2004 through 2008 F-150 Third Brake Light Replacement Troubles

Changing the third brake light in your 11^th generation F-150 can be frustrating if you aren’t careful, but it can be easy.

One of the simplest ways to customize the look of your 2004 through 2008 Ford F-150 is to change to an aftermarket light setup. Swapping out the stock taillights, headlights and third brake light can make a big difference in the outward appearance of the bestselling half-ton, but as several members have learned, changing the third brake light can turn into a frustrating experience if you aren’t careful.

Fortunately, after a few people ran into problems with this upgrade, several F-150 Online forum members offered insight into how to make this change without the aggravation in this thread started by “MM25FTX”.

The Introduction

When the OP first posted about his troubles changing the third brake light in his 2005 Ford F-150, he offered some background on the project and how it quickly went downhill.

WTF??

One would think that replacing a 3rd brake light would be a simple plug and play task right? Not so much.

I just got my recon LED 3rd brake light and figured how bad can this be? I removed the screws, carefully pulled out the assembly and slowly pulled the wire harness towards me and then the connector pulled loose and I was standing there holding everything. So I went to look for the male connector the harness plugs into and it’s nowhere to be found!! I scraped the knuckles looking for the darn thing, used a flash light and I have no freaking idea where it went.

I can’t imagine anybody has had this problem, but any suggestion? I guess if worse comes to worse I can go to the dealership and tell them my 3rd brake light stopped working.

If you have done any interior wiring, you have likely had a harness slip away into the darkness, leading to wasted time digging for that specific wire. In this OP’s case, the search was fruitless, but some other members had advice.

F-150 Third Brake Light Troubles

The first person to reply, sharing his own frustrations with changing the third brake light in an 11^th generation F-150 was “Dallas300c”.

I had the same problem, had to go through the headliner in backseat and found the connector. It was a pain in the *** but finally got it… Simple plug and play, so I thought too… Good luck.

While “PHS79” explained that a concern about this very issue was why he opted not to attempt to change the third brake light on his truck.

I was going to do the same thing, but then I found out that the headliner might have to be taken out and I said hell with it. I ended up tinting the stock 3rd brake light, and it turned out great! Good luck with getting everything back together, I did that on my 94 and never again.

With that information, the OP tried to take the headliner down to find the harness, but things just got worse.

Well I finally gave up on this install. The frustrating part is that this simple mod should have been plug and play, but it turned out to be quite a pain in the ****. I took off the coat hooks and tried to remove the round clips holding the rear of the headliner off, but it was just causing more damage. I read a post saying that the 3 prong connector was on the passenger side, so i started removing the pillar and seatbelt to get to it, but after removing the molding, seatbelt and pulling the headliner down slightly, it was no where to be found. So I climbed back in the bed and used a flash light to view the everything above the headliner and I could see everything pretty well and I didn’t see any wire that was near the old light. The final straw was when the mini mag light slipped out of my hand while poking through the hole and fell into the headliner!!!

I almost crapped myself!!! Good thing those mini mags have a small hole on the end of it, because I used a coat hook to reach inside and somehow hook the end of it and slowly pull it out. That was it!! put everything back together, installed the OEM back unplugged and called it a day. I called the dealer and set up an appointment to fix that and a few other things I’ve been putting off.

Plug and play my butt!! When they reconnect the light I might try to slowly pull out the OEM and give it another try, but I’ll ask them where the heck the plug is first before I attempt this debacle again.

Sorry for the long post, but this would have been a cool install, so you might see this on e-bay.

Easy When Careful

After several members posted about having problems with this project, “enormous” posted about his own experience with changing the third brake light. He didn’t have any problems with his swap.

Glad I didn’t have that problem.
On tuesday this week UPS delivered my Recon Smoke Grey LED 3rd Light. I climbed up, removed the 2 screws, cut the loom fastner(white) at the top right with a razor blade, then pulled the loom with the male/female fastener through the right side 1″ hole. I disconnected the stock unit, plugged in the Recon, taped it to prevent the loom from rattling, then fastened it with the stock screws….all in about 6 minutes.

