to be a ceraminc strip with 8 LED lights - all 8 lights and what looks like a transistor shook out with the broken up ceramic they were attached to....brutal, I have a picture but can't attach here. Will be out another $200-300 bucks for another part only from mazda. Junk yard one would not last like someone here found out since junkyard ones are probably well on their way to disintegration already.

I hate mazda...

ps - project when have time is to insert my own led strip into my now empty 3rd brake light assembly, don't want to give mazda another cent for this...


I could not find a replacement connector quickly, so I cut wire near rusty connector, put pigtails on 22-18 gauge wire, .110" female disconnects. You can buy them in pack of 10 at auto parts store. I then soldered pigtails to wiring harness. Taped joints and tucked wires out of problem areas. Works fine. Repairs are fairly simple.
 
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It's been 9 months since I posted those pics. My girlfriend let me know a couple nights ago that it has completely failed now. No lights at all in the 3rd brake light (which explains why the cop almost followed me home the other night.....)

So I'm hoping that I can fix the wires somehow, otherwise it's money for a new brake light. Judging from the rust by the connector, I'm not too optimistic though
 
For fun I contacted some junk yards. This is what I asked when I was quoted ~$100:

a) can you verify that the light actually works? all the LEDs inside mine are broken up rattling inside, totally doesn't work
b) can you verify the connector on the light assembly is not corroded through like mine (pic attached)
c) can you include the male side connector that wires to the car electrical system, mine has corroded through (pic attached).

Response has been their lights have same issue as mine, corrosion on both ends, loose disintegrated led strip inside rattling. Total garbage.

Contacted mazda for fun and they said it's $1000 for the wire connector to the electrical system, since it is proprietary (cant get that part anywhere else, typical mazda) and I need to buy entire wiring harness to replace that. So even if I bought $200 new mazda light, need to macgiver connection to wiring, and it will likely only last a few years before insides break up.

No more crappy mazdas and mazda built in obsolecence for me, not one penny more to mazda...

Here are pics of my $3 fix:
(pack of 8 LED strip lights for $11 on amazon, some solder, crimp connectors, silicone):

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Looks good Chessman. Can you post the link to the strip LED you used? Also, it looks like more than 8 lights?
 
I hope I'm allowed to post links, here it is:

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B01KRL88LO/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

What I like is these were already the *perfect* length with connected bare wire ends; exactly long enough and not too long to fit inside the assembly. I didn't feel like cutting and soldering a 5 meter strip. Has 15 LED lights on the strip giving good brightness.
Inserted and fit into my dremelled out connector hole perfectly, and the strip itself is waterproof to boot.

My coworker also has a mazda5 and never realized they were driving with 3rd brake light out for probably a very long time. Gave them a strip and this forum thread to fix it :)
 
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One more thing. I see where you drilled out the connector. Where did you crack it open to remove all the stuff in the first picture?
 
So before I order, I need to ask how you got the strip to sit in there without falling off? Is there just a small area for the light to go into instead of the whole bulb housing?
 
The strip is flexible with nice thick waterproofing, so I just inserted it in with the lights facing out and chaulked the soldered end in place at same time plugging up the hole. It snaked in there surprising well, I was also thinking how to keep it in place but it just snaked in there and stayed in place.
Note I didn't remove the 2-sided tape backing, just left it as is so it slid in nice and smooth.

So before I order, I need to ask how you got the strip to sit in there without falling off? Is there just a small area for the light to go into instead of the whole bulb housing?

ps - for the canadians out there, i was just at can tire today and saw them selling similar LED strips for auto decoration for 30-40 bucks - ridiculous!
 
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Did a quick and dirty fix for friend's 2008 mazda5, exact same thing. Didn't feel like crimping/soldering the leads so waited for 12v screw on connectors to come in from china :)

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I guess I have some work ahead of me. Mine is out as well.
EDIT: I wimped out and managed to get the "last one" from Amazon (Quirkparts). $98.10 all in
 
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New light received and installed. One of the prongs in the original light assembly was rusty and had broken off in the female receptacle. Some extra wires and some surgery and back in business. I'll clean up the other one and test it. If it works I'll have a spare.
I can't really complain really as the hatch was a replacement from when someone ran into me 2 years ago. I know the replacement hatch was from a junk yard and the light was working when the car was fixed at the time.
 
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