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Moderators: Is there a way, or can you rename the title to this thread? It might come in useful for people looking to fix their leaking 3rd brake light. I know that advice I got helped me out which lead to the creation of this. I was originally looking to see if a Raptor brake light would be a viable fix, but it evolved into making a new gasket out of readily available material from a hardware store and it seems to have fixed it. If I could I'd rename it "How to fix a leaking 3rd brake light on a 2008 - 2014 Ford F150". I also want to mention again that, I didn't come up with this fix...I simply implemented it with pictures on the advise of another member who had done it to two of his trucks with success. I wasted a lot of time and gas, and some personal time from work going to the dealer 6 times when if I had stumbled on this fix my truck would have been completed back in October when it was brand new. Anyway, if it can be renamed so it's easily searched for the next person that would be great. This is a great site with a lot of very useful info, as well as helpful members!
Hey Paththrasher, I honestly wouldn't go back to the dealer for this as in my experience it's just a waste of time. Also, some dealers will use RTV sealant and glue your third brake light to the truck which is bad for the paint, and makes it extremely difficult to change bulbs on the 3rd brake light housing afterwards. Also, once they do that I'm not sure if you can use this fix outlined here. Give it a try, if took me about 30 mins to do and cost just under $4 in material. I doubt it will ever leak again but if it does who cares...it's so easy to do! Anyway...in a few weeks when I'm absolutely sure there's no more leaks anywhere else I'm going back to the dealer one last time to have the water stains cleaned from the headliner. I've water tested the two seems on each roof corner, and the rear window and it all looks good so I believe I'm all set.
Thanks for responding, paththrasher! I want to get this into the hands of your regional customer service manager. Send me a private message (PM) with your full name, best daytime phone number, VIN, current mileage, and servicing dealership; I'll push this up the chain.
So I just replaced my brake light with Fords's new design. So according to this it is gonna leak too?? I didn't think that material felt very water proof. Guess I should pull off that seal and put the weatherstripping on..
So I just replaced my brake light with Fords's new design. So according to this it is gonna leak too?? I didn't think that material felt very water proof. Guess I should pull off that seal and put the weatherstripping on..
If it were me, I'd water test it really well, let things dry on the outside, and then take the light off and see if any water is sneaking past the gasket. If so replace with closed cell rubber weather stripping. If it doesn't leak, I'd still get some weather stripping to have on hand just in case so it can be addressed quickly. Also, keep some quality electrical tape in the truck so you can apply tape around the light like I did to immediately stop the leak giving you time to address it. I say "quality" electrical tape because the cheap stuff will leave residue on the paint and light lens where the better stuff comes off clean. The residue comes right off with a cloth and rubbing alcohol but good tape saves you that trouble. When you open the light up and see how think and porous the "improved" gasket is, you'll probably opt to replace it.
So we just has a big rainstorm here the other day....Went to go put my daughter in her car seat and noticed it was soaked, like totally soaked through, and the seat below was soaked and the headliner has some water stains in it...I am assuming it is also the 3rd brake light since it has some condensation inside the housing and just from an outside view the seal looks like crap...I bought the same foam tape and plan to try it out as well...
My truck is a 2013 and is no longer under warranty and I do not want to pay them a few hundred dollars to diagnose, and likely switch the light out.
Thanks for the info, hope this solves my problem.
Also, @MJFNH, any update on the seal, this topic is a few years old now...Any leaks after adding the new gasket?
So we just has a big rainstorm here the other day....Went to go put my daughter in her car seat and noticed it was soaked, like totally soaked through, and the seat below was soaked and the headliner has some water stains in it...I am assuming it is also the 3rd brake light since it has some condensation inside the housing and just from an outside view the seal looks like crap...I bought the same foam tape and plan to try it out as well...
My truck is a 2013 and is no longer under warranty and I do not want to pay them a few hundred dollars to diagnose, and likely switch the light out.
Thanks for the info, hope this solves my problem.
Also, @MJFNH, any update on the seal, this topic is a few years old now...Any leaks after adding the new gasket?
I used the weatherstrip method last year and my truck has not leaked since. We've had some serious rainstorms lately and it stays dry as a bone. It looks great, no difference in appearance from the factory one.
So we just has a big rainstorm here the other day....Went to go put my daughter in her car seat and noticed it was soaked, like totally soaked through, and the seat below was soaked and the headliner has some water stains in it...I am assuming it is also the 3rd brake light since it has some condensation inside the housing and just from an outside view the seal looks like crap...I bought the same foam tape and plan to try it out as well...
My truck is a 2013 and is no longer under warranty and I do not want to pay them a few hundred dollars to diagnose, and likely switch the light out.
Thanks for the info, hope this solves my problem.
Also, @MJFNH, any update on the seal, this topic is a few years old now...Any leaks after adding the new gasket?
So new update. Turns out it wasn't the third brake light...after more testing I found it was the rear window seal. Truck was out of warranty so I took it to a local glass/body shop. $280 later and it's good to go(Ford wanted $700+ to do the same job).
I didn't want to try to re seal the window myself. Figured I'd pay someone.
Can you all tell me if the Frost King fix is still a good idea? I have been struggling with this same leak off and on for a while. I really don't want to use silicone to seal my light this time. I did that last time, but I knew I would likely need to replace it if it leaked again due to some small cracks around the screws. I ended up destroying my lense getting it off after it had been siliconed. I purchased the new Ford light with the new gasket, which is a joke. I had an auto body shop to install it, since I had the truck in there to get a small area on the roof touched up and it leaked the very first rain we had. Took it back to the body shop, they assured me they would take care of it this time and it's leaking once again. This thread has given me hope that I may actually have a leak free third brake light in my future. I wish I could send a bill for the distress this has caused me.
Hey everyone, just thought I'd share what I purchased in June of 2016, right after I bought my 2013.
I bought it because I wanted a smoked LED Brake Light, not because I had a water leak.
Either way this has been installed for over a Year now & has NOT leaked
Here's the new gasket...it's world better, fits tightly against the body of the truck, and fills the while mating surface with a proper gasket material that will keep water out.
I cleaned up the mating surface with rubbing alcohol and then let it dry. I made sure the gasket material joins itself on the bottom. I cut the ends at a slight overlap and pressed them together. The whole thing bonds together kind of seemlessly. Since it's on the bottom I cant imagine water flowing upwards if the seal was less than perfect but this material mashes down nicely so I doubt there's going to be a problem. I cant wait to water test this, I'll be shocked of a single drop sneaks past this new seal. It compressed and sealed up very nicely. It's a huge upgrade.
This is the light housing back on the truck with the new gasket in place. It seals up much better than how it comes from Ford, and the gasket material comes all the way out to the edge of the plastic housing which is where the majority of the downward pressure is exerted when you tighten down the two screws that hold everything in place. It looks factory. A word about the screws...the screws are a source of water entry because the holes are over sized and they loosely fit in the holes. Ford should have used a rubber washer on each screw to make them a water tight fastener, so I placed a dab of black silicone on the hole before inserting the screws and tightening them. This should help assure a water tight seal for the screws as well. So, I'm letting everything settle in before doing a water test but I think this is a huge improvement over what was there.
Super old thread, but did this hold up for you? Wanting to do a fix for this once, and only once. LOL!
03-23-2015, 10:23 PM
a bill for the distress this has caused me.