Next, “rocky85” shared some positive input on this mod.

The process itself is simple, but the fit is tight. You can do it. Open the rear window. Go into the truck bed and pull down the back of the headliner a little. Slide your hand in and give the wiring harness a good tug to unplug the old light. You should be able to see where the connector is through the holes. Use a screw driver to put the connector within reach. Plug in new light. Don’t worry. It’s self-guiding.

Finally, earlier this month, “Jerkyf18” talked about his swap of the third brake light, offering all of the other members a way to protect the harness from disappearing into the darkness of the F-150.

I just finished changing out my 3rd brake light. I read this post and was having similar issues to getting plug all the way out of 1 inch circle holes. On my truck I tugged on the harness and got it free and got some slack to where I could see the plug through the right hole. I could not get the plug out of the hole to disconnect and reconnect. I had concern of the female plug disappearing into the truck after disconnecting so I fished a piece of twine into and around the wires that enter the female half of the plug and then tied a slip knot. I left 3 feet of twine as a tail to hang down the outside of the back window of my truck so that I would have a leash to retrieve the female end of it did disappear into the recess of the headliner.

With my twine leash installed I was able to gently work a little more slack and pull the entire plug out of the right 1 inch hole. I disconnected and pulled out the old brake light harness. I attached a second twine string to the male end of the new light harness and used that to fish from the center hole to the left hole and pull new male plug out and connect to the truck harness female plug. I op checked the lights with the help of my boy and reassembled.

As a side not – I left the piece of twine attached to the truck female harness and tucked it into the cab of the truck before screwing the new light housing onto truck incase I would need to access in the future.

If you plan to change the third brake light on your 2004 through 2008 Ford F-150 or if you have insight on how to make the project easier, click here to head into the thread.

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Patrick Rall

"Before I was old enough to walk, my dad was taking me to various types of racing events, from local drag racing to the Daytona 500," says Patrick Rall, a lifetime automotive expert, diehard Dodge fan, and respected auto journalist for over 10 years. "He owned a repair shop and had a variety of performance cars when I was young, but by the time I was 16, he was ready to build me my first drag car – a 1983 Dodge Mirada that ran low 12s. I spent 10 years traveling around the country, racing with my dad by my side. While we live in different areas of the country, my dad still drag races at 80 years old in the car that he built when I was 16 while I race other vehicles, including my 2017 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat and my 1972 Dodge Demon 340.

"Although I went to college for accounting, my time in my dad’s shop growing up allowed me the knowledge to spend time working as a mechanic before getting my accounting degree, at which point I worked in the office of a dealership group. While I was working in the accounting world, I continued racing and taking pictures of cars at the track. Over time, I began showing off those pictures online and that led to my writing.

"Ten years ago, I left the accounting world to become a full-time automotive writer and I am living proof that if you love what you do, you will never “work” a day in your life," adds Rall, who has clocked in time as an auto mechanic, longtime drag racer and now automotive journalist who contributes to nearly a dozen popular auto websites dedicated to fellow enthusiasts.

"I love covering the automotive industry and everything involved with the job. I was fortunate to turn my love of the automotive world into a hobby that led to an exciting career, with my past of working as a mechanic and as an accountant in the automotive world provides me with a unique perspective of the industry.

"My experience drag racing for more than 20 years coupled with a newfound interest in road racing over the past decade allows me to push performance cars to their limit, while my role as a horse stable manager gives me vast experience towing and hauling with all of the newest trucks on the market today.

"Being based on Detroit," says Rall, "I never miss the North American International Auto Show, the Woodward Dream Cruise and Roadkill Nights, along with spending plenty of time raising hell on Detroit's Woodward Avenue with the best muscle car crowd in the world.

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