Hi thank you. With your help I did it. Took 5 hrs. I watched your video about 10 times before attempting. I found your images most helpful, especially the c pillar and rear panel. Saved me a ton of money. Have a great day!
Great video on gaining access to this brake light. Took me about 2 hours to disassemble and reassemble. Just to offer my experience on my 2008 Avalon: I removed and tested the failed OEM module with multimeter. The LEDs were OK, so I just re-heated the solder connections (10 of them) with new solder and some flux. This was sufficient to fix mine - no need to replace. 8 connections are on rear of PCB (resistors and diode) and 2 are on front of PCB (need to pop off the red bezel). Other Avalon chat boards mention that cold/cracked solder joints are the primary cause of failure - bad quality control at the factory.
This video helped a lot along with this post from Avalonsgalore on the Toyota forum. Just did mine and it took about 2hrs which included cleaning all the crap your kids left behind. Avalonsgalore states “ This post was quite helpful, but I replaced my light in a slightly different way. 1. Remove the bench of the back seat. Disconnect the recliner lever wires. 2. Remove all three backrests 3. Remove the driver side seatback completely. This is accomplished by first removing the upper bolt in the plastic access panel behind the backrest, then folding the seat forward to access the lower two nuts holding it in place. Once the three bolts are removed, removal of the seatback is easy. 4. Remove the upper bolt from the passenger side seatback. Again, this is done by removing the upper bolt in the plast access panel behind the backrest. Once the bolt is removed, tilt the seat forward. I did not find it necessary to remove the lower bolts and take out the passenger seat. 5. On both the driver's side, pry off the plastic piece of door trim nearest the seat. It pops out fairly easily, as it is only secured by tabs. No screws involved. 6. Pry and then pull the air bag cover panel out. Again, this is only held in by tabs and slots. No screws involved. 7. Repeat removal of plastic door trim, and air bag cover panel on passenger side. This can be a little trickier, since the passenger seat is only tilted forward, and not removed. However, it is doable. 8. Take the plastic rear deck, and pry up the front part. You will not that some plastic pillars slip out of some metal supports when you do this. 9. Pull the rear deck away from the window. It should come out fairly easily, as it is only held in by some slots. 10. Take out the existing LED unit, being careful to not damage any of the tabs. 11. Put in a brand new LED unit. (If you did damage the middle tab, I found that I could cinch the new light into place by drilling a small hole in the rear deck near the third tab. Then I could secure the light unit with a small nut, bolt, and washer. A black bolt head is probably the least noticeable.) 12. Take the wires for the LED unit into place, using the same path that the former wire took. 13. Plug the wire from the LED unit in, and then turn on the lights, step on the brake pedal, and make certain that the new LED unit works. 14. Replace the rear deck. First push it back against the window, and then pull down the front edge so that the plastic pillars again fit into the metal supports. 15. Replace air bag covers, and door trim. 16. Bolt passenger side seat back into place. 17. Replace driver's side rear seat back, being careful to make sure the seat belt is in the right place. 18. Reconnect the rear bench recliner wires, and then put the rear bench back into place, making sure that the seat belt buckles are accessible. All in all, it is not too difficult, and it is a great opportunity to find lost items, and to vacuum out garbage and gunk which may have accumulated under the back seat bench!” I may add to remove the rubber molding just enough and the plastic trim to easily pull out the side door trim for airbags.
David. Thanks so much for putting this together. I made the change in just over an hour thanks to your terrific instruction. I think the C-Pillars were by far the hardest part. You saved me a few hundred plus a few hours. Thanks!
Thank you for taking the time to make this video, I'm pretty sure it's the only one on youtube that shows this much detail. I just followed your instructions to repair the cone on my subwoofer since this is the only way to access it. I might upload a video about it so other people aren't discouraged by how inaccessible it is.
Same here! The sub in my 2008 Limited went bad. Did you replace the sub with OEM speaker or aftermarket? Did you need any tools for the removal of the side panels? Please feel free to email at mike.austin0529@gmail.com.
Did you ever end up filming a video of how to do that? My subwoofer in my 05 is currently rattling and it's driving me nuts so I need to do the same thing to fix mine
Just fixed my 3rd brake light thanks to this video. VERY HELPFUL! After struggling to connect the rear seat reclining spring. I found it easier to bolt the seat backs in first. I used a small bungee to hook the neck then guide the "T" shaped connector into the bracket housing. It took me about 2 hours alone. Couldn't have done it without this guide. Thanks for the video!
Thanks David for posting this video. Amazing the amount of work that was required to replace the light and the expense of the light itself! Talk about over-engineering something. I've found this with other things on the Avalon i.e. head light assembly. When it comes time to replace this car, I might look at another brand. It's almost as if Toyota is engineering their cars to prevent us backyard mechanics trying to do work on their cars.
