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Any idea what this wire is for?

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Old Dec 27, 2019 | 03:48 PM
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Question Any idea what this wire is for?

I was trying to isolate a rattle in the trunk, and I might have pulled this out, or it might have been loose already, anyone have any idea what this is for? Everything seems to be working apart from the reverse light on the driver side, which might be a bulb (I haven't had a chance to pull it off yet.


Old Dec 27, 2019 | 05:19 PM
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Could be the wire for the third brake light. Step on the brake, see if the light comes on.
Old Dec 28, 2019 | 01:17 PM
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Originally Posted by Richard66
Could be the wire for the third brake light. Step on the brake, see if the light comes on.
good call, third light is not lighting up at all.
Old Dec 28, 2019 | 04:37 PM
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Originally Posted by Richard66
Could be the wire for the third brake light. Step on the brake, see if the light comes on.
Any idea where it should connect to?
Old Dec 28, 2019 | 04:59 PM
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Do you have the third brake light on the deck of the back window or do you have a trunk lid spoiler? I'm guessing the light is in the back window the way the wire is running.
Old Dec 29, 2019 | 07:07 AM
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Originally Posted by Richard66
Do you have the third brake light on the deck of the back window or do you have a trunk lid spoiler? I'm guessing the light is in the back window the way the wire is running.
I have both, neither light up
Old Dec 29, 2019 | 07:39 AM
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Since you have both then the trunk lid spoiler is an aftermarket addon, as the SV sport, which I have now, came from the factory with the spoiler and no third brake light in the back window. The spoiler electrical had to be spliced into the third brake light somehow. I believe those two wires go directly to the third brake light in the back window, You might be able to access the third brake light from the back seat, at least I could with my 5th generation max when I installed a spoiler.

Last edited by Richard66; Dec 29, 2019 at 07:41 AM.
Old Dec 29, 2019 | 07:54 AM
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Originally Posted by Richard66
Since you have both then the trunk lid spoiler is an aftermarket addon, as the SV sport, which I have now, came from the factory with the spoiler and no third brake light in the back window. The spoiler electrical had to be spliced into the third brake light somehow. I believe those two wires go directly to the third brake light in the back window, You might be able to access the third brake light from the back seat, at least I could with my 5th generation max when I installed a spoiler.
It looks like an OEM wing, maybe a dealer added option? My SV does not have the sport package. So I would assume so going by the brochure.
Yeah, the brochure mentions the dealer option of adding the spoiler. however, considering that none of them are currently lighting up, it makes me wonder if the area where it's spliced fell apart for some reason.

Last edited by bananaX; Dec 29, 2019 at 08:31 AM.
Old Dec 30, 2019 | 12:01 PM
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I can't seem to find the wire for the third break light, any have some guidance here? I assume if nothing else I can splice it into any of the two rear breaks?
Old Dec 30, 2019 | 12:35 PM
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Brake lights, not break lights...

You got to start by pulling the necessary panels etc to get to the third brake light in the back window and/or the trunk spoiler and start following wires. You should find a break in the wires somewhere. The mystery should reveal itself. Have you at least tried pulling all the trunk liner panels as step 1? You might be able to figure it out quit easily.
Old Dec 30, 2019 | 01:27 PM
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Originally Posted by The Wizard
Brake lights, not break lights...

You got to start by pulling the necessary panels etc to get to the third brake light in the back window and/or the trunk spoiler and start following wires. You should find a break in the wires somewhere. The mystery should reveal itself. Have you at least tried pulling all the trunk liner panels as step 1? You might be able to figure it out quit easily.
yes brake lights thanks
​​​​​​yes the liner is off on the top panel already and one of the sides as well.
Old Dec 30, 2019 | 01:31 PM
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Originally Posted by bananaX
yes brake lights thanks
​​​​​​yes the liner is off on the top panel already and one of the sides as well.
Well, you are on the right track. Keep digging in and let us know what you find.
Old Dec 31, 2019 | 08:02 AM
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Also check the wire bundle running from the truck to the trunk lid. I had several wires fail at the bend, caused all kinds of lightning issues.
Old Dec 31, 2019 | 08:13 AM
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Originally Posted by The Wizard
Well, you are on the right track. Keep digging in and let us know what you find.
When I get back home I'll dive into it Thanks

Originally Posted by the loaner
Also check the wire bundle running from the truck to the trunk lid. I had several wires fail at the bend, caused all kinds of lightning issues.
The wire is actually coming out of that bundle, so I'm assuming this is the wire for the spoiler brake light, now I just need to find the wires that go to the third brake light inside the car. and find out why neither is getting any power.
Old Jan 5, 2020 | 01:19 PM
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Originally Posted by The Wizard
Well, you are on the right track. Keep digging in and let us know what you find.
I found the splice point, right at the interior third brake lamp connector (These were used) https://www.crutchfield.com/S-2RBo0Y...QaAgdrEALw_wcB

I re-wired the spoiler brake light to the window one, even though neither worked (Figured the interior one might have been out) and still no go, I can't follow the cable coming into the brake lamp, it goes under the rear deck. I did verify with a voltmeter that no power was coming to the third brake light as well.
Since there is only a single fuse (10a) for all the brake lamps, it can't be that, the other 2 brake lights are working, There are however 2 brake lamp relays, are they generally one per side? or would it make more sense to be 1 for the outers, and 1 for the inner?

Using this as a guide, it seems it has a slightly different setup with the sunshade
https://www.nicoclub.com/FSM/Maxima/...Maxima/EXL.pdf (EXL-132)

Is removing the rear deck something that is doable by a weekend mechanic(newb at that too), the car has the rear sun shield that goes up as well.

&

Also, does anyone know where connector B20 is? (on EXL-133) It seems that is where the 3rd brake light will be getting it's power from.

If all else fails, would it be a bad idea to wire the spoiler lamp off of the one of the outer brake lamps?

Thanks for any help

Last edited by bananaX; Jan 5, 2020 at 01:50 PM.
Old Jan 11, 2020 | 01:25 PM
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Welp, I verified that the wire was indeed for the spoiler brake light, and I also verified that both interior and exterior LEDs are dead, just to verify, I used a multimeter, switched to diode and it was showing 0 for both interior & exterior, however the corner brake lights were showing about .32v.

is my method OK here? I did wire the spoiler light off of the rear left brake lamp and nothing, so I figured it's toast.

Ahh nevermind, it seems at least the spoiler one is OK, I had it wired into the DRL pair, not the brake pair.

Last edited by bananaX; Jan 11, 2020 at 04:27 PM.
Old Jan 12, 2020 | 01:07 PM
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Based on the amount of investigative work that you've done, I would call it a day and tap into the brake lights and get your spoiler light working. No need to get the 3rd brake light in the rear window working.
Old Jan 13, 2020 | 07:50 AM
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Originally Posted by The Wizard
Based on the amount of investigative work that you've done, I would call it a day and tap into the brake lights and get your spoiler light working. No need to get the 3rd brake light in the rear window working.
That's what I ended up doing, 3 lights is plenty ty.
Old Jan 13, 2020 | 10:34 AM
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Originally Posted by bananaX
That's what I ended up doing, 3 lights is plenty ty.
Good job. Glad to hear you got it figured out.
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