Center High-Mounted Brake Light
 

Bought my 2002 Blazer LS 4x4 4.3 V6 new. The center high-mounted brake light stopped working in 2005,problemfoundin an inspection, paid $150 to have it replaced. Itfailed again in late 2007. Can't find a replacement thru parts stores or JC Whitney, Haynes manual claims it must be replaced by a dealer. Surely there is a better solution than to go back to the dealer for an expensive R&R....any thoughts?

RE: Center High-Mounted Brake Light
 

High Mount Rear Stoplight goes through the diagnosis (more in the thread that it links to as well). If you determine that it is the LED lamp again, then PN 15145321 is the most up to date number for the 4 door CHMSL (Part number 15755976 was superseded by part number 15145321). You can find a few of these on eBay right now for under $60. It is fairly easy to replace. I don't have the number for the 2 door CHMSL...

RE: Center High-Mounted Brake Light
 

The 2 door one is actually pretty easy...

As long as you find one that clips in, and sits decently close, you can get pretty much any one up there, lol.

Heck, it doesn't even have to clip in...

RE: Center High-Mounted Brake Light
 

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RE: Center High-Mounted Brake Light
 

Thanks swartlkk........bought one on eBay this morning for $54 plus S&H.

RE: Center High-Mounted Brake Light
 

The continuing saga of the faulty CHMBL. But this is a good news finale. I purchased a brand spanking new light on eBay for $54 plus $10 S&H, and figured since it was on the way I had nothing to lose removing and trouble-shooting the current faulty light.Nothing too complicated in the removal, I'd just suggest to take your time.Trim piece surrounding rear hatch dome light comes off, then you gently pull down the roof liner a bit and find the wiring for the CHMBL.It is one of those disconnects that needs to be slightly "pryed free." If you brute force it you'll end up damaging the connector. Anyway, remove the entire CHMBL assembly from the vehicle. Verify that you have 12V reaching the light.If youhave 12V reaching the light but light doesn't work,you're either gonna replace the light or trouble shoot it.....in my case, I verified 12V reaching the light connector, then I removed the light completely. You can open up the lightassy by gently removing each "end cap" of the light, which will then allow the inner printed circuit card to come out.It has 30 LED's on it, 12 surface mounted resistors, and one regular diode.I inspected each of these carefully to see if anyshowed obvious signs of damage (burned); they were not. Next I applied 12V directly on the printed circuit board where the wires attach. (the rear hatch dome light is on if you have the hatch open working on this, and it's a 12V light as well; your source of 12V is right in your face!) Abracadabra,all 30 LED's lit up. And that solved the problem. Turns out that the wiring on the light assy itself was faulty......caused by a tight fit on installation relative to the rubber grommet......the resulting failurewasby an accumulation of opening and closing of the hatch,and a tight fit of wiring, the wires were getting stressed, and finally broke "internally." The plastic insulation was still intact, but electrically they were open. I wiggled and felt the wires, and found a spot where it was pretty obvious that the wire was damaged. I cut the wires at this point, both ofthem, stripped the wires, and usedsolderless butt joint crimp connections to reattach the wires......this fixed the problem.
In summary, the failure was the wiring on the light assy wasfatigued in the service loop, and eventually broke (internally) due to an accumulation of flexing (opening & closing of the hatch). It was a very simple fix; strip and re-connect two wires.

RE: Center High-Mounted Brake Light
 

That'll help the 4 door folks out in trouble shooting and preventative maintenance, lol.

RE: Center High-Mounted Brake Light
 

Thanks for the follow up on your problem! This will help everyone with this problem out. Proper diagnosis is key in fixing only that which is faulty. Glad you were able to get it figured out and fixed on the cheap!!

You must be working on a 2dr though. The 2nd gen 4dr light is mounted to the roof.

RE: Center High-Mounted Brake Light
 

The 2 doors are mounted to the roof... Nothing moves... At least on the 2nd gens

RE: Center High-Mounted Brake Light
 

I just had to look back through the pictures of my old Bravada to check the location on the 4dr and it was on the roof there as well... Don't know what flexing it undergoes unless there were some that had it in the window... Maybe it is a difference between the full rear liftgate and the tailgate models.