Done! I had it apart and tried to re-flow all of the solder joints on that light board last year. It held up for several months but as soon as the cold season came on the light quit working intermittently. Thanksfully I never put all of it back together so gettin in today was quick. Those darn plastic rivets are always crap though. The ones that survived work out but about half bit the dust. Biggest trouble I had was lining up the spring loaded seat back load points. After that the job finished quickly. As you said... the plastic mounting for the light is not very sturdy. Use Caution! Thanks to David for his video!
Lol I bought the HID bulbs online and took it to my local dealer so they could replace them since the bumper has to be removed and it's hard to disassemble the rear headlight assembly. My local Toyota dealer had the audacity to want over $200 per bulb....!! I found the EXACT same HID bulbs(OEM too!) on Rock Auto for less than $30 each for a 2005 Avalon Limited. Thank God for the internet.
Thanks for making this video. Same thing happened on my 2005 Avalon. Switched it out no problem and replaced my stock subwoofer in the process since it is right there next to the light. Thanks again
I may be missing something - the 'hump' containing the light just pops off of the rear deck. You can see the little white round tabs from underneath in the trunk. The lightbulb unscrews just light the headlight bulbs and can be replaced in about 2 min. I don't see why you could not install a new light in the 'hump' this way. I have done this several times because I used a LED bulb the first times, which are poled, and I had to rotate it to get it to work right. The dashboard alert do not clear with an LED, even if working properly, so I replaced with reg bulb. If you don't mind the alert, the LED works fine.
Ok. but in the Toyotas I have worked on did not have light bulbs. All of them had LED bars and the whole shelf had to be removed. If your method works then I appreciate you sharing. I will look into this further. Thank you for taking the time to share you experiences with everyone.
Thanks for this. I'll tackle mine when the temperature is warm enough for short and t-shirt. Tip in lining up the spring-loaded seat back mounts, tie a thick sewing thread on the T shape, feed the other end in the hole, pull the thread to line up the t shape to lock it in. The nut will cut the thread when you screw it in. Con? You now have a piece of thread in the back of your seat 😂.
I have to say great video. I couldn't get it for a minute. Went back looked at your video and figured out all thanks to you. Now I can get my inspection sticker
Thank you so much for posting this video! Very helpful. Was quoted 450+ dollars to fix this. With the help of a friend we got it fixed in just about an hour!
Thanks to your trailblazing I got this done in exactly 2 hours. My least favorite part was putting the seat backs back on - it was hard to get the things to catch - but I found it easier after bolting the bottom parts in. And I almost forgot to plug the light back in before putting the seats back. That would have sucked! I ended up securing the side cover rivets with packing tape to stop them from popping out when putting those back in.
Great video!! Dealer wanted about $500 to replace. Watching the video I did the job in about 4 hours. While I was in there, I removed the rear sun shade--it would deploy and could not get it to close . Easiest fix--just remove it all together. Dealer wanted close to $1,000 for a replacement. No thanks Toyota. Once again, very informative video---THANKS
With the clear details of all the involved parts and structures from this video, I have mine done in 30 minutes without removal the back seats. You have to remove the three seat-belt latches on top of the back seats by unscrew the 2 attached screws, thus the back panel with the brake light could carefully slide right out; you might have to adjust the reclining of the back seat down to increase the clearance when sliding the back panel out. 1. Pull the back-seat back, using the lever on the side of the seat . 2. Removal the 3 seat-belt latches on top of the seat 3. Remove the side C panel on both sides as seen from the video. With a rubber hammer hit where there is the airbag sign couple times to loosen things up, then pull the top far end corner of the C panel out first. Then using it as a leverage to pull the whole panel toward you so it could slide out off the anchored slot (please see the video for detail of this panel and the slot) 4. Do same thing to the other side 5. Lift up the panel with the light housing 6. Disconnect the attached wiring on the driver side by pushing on the tab and pull the wire down. 7. Put the back-seat back to its original position to increase the clearance at the top of the seat for the back panel to slide out. Gently guide the whole panel back toward you and lay it down on the back seat 8. You may have to run from side to side and gently guide it forward and toward you. 9. Be careful with the middle tab holding the LCD light unit, very easily breaks. 10. Carefully disengaged the middle tab and gently pull that end up, slowly then you will detach it. 11. Put the new unit back in on the reserve order, after testing it working. Good luck. Thanks for the video. Could not have done it without your instruction and details.
Thanks for the tip, way easier to do what you listed. I've now done this by removing the rear seats and then just doing your shortened version. Your process saves a ton of time. Thanks again!
Hi Doug, I have the same car and model. There is a couple of curtain airbag signs. Do I need to disconnect the battery? Also, Do I need to remove both the bench and back seat or just the backseat alone? Thanks.
