I wanted to replace the bulb(s) on the 3rd brake light assembly and found myself looking at a bunch of manuals that did not tell me anything. Took it to the dealer and was told it was the light assembly and balast was out and that for $600.... Can anyone help me with an easy way of replacing the bulb(s)? I would like to see for myself that changing the bulb just won't take care of it.
Thank you

 

I will look at my 99 when my wife gets back with it. You should be able to change it yourself, they are normally pretty easy.

 

My manual on the 99 states to remove the rear glass in order to get to the light. I believe the 95 is different, I looked at one on e-bay and it seems like a different one so the procedure is probably different. I am sure someone else on FTE will have a much better and specific answer for you.

 

The third brake lights in '95 to '97 Explorers are a neon light assembly with a ballast. Typically the ballast goes first. Last one I bought was around $85 a few years ago. You might want to look for one on the Internet form Ford parts suppliers. Another idea is to bypass the ballast and wire in LEDs. Requires some cutting and gluing but would be much cheaper.

Good luck,

Mason

 

Mason and 1081, thank you both for the info. I have done this kind of stuff before and have known this to be an easy task, yet as you both know I am having problems. Now what you're telling me Mason makes sense, yet I would rather keep the explorer original, I just do not want to give the dealership $600.
Ford said that both went out, the light assembly and ballast, although . I just don't trust them half the time and would rather start by replacing the ballast as you suggested. WHich brings me to my next problem; prior to my finding this awesome website I was doing countless searches for the light assembly and ballast and came up with zilch. Where can I find these parts?

Thanks for both of your help !

 

Sometimes I have gotten the ford part number and done searches on that instead of the part name. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. You also might check the salvage yards in your area or on-line. I agree with you that I would try the ballast before the whole thing.

 

I found the parts here - http://www.fordpartsnetwork.com/ If I remember correctly the ballast was $69.

Mason

 

How did the fix go, Cali girl? I am 2 weeks behind you apparently with the same car, same year, and the same problem. I am pretty sure the light was bad, saw lots of condensed water in the actual lamp assembly. I was able to use a local used parts dealer who was able to find me the ballast and the lamp assembly for 115, all working. I was working last night to do the repair, and noticed the innerworkings of the door are quite small. Do you need to pop off the molding to extract the lamp? The ballast is easy, just the interior molding needs to be removed to get to the ballast.

Any suggestions would be helpful. See the most recent pages for my entry. Tnx,

VTBrian

 

Hey VTBrian!
Thank you for the concern. If anything I am really disappointed with Ford! I have noticed that all other Explorers -( I have an Explorer XLT w/ Control Track 4WD ) do not have the same style High Mount Brake. All the other brakes I have noticed have screws to remove the lense and have normal bulbs. The lowest quote I have received is for around $320; the part alone costing over $200.

I was told that they (the Ford Design team) decided to change the traditional $0.29 bulbs to a flourescent type bulb and when it goes out the ballast and the light need to be replaced at a high cost to us. Yet, I have also noticed that the newer Expeditions do not have this type of lense, as well as having screws (I would have to disassemble the entire panel of the door to remove the lense.)

Anyways, I am still looking into it and I am even tempted to writing Ford and letting them know what I really think.
This is so rediculous and frustrating! Why does everything end up being a hassle, down to a bulb! LOL

Keep me posted on your findings and odeas. Have a great day!
Carla

 

Right, Cali-gal, sorry to hear of continued grief.

I got my assembly from Bills used parts (billsusedparts.com). Talked with a fellow named Ken who was very helpful and knew what I was dealing with. I thought they were very reasonable, so as long as you can install the part on your own, they would be a good deal. Based on what I have seen, I would replace the ballast first, since that is easiest and cheapest to replace. Then the light assembly. if you knew that the light was bad, you are in the same place as I am right now. I was just hopeful you had gotten farther to figure out how to extract the original assembly. Its a real fiasco getting the old out easily.

Yeah, I think the design was a real mistake, although that was 9 years ago now. I'm sure they've learned their lesson by now.

All the best,
Brian

 

To get to the light assembly you need to drill out the rivets on the trim that goes around the light. I replaced the rivets with small stainless steel screws in case I ever needed to remove again.

Mason

 

Thanks, Mason...

I found rivets connecting the lamp to the flashing when I popped open the door. I assume the rivets you are talking about are holding the bottom piece of the lamp housing molding strip to the sheet metal, correct? The stainless screws are a smart idea, if there is anything needing to be dealt with later, this will help. Can you get behind the holes with nut, or did you just use machined screws with the right hole diameter? I will look at the whole molding section again later today.

Brian

 

Yes, the rivets are holding the bottom of the lamp molding strip. I think there were six. I used sheet metal screws not machine screws to reattach.

Mason

 

Cali-gal: OK, so it took about 5 hours distributed over 3 days, but my lamp is changed. I thought I would go through what I did, to help anyone else. Turns out that the easiest way to give enough room to work is to take out the back window. There are clips for the hydraulic window openers that need to be opened up to separate them from the chassis. Once done, I took a 7/32 socket wrench and disassembled the window from the door by removing 4 screws. The defroster connections need to also be disconnected. Once that is accomplished, you can open the door, stand on the bumper and you can work through the window.

Let me go through the connections that are holding the lamp in place. There are 3 screws that hold the lamp to the chassis. To get to these, you will need to remove the 2 phillips screws that hold the ballast to the chassis. The lamp is also fixtured in through some tabs that fit underneath the outside portion of the molding. Above the window and below the 3rd lamp, there is some flashing to which the 3rd lamp is riveted. Once you have the lamp disconnected from the flashing by popping the rivets ( I counted 6) and the molding, the molding is pretty pliable and there is about 1 inch of room that allows you to manipulate the old lamp out. Then the new lamp can be fixtured with the tabs under the molding and you can feed the feedthroughs into the chassis holes. Once that is done, you can then rescrew the 3 screws back into the lamp and you are almost done. The ballast needs to be reconnected to the new lamp and refixtured. Then you can reinstall the window, reconnect the defroster, and the hydraulic push ups, and that should do it.

One point of caution. I overtightened one of the window screws and sheared it off. Suspect that there is a torque wrench normally used, but I didnt know that.

Hope that helps
Brian

 

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

And thank you so much for the info!
One last question, how much did it all cost you? and how long did it take you?

take care!
Don't forget to vote Nov 2nd!
God Bless America.