1998 E430 Back Deck Stop Light Problem
 

My back deck brake light is not working. The other two rear brake lights are working fine. I changed the bulb and checked for votage when the pedal is depressed, no voltage. Looked in all three fuse boxes and did not see one labeled "stop or brake" lights. Checked most fuses and all looked OK. Any thoughts and why don't they label any of the fuses as brake lights?

pull the assebly and look at the contacts on the bottom of the unit, i bet they are damaged

Sometimes folks put the wrong bulb in and it melts the plastic around the contacts - the contacts then stop making contact. Same thing happend on my '97 W210. When you open it up you can bend the contacts so they hit the contacts on the mounting. It's pretty easy - do a search in Tech Help you'll find other threads on this topic.

BadfContacts
 

Thanks for the reply and trying to help. I don't think it is the bulb contacts as I checked the unit contacts with a voltmeter and did not get a reading when the pedal was depressed. I will check and report back. I am still looking for some guidance on where the fuse is for this light.

Thanks,

Brian

Found the problem
 

Well I guess the melted contacts was correct. I pulled the light assembly from the window and the mounting bracket on the back deck had a melted contact that was no longer making contact with the assembly I pulled off that bracket. The contacts on one side of the assembly I removed had corrosion and pitted markes. I filed it down and bent it out so it makes contact with the back deck assemby. It now works perfectly.

Thaks for your help and insight!

Brian :sun_smile