Hi all,
Well after years of searching for a 3rd brake light housing that was not all dry, cracked and brittle, I have given up. As I'm freshening up my car and my own 3rd brake light which has been held together by glue and duct tape for years has finally come out.

Given the fact that finding one of these in new condition is impossible, I'm curious as to what others may have done with aftermaket options and where to best mount them.

I included the W123 owners as I'm sure some have opted to install a 3rd brake light into their wagons and would be happy to hear your suggestions.

As to my wagon, for now I sourced a Euro wiper motor cover that will tidy things up, albeit sans a US spec 3rd brake light.

Thanks

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Stable Mates:
1987 300TD 310K mi (Hans)
2008 Jeep Grand Cherokee OM642 165k mi (Benzrokee)

My w123 has no third brake light so if I added one it would be a generic one.

When I added a generic third brake light to my gasser chevy I put it on the back deck above the rear seat.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

There is a bunch of these on eBay: Universal F1 Style 12 LED Red Rear Tail Third Brake Stop Safety Lamp Light Car

Amazon also likely sells generic third brake lights.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

make sure to seal it well against the glass or otherwise your interior will lit up when braking at night.

or find some kind of weatherproof led strip for the outside

Thanks for the suggestions. My challenges are so far, finding a suitable aftermarket light that has the correct or close enough shroud to fit snug to the glass and the right angle so as to direct the light at eye level. With the LED units, if they are not level, the visible light output is greatly reduced.

The other challenges include leaving it in the hatch area and leveraging tge existing wiring, or take it outside of the hatch and add new wiring.

The biggest challenge is making it look right, factory fit.

Thoughts I've had but haven't firmed up yet.

Exterior, LED strip beneath the hatch and just above the bumper, the width of tge hatch 42". This install is used a lot on pickups, unfortunately the w124 sits too low for this to be effective.

If I can find a red lens a 3/8 inch tall and 12-15 inches wide, I have considered channeling the license plate light lift cover and integratw the light into that. Requires fab work, not a concern, but finding the lens and led assembly has been a challenge.

Even considering if I can find the right lens assembly, to encase the rear window washer jet and make it also function as a 3rd brake with bright Cree leds.

If anyone has ideas, or suggestions for sourcing the materials, please suggest, greatly appreciated

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Stable Mates:
1987 300TD 310K mi (Hans)
2008 Jeep Grand Cherokee OM642 165k mi (Benzrokee)

I wonder if 3d printing is up to the application.

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CC: NSA

All things are burning, know this and be released.

82 Benz 240 D, Kuan Yin
12 Ford Escape 4wd

You're four times

It's hard to

more likely to

concentrate on

have an accident

two things

when you're on

at the same time.

a cell phone.

www.kiva.org It's not like there's anything wrong with feeling good, is there?

3D is definitely up to the task, unfortunately I have not yet settled on my 3d hardware and skills acquisition, so a little premature for me at the moment, but a good friend of mine is already making small simple replacement car parts with his 3Dwith good results.

For now, I have picked up a few possible 3rd brake lights at the Junk yard. The one from a VW Tourag seemed the best fit, albeit with too much of a curve over its width for the W124.

I have been reworking the VW Plastic with a heat gun and both slow and rapid cooling cycles, to get it to take on a new shape with a flatter horizontal plane fitting the w124 really well along the upper ledge of the window seal.

I will end up using 3M double sided moulding tape to secure the assembly to the hatch. While I would prefer a more rigid mount, the assembly weighs about 2lbs., making the moulding tape up to task and completely reversible without damaging anything. Time will tell is something more is needed.

So far, I'm happy with the results, the look is integrated and it is more visible than the original. I also wired in the 2 rear fog light spots on the taillight to operate as brake lights. I now have 4 rear brake lamps plus the LED 3rd brake lamp assembly, better than before.

Will post some pics when finished.

