I have two S10 Blazers (95 and a 96) and both have had the brake light on the hatch go out. I was told by the shop inspecting the 95 that a replacement was available from GM for "only $134".

Here's what I did.
1) took the plastic loose on top by the hatch so I could get to the plug and unplug the brake light
2) remove the brake light from the hatch
3) pull the ends off the light and pull the circuit board with all the LEDs on it out of the lens
4) on both there was a resistor that had completely burnt up (not enough left to ID the resistance)
5) I took a paper clip (metal one of course) and bent it around a nail to get a nice tight circular pattern - make sure none of the circles touch each other)
6) got out the soldering iron and remove the burnt wires from the burnt up resistor
7) soldered the nicely shaped paperclip into the circuit in place of the resistor
8) put it all back together and connect the wires


The 95 has been working now for over 5 years and the 96 for 3 years. I didn't have a camera at the time or I'd have taken some pictures.

 

I'm glad this has worked for you, but replacing any resistor with a short (paperclip) is not good. A better way to fix this may have been to try a few resistors in its place until you got one that worked or compare to a functional light. Since this way worked for you (5 yrs+ good job!) it's probably safe, but I'd be wary of it. This is just my 2 cents, but I don't like it when people don't fix electrical issues properly. Very bad things can happen.. But if it's been working for that long, then I'll bet you're safe.

 

What gave me the idea was the way the heater fan is set up to adjust speed of the fan on the older cars. Twelve volts through different size (diameter and length) coiled wires mounted in the ductwork under the hood/on the firewall.

We checked it for heat build up by having my wife sit there with the brake pedal down through 3 songs on the radio (a guessed at long time at a stop light). No heat - I could touch the paperclip/coil/resistor and it was not hot).

 

Kudos for checking it after! As long as it's not going to cause a fire, all is well. Coiled wire is usually used as an inductor, not a resistor, but it works either way. I can tell you that there was no need to coil the wire since the amount of resistance you add by doing so is insignificant (far less than 1 ohm is usually insignificant). So if the coil is causing space issues, feel free to replace it with straight wire, it makes no difference to the circuit.