Hello all... It has been a while - and apologies if this has been asked before. I searched and did not find anything appropriate.

2003 CTS, low miles. A couple of weeks ago, started up the car, stepped on the brake, tried to shift from Park to Drive. Could not. The interlock would not disengage. Manual shows the location of the manual override. Used that. So now, each time I need to get out of park, I need to use the manual override.

Took it to the dealer (where the car was purchased). They inspected and replaced a fuse. The report says:

"owner reports shift lever won't come out of park unless
white tab pressed. inspect and report.
inspect & find stop lights inoperative. found fuse blown.
replace fuse & use short finder. no short present at this
time. suspect high level stop light shorted. owner consulted."

They want $700 - apparently to replace the center light-bar brake assembly.

I did a quick search and came up with
http://www.cargurus.com/Cars/Discussion-t3782_ds445823

Since the brake lights are a "safety item", there have been no modifications to the car, it has low miles, and right now, the left and right brake lights and the center light bar are not working, and this is apparently not uncommon, this is not passing my "grin test".

Additional item (added after original post): The shift now disengages properly - but the left brake light and the center light still do not illuminate when the brake pedal is depressed - the right brake light does.

Your thoughts?

Thank you...

 

I believe that the lamp is neon and not LED. Tiny glass neon tubes and a sealed high voltage amplifier.

The problem is, the amplifier is sealed in a way no repairs can be made unless you are an electronics guru. The amplifier is sealed inside the amp, encapsulated.

the "street" price is around $350.

More bad new .. it is NOT covered by warranties that rule out light bulbs.

It is used in many GM models and I beleive made in China.

 

Stomper,

Your quick response is very appreciated.

What I found interesting was that after the dealer replaced the fuse, all three brake lights were behaving correctly. The dealer found no shorts. The next day, the left and center lights stopped working... The disengaging-from-park continues to work properly.

In your (or anyone else's) experience, is this common?

Is it your expectation that when that center light is replaced, this will stop being a problem... at least for a while?

Thank you.

 

one reason the fuse may have blown is the power draw of the assembly.
but did the technician install the correct fuse? installing a larger fuse could have allowed the unit to fail.

fuse capacities are carefully designed to protect circuits.
i say, check what they put in vs. required ...

if the center light unit is faulty, replacing it should stop the problem.
if that is not the issue, ie.. a short elsewhere, the new unit will get blown.

I would hope that upon removal of the damaged unit, prior to plugging in the new unit, someone takes a test meter and checks the harness.

 

Interesting to me...tonight just repaired my third brake light on my '04 CTS that I bought used a year and a half ago. Had been to dealer who advised of $1000.00 approx repair as stated they needed to order entire new light assembly!!

I am no electrics guru and took my chances by buying some electrical wire & electrical tape et voila, I found a disconnected wire! I spliced these together and I am happy (so far) to say that it now WORKS! I have not had any of the shifting from park issues however--touch wood.

My next trick is to find how to repair/replce trunk springs as the trunk will not pop up wide open and worse, I have to lift the bloody thing and hold it up so I don;t get decapitated!!

Jeff

 

excellent .. did you take any pictures you can share ?


i hate the damn gas springs .. I use a baseball bat to hold the lid, on all but one of my cars .. the gas springs should be between from $40 to $75 EACH ! the old school steel springs lasted forever.






.

 

hello everyone, I have a 2007 cts and brake lights work but not the light bar on the trunk is there a relay or will have to repalce the bar, also i live in NY is there a palce where i can get one for a cheap price?

 

There is a company on the web that rebuilds those third brake lights. The name is Rush Repair, just search CTS Third Brake Light and you will find it.