Hey All, My mother owns a 2004 Toyota Prius, we got the car couple of months ago, and noticed the brake light was out, on the drivers side. Little did we know that it was a hard thing to actually replace, and we didn't bother giving much care to it since we thought it was a regular $15 bulb you just pop onto the taillight. It turns out, the top part of the brake light attached to the remainder of the tail light does not turn on, while the center and passenger side of the brake lights turn on. It is black colored/tinted, and my guess is this is an LED. Any proper diagnostic steps to take before confirming the LED is actually dead? It is really hard to believe it just died out (none of the LED lights turn on). Would love some pointers to resolve this, we don't drive the car often, but would love to solve the brake light issue ASAP. Thanks!
Ah okay I was hoping that maybe the wire somehow got disconnected or something along those lines, but I guess if it is a replacement, I might as well do it... there is a Prius scrap yard around me, I'll check it out tomorrow. I also own a 2007 Prius, no issues with any of the lights, but is it the same deal when changing/replacing? It doesn't have that black tint on the top of the tail light.
The black tint is for 2004 and 2005 models. I have a working one with a broken lens you can have, just bake your taillight and remove the lens. But only if you're into diy. You would have to look up the info on baking the lens to remove, some have done it to modify the lights
Is there an appropriate guide that exists that explains how to look for the corrosion on the LED part?
just pull the connector off and look at both the male and female pins. wouldn't hurt to smear a little di-electric grease on there to keep it from corroding in the future. although it really shouldn't be corroded unless there's been water in the car from the notorious roof seam leak, or leaving windows open. but I'd still want to check it before I started buying parts.
my 04 had a couple issues with the taillites. I know i replaced a bulb an checked a couple connections, thankfully all has been good. Did not take long
Just wanted to follow up here - The car has only been used for minor errands, but this weekend, I finally had time to investigate the problem of this taillight: so I decided to take apart the tail light, and it was just a few connectors that were dirty, after cleaning it up, and putting it together, boom, the brake light works again!
