How to remove third brake light to install Pulsar flasher
 

Since I haven't see any posts on here of anyone installing a Pulsar on their F54, here are the instructions to remove the third brake light. I have yet to do this. I hope to install it tomorrow. Pics will follow.

Cheers
Henry


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I really like the concept of a flashing third brake light... But is there any state or federal DOT law prohibiting this configuration?

In some locations flashing lights are not legit. One company gets around that claiming that the light pulses and doesn't flash, they claim it is legal. I spoke via email with Pulsar owner and he said basically my product Pulses.


Btw Pulsar is way cheaper than the other company product.

Anyway I will gladly except the rare chance of a ticket over a rear ender.

Interesting question, maybe someone on here actually knows. Based on the fact most new Hyundai's and a lot of new Toyota's have 'flashing' third brake lights now, I would have to believe in the lower-48 there are not any restrictions. I can't see those companies having to configure their vehicles based on state of sale...unless they have some kind of jumper/pin that dealers have to set in specific states. Now international locations, no idea there.

Just an fyi, if you panic stop the F54, you're brake lights will also pulse. They come that way from the factory.

Are you sure about that? Just curious, since the only information in the electronic manual about the brake lights is in reference to the brake force display (see attached). It supposedly illuminates the 'flasher' lights but doesn't mention anything about flashing the lights.

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Snapshot from the electronic copy of the F54 manual.

Sounds like bad language. By lightning up flashers you are using flashing lights.

Which is why it would be great if the lights in the rear doors also lit up when braking. Or, at least, when the car went into the heavy brake mode. I'm still hoping someone smarter than I am comes up with a clever and easy mod for this for the F54.

Brake Force lighting will not flash in the US. It just illuminates extra lights when hard braking.

The way I take the snippet from the manual is that instead of just (2) bulbs illuminating under hard braking, you will get all (4) bulbs in the bumper lenses to light...but not flash. Based on comments from my friends, they have all stated that the brake lights are actually very bright at night, so I could only imagine if you double the light under hard braking at night.

Those inner segment lights are your rear turn signals when the rear barn door(s) are open. Just toss on your emergency flashers and open one of the rear barn doors to verify the operation.

All 4 lights illuminate when the brakes are applied normally on mine with the LED option package, not just two.

All 4 lights in the bumper illuminate on my car with the LED package when the brakes are applied normally.

$5 for a module from SuperbrightLEDs.com
https://www.superbrightleds.com/more...#/tab/Overview

Interesting, will have to see if mine does the same thing as I have the LED package as well. Being in the driver's seat all the time doesn't offer me many chances to view the brake lights.

I believe the turn signal lights light up also under hard braking on the Clubman

Is this confirmed? Does your statement mean that the rear turn signals located in the rear door lights on the Clubman do, indeed, illuminate during hard (panic) braking?

They do on the F55/F56 but looking at the manual online, it does say the bumper turn indicators, but not the barn door turn indicators, so actually I may be mistaken.

What we need is someone to follow a Clubman that slams on their brakes and report back what happens! :lol:

I followed a Clubman S tonight on my commute home (in my own Clubman S).

I'll say it confused me. All FOUR lights in the bumper come on with normal braking. Which means that there's nothing else down there to come on during panic braking.

I will test panic braking this weekend and have my son record some video, so we can all see what happens.

Excellent plan. We await word from you. Thanks :popcorn:

I too can confirm all (4) bulbs illuminate under any application of the brakes, even sitting still in the driveway. I sent my better half behind the car in the driveway last night to check for me and she confirmed all come on.

I too have heard that the turn signals will also illuminate up in the doors under 'panic' braking, but have yet to hear of any confirmation. I guess we will have to wait for GDGR's report from his experiment.

My son and I did the test. From 35 mph to zero, full panic stop, full ABS.

There is no brake force display. Same behavior as standard braking -- all four bumper lights come on but nothing additional. I suppose it could be different from high speed but I didn't want to do that in my residential neighborhood.

Thanks for the report!!

So... anyone figure out how to get the barn door lights to come on when braking:popcorn:

It's possibly a coding thing: http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=500751

Hummm.... deep stuff. Don't think my Carly will do it. Have to do real coding.

So step 1 is to determine if my car has rear fogs. I don't have a rear fog button on the light switch module. But if the bulbs are there it might be possible to code to activate them with the brakes, or, for an old geezer like me, just go all analog and jump a wire from the brake B+ feed wire up to the fogs. Then, any time the brakes are tapped, at whatever intensity, the rear door fogs light up along with the bumper brake lights and the third high light bar.

I'll do a little digging to see if there are bulbs in the fog light socket area in the rear doors. Or at least sockets.

Only issue I can think of, besides figuring out how to run the wires, is if the extra wattage demand will trigger a fault code.

Deep stuff:roll:

:confused::confused:So I removed the rear light module from the rear door and discovered two bulbs present. One is the reverse lamp the other is the non-functioning fog lamp. The third, smaller lamp socket is wired but empty on my car. The owner's guide says it's supposed to be a tail light. When I turn on the headlights and/or parking lights, with one or both rear barn doors open, the only tail lights that illuminate are the lower bumper lights that are part of the bumper brake light module. When the barn doors are closed and the headlights/parking lights are on, the rear door tail lights illuminate.

The wiring for all three lamps is present along with a single brown common. So it seems it will be straightforward to trace and tap the gray wire that comes from the fog lamp.

I am wondering if the LED light package is what is making my tail lights differ from the owner's guide???

First order of business is to get with my dealer to sort out why there are no tail light lamps present in this module. Interesting.