Thanks to all for your input

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Stable Mates:
1987 300TD 310K mi (Hans)
2008 Jeep Grand Cherokee OM642 165k mi (Benzrokee)

Check out Daniel Stern Lighting > Products - I have one of the Hella LED 3rd brake lights that he sells for 5-6 years now- it looks and works great. They're made by Hella New Zealand. I tapped in to the rear brake light wire that runs under the rear passenger seat for power.

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Marshall Welch
Seattle, WA
1982 300D-T

Just to wrap up this thread. As mentioned, in the end went with a LED 3rd brake light assembly out of a VW Touareg (might as well keep it German). With some modification of the plastic with a heat gun and some manipulation, I got it to fit as I would like across the top of the rear window.

Also thanks to Diseasel300 for advising me that I would need a LED load resistor to account for the bulb out warning light being turned on with the LED conversion. For a few bucks at the local auto parts shop and a few minutes to install in the tailgate, the system works as intended and no bulb out warning.

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Stable Mates:
1987 300TD 310K mi (Hans)
2008 Jeep Grand Cherokee OM642 165k mi (Benzrokee)

Have you dyed or painted any of your interior?
I ask because my tailgate trim has faded to a grey, but yours looks fresh.

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1983 300D Midnight Blue
4 speed, W115 intake mani, non-EGR exhaust mani, KKK K26, 3 pc Euro bumpers, Lo-spec Euro headlights, AL129X, hubcaps, custom A/C

1987 300TD Smoke Silver
Euro headlights, thermostat relocation, coolant bypass mod, rebuilt Becker + Jehnert + Helix audio, OEM Oris roof boxes and surfboard racks, Euro towbar

1983 300TD Reed (Moss) Green / Dark Olive MB Tex Euro spec

1983 300TD Silver Blue / Blue cloth Euro spec, OM648 and 722.6, 15" hubcaps, W126 S2 brakes

Yes. I replaced the seat upholstery up front, dyed the rear to depinkominofy the rear to match the front. Window surrounds also dyed with SEM Palomino which was too light for the seats but perfect for the window trim. The hatch trim is easy to remove, a few retaining screws across tge top, look under the top trim with the hatch open. One lip edge is tucked under the rear window seal but it comes out easily.

The door window surrounds are much harder to remove and install intact, so you might want to spray those in place, of use a brushable dye.

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Stable Mates:
1987 300TD 310K mi (Hans)
2008 Jeep Grand Cherokee OM642 165k mi (Benzrokee)

Daniel Stern Lighting lists a couple of different versions based-upon the angle of the hatch glass. Anyone know which angle fits our S124 wagons ?

Three choices, all in degrees: 1) 20-36; 2) 37-56; 3) 57-80

TIA,
:-) neil

Daniel Stern Lighting Consultancy and Supply

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That looks wonderful, what years of the VWTouareg was the donor, and what value & wattage of resistor ? Is the resistor soldered in-series with one of the voltage leads, or does it bridge across (+) and (-) voltage leads ?

Also, I assume you tapped into the existing 3rd brake light harness.

TIA,
:-) neil

The resistor simulates a bulb, and would be wired the same as a bulb (across + and - leads). It needs to be fairly high wattage and will get warm.

Alternately, a Euro-spec bulb-out module should eliminate the need for the resistor, since the Euro-spec estates did not have the 3rd brake light. @Jlaa did some work on this for a slightly different project, detailed over at 500E board.

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Dave
Boise, ID
Check out my website photos, documents, and movies!

I know I'm late to the party, but here's another alternative.


I bought one of these from a benz-world forum member years ago. No idea if he has any interest in making any more. Its a 3D printed housing with a simple LED array inside.



A friend of mine had interest in the same idea and I modeled the original in CAD so it could be printed again for him. If anyone is interested in the model for 3D printing, let me know.

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Onus probandi incumbit ei qui dicit, non ei qui negat

I recondition w123/w126/w124/w140/r107/r129/ steering boxes!


1984 300D "Elsa" odo reset 6/2011 147k
1983 300TD "Mitzi" ~268k OM603 powered
1995 E300 "Adelheid" 262k [Sold]