Hey guys, my series 4 doesn't have a 3rd brake light, can anyone guide me to install one ?
wiring..
template to cut out the hole for the 3rd brake light, position.

thanks

 

??? how did it not come with one??

 

I am really interested now, lets see some pics.

 

someone probably did some body work and omitted it. i don't think i've ever seen an FC without a 3rd light now that i think about it.

 

If he's from Australia then that would likely explain the omission.

 

First, I'd buy the third brakelight and all hardware from somebody in the U.S. if you haven't already. There is the red lens, a rubber gasket, two Phillips screws and a metal lamp housing. I just looked at my car, and see that the housing is secured from the inside with two 10 mm nuts on studs that are welded onto the body. You probably won't have the studs, so you'll need to add some. I guess you could also attach the light with adhesive of some kind.

As for positioning, it is between the top edge of the rear of the car and above the hatch lock cylinder. If you look in the hatch area, you should see an opening in the metal bracing in the rear of the car that permits you access to the back of the brake light when it is installed. Maybe the Australian car doesn't have this opening, but I'd bet it does. I could give you some measurements if you really need them, but there's not a lot of play in this area so it should be pretty straightforward.

I would not be surprised if your Australian car already has the push connector for the third brakelight in the taillight wiring harness. It's a thin green wire with a white squarish connector. Again, if you have a U.S.-spec light on hand, you can easily compare the pins on the light to the available connectors. If you don't have the wire/connector, you'll probably need to buy a taillight wiring harness from someone in the U.S.

It is funny that something that a lot of U.S. guys go to a lot of trouble to eliminate (the third brake light) could be seen as a cool novelty for someone from another country. A lot of Americans feel the same way about the exotic-looking European taillights and side markers.

 

haha yeah mine was a series 4 from australia, not sure if its japanese delivered or australian.
but only series 5's came with the third brake light, yeah alot of you guys parts take for granted other people actually like it, and vice versa.

yeah i get what you mean, about it :P

so hard to find parts in australia, with out having to import them and most of the prices are like double you guys.

 

These are parts that are routinely thrown away in the U.S. when cars are junked or when people decided to shave the third brakelight for a smoother appearance. You can probably find all the used parts you need to install one in the Classified section of this site or even eBay for very little money. You may need to contact a seller who's parting out an entire car because many won't even bother listing these parts for sale since hardly anyone needs or wants them. I would think that international shipping on something as small as the third brakelight wouldn't be too bad, but I'm guessing the shipping will still be higher than the cost of the parts themselves.

Before you buy the parts though, I would take a look at the wiring in your hatch area at the top of the spare tire well and look for the connector to see if your car already has it. Mazda put wiring for power window motors in cars that had hand-crank windows, so as I said before, I wouldn't be surprised if you already have the third brakelight wiring. I'm attaching a photo with a red arrow showing the location of the connector. The connector is yellowish white on my S4 car and has a single thin green wire going into it.

I'm also attaching a closeup of my third brakelight so you can see that there isn't much play in terms of positioning. Once you have the parts in your hand, you'll see what I mean.

Good luck!

 

Thanks brother, i'll most likely go find a third brake light with a pig tail in it already.

cheers for the pics .

 

The "pigtail" itself is attached to the small green wire and is bundled into the taillight harness on U.S.-spec cars, so you probably won't get the wire or the connector from a seller unless you specify that you need it. Again, you may not, because your car may already be wired for the third brakelight and have that pigtail dangling free from the harness above your spare tire.

 

He could tap into one of the existing brake light wires to run to the 3rd brake light if need be.