@@PontiDelMercado I did'nt disconnect the battery. I did remove the bottom of the back seat, but I just removed the bolts from the backs of the back seat and folded them forward.
Thanks for sharing this video. Followed your instructions and was able to replace the light myself. Thanks again for helping to save me hundreds of dollars!!
Thank you, with your video and insights I was able to replace my 2006 non- functioning center brake like in about 1 1/2 hours. Certainly a pain, getting those side panels off, but with your video I knew what I was up against!
Nice Video. This is absolutely ridiculous the way Toyota put this together. I just purchased a 2007 Avalon & same thing, we failed at the safety inspection. Items such as this should be made to be maintained easier than this. It's like pulling the motor to change out the front headlight. That would make 0 sense. I believe I have a $10 solution. I will do a video when I fix the car & will be sure to post it. I was hit $140 at the dealer for the part but will be taking it back tomorrow. Thanks again for your video. Not looking forward to removing the rear seats...
Thank you for your comment. I would like to see your fix. Clearly the LEDs are OK but the circuit failed in some manner. Please post another comment with a link to your video and I will make sure the link gets posted and does not get hung up in the Likely Spam folder.
Awesome video. I just had to do this job and your video saved me hours and hours. Great not to have to figure it out on my own, especially the C panels! Thanks!!
I have a 2011 Avalon LE. Fortunately, you don't need to pop off the seats... Unfortunately, you still seem to have to take off the side panels to pop off the back shelf... and that's where I'm stuck.. I'm trying to pop off the back shelf up, but am afraid to break something. Hopefully will work up the courage to give it another go soon.
David Prokity thanks for this video! My 3rd brake light is Dim. I will try and solder it and see if it helps. Now I just need to figure out how to fix the Grinding of the rear Sunshade! It tries to go up but just grinds. I put silicone spray in the track for the rails but didn’t help. I also gotta fix or Remove the rear subwoofer cuz it’s blown, too!
My wife just took her 2007 Avalon for state inspection. The 3rd brake light was out,(WE didn't know it). The dealer charged her $300 to change it. She did this without checking with me first. I Seen the part online for about $75 or so. If she would have called me first I would have told her to wait. I wanted to see just what it takes to change these. Thanks.
the back seats don't have to come out , u just remove the rest panels behind thd rear seats on thd upper wall just behind the rear windows and once yoh pop them off , remove head rests and pop up the back panel and slide it out towards you ..its easy ...
Same thing happened with me! My commute starts at 1am usually, I can see the center light working perfectly fine, and by the time I get to work 35 miles later, it's not working. Been like that for a week.
Thanks for the video. Used it to walk through the steps, however instead of replacing the light I read that sometimes it's a solder joint on circuit board. I took apart the light and resoldered joint.. And good to go. Pain getting the reclining seats to latch though.. 😁
Same here - resoldering fixed it. For seat latches, I used thin wire thru the reclining spring to lift and catch the seat latch. Once bolted in, just pull out the wire.
My wife's 2009 Honda Civic had the same bad solder joint problem..........fortunately, it was much easier to remove for the repair. I'm sure looking forward to repairing my Toyota Avalon's center brake light and rear sun screen when the time comes..........NOT!!! Thanks Toyota!!!
Hey Bud, did you mean to replace the light or just the bulb? I changed my bulb on my 2004 and it took me 2 mins and I just had to slid the cover off and replace bulb. The dealer marks up thing because they can. With advancements in tech they make things easier to replace not as difficult. No shade just FYI.
I did this repair without removing the seats. He says he can't understand how the dealer could do this in under two hours. It's because they don't remove the seats.
Thank you for the video. I just did this to my 2009 avalon today. I've seen drawn schematics online but those get confusing sometimes. Because I watched this video a few times before doing it, and im pretty well mechanically inclined, I managed to do it in about an hour and a half. I just got tired of the light wanting to work when it wanted to and not work at all for a couple of days at a time
Actually the two brake lights in the body always need to be operational The Auxiliary Brake Light is not mandated to be working any time you apply the brakes. This brake light is for those behind any vehicle behind you to let them know there is slowing ahead.
Thanks for posting this video. Saves me from trying to take it apart, breaking half the clips, throwing a wrench through the window and then not being able to re-assemble it properly! I guess I am going to just have to take it in to get it fixed bc that looks like a pain in the @$$! What a crappy design feature... Not sure if you check your comments often but once its all unassembled would that rear speaker subwoofer be easily accessible? Mine needs to be replaced and I figured if its already there...
David, how much of this disassembly is required to reach the rear sunshade assembly? Would rather not mess with the two seat pillar panels. I just want to disconnect it entirely.
Hi. This fix was four years ago and I do not remember the Sunshade other than the shade did not have to be removed. If you do not want the shade to work then I would look up the fuse and pull the fuse if the fuse does not also power something that you want or need. I think the plug for the shade motor is behind the right shoulder of the right rear passenger so the rear seats would have to be pulled to see where the connector is. There may be some diagrams out there on the internet to help you. GL. Replacement or repair of the sunshade is a big deal as far as time into the project would go.
I’m still nervous about trying this replacement but your video made me buy the part. Now I just have to wait until I feel like tackling this PITA repair or I’ll leave it until my wife gets pulled over for it and the cops make it an “urgent” fix.
Just got pulled over because the light was out. It just snowed so i'm pretty sure the cold cracked the soldered joints. Seems like alot of work. I wonder if i act surprised i can get off everytime with a warning
I have an '04 Lexus ES, and am able to extract the housing from the top shelf, under the rear window glass without removing seats, etc. Is the Avalon a whole different car from Camry or Lexus? I assumed they were basically the same platform, when searching "how to" videos. Japanese cars are so reliable, but even the simplest repair is a major production (valve cover gasket, etc.) Excellent video, but I'd never be able to do it this way. Glad I didn't buy an Avalon!
Thank you for your comment. I do not know about you Lexus and I followed the Toyota Service Manual for that repair so it is what it is. Good Luck with your repair.
Man I got scared after watching this. I have a 1998 though and the top of the light fixture which is also the subwoofer cover just popped right off and I didn't have to remove anything!
Do you know what the little black box right behind your 3rd brake light, sitting on the trunk is? Antenna? Also the book labor for the 3rd brake light is 1.4hrs. On AllData
So I have a 2005 avalon XL. My issue is similar but sometimes my light does work and does not. Its a base trim so it doesn't have a rear sun shade. Am I able to just pop off the cover without having to undo the seats?
Rick, The rear shelf is also anchored by the C-Pillar panels. In my opinion, removing the rear shelf without removing the seats and pillar covers first would cause damage to the shelf and pillar covers. So the choice is yours as what you want to live with. Working on cars has taught me that most of the work is getting access to the faulty part and this is no different. Not having a rear shade only means that you do not have to make sure the arms have clearance through the slot. Otherwise, I feel that disassembly with the method shown is your best bet. Good luck and if you find a short cut please post your results for others to follow.
Those two symptoms don't go together from my experience. So shops do not charge for diagnostics, if you wanted to have it checked out. Sorry this was no real help.
I love my Avalon but why did they us like that? No bulb should ever be difficult to gain access to. Bulbs go out, so why would they bury it in 2 hours of labor? Pisses me off!
Monique Evans The bottom seats just lift right up. pull one corner up and go around to the other side and the seat should pop up like the video showed.
I did not need to remove the seat bottom, just the seat backs on 2008 Avalon. Tilted seat back forward after removing top bolt to gain access to the bottom bolts of seat backs.
You don't have to go through all that bullshit all you have to do is pop the top with a screwdriver with a cover of the speaker and you will see the plug on the bottom of the light on screw it and change the bulb and put it back together again 5 minutes
Please send me a link to the procedure or make a video as I cannot figure out how to lift the back shelf up and access the light bar without removing the back shelf.
When they first came out with third brake lights for cars in 1986, I used to think it was optional, that you don't have to have it if you don't want, that you can take it out if you want.
I don't want to brag or anything but my 2000 Avalon.. I paid $4 for the third brake light and just had to tug back on the housing by the window, pull out the old light and put in the new one.. Yeah.. I know,.. I'm an asshole! LOL
It’s TOTALLY RIDICULOUS that Toyota did such a poor design just to change a freaking light!!! You should be able to just unscrew the housing on the back deck lid to get access to the light…this is just insane!!🤬
You got that right. The design criteria has the LEDs lasting the life of the car but the circuit board has a tendency to fail. So, the idea is sound but the practice is subject to real world failures.
@@A_Renaissance_Man my original light lasted about 14 years before it started to fail. I just paid the dealership $400 to have it replaced. That’s way too expensive to replace a FREAKING LIGHT! I’m not a handy person so I had no choice but to have the Toyota dealership do it….otherwise the car drives better than new cars today. I bought it brand new in 2005 and plan to keep her until she dies…current mileage is 257,000 and going strong. Love the car! Also it saves miles on my new truck!
If the unit was properly manufactured with good solder joints, it should never need to be replaced. That is why Toyota made it inaccessible - thinking it would never fail. Mine had cold/cracked solder joints - the LED's were fine. Repaired by reheating the solder joints with fresh solder and flux.
Why is this replacement any different than that of the same year Lexus ES350 or Camry which takes a few minutes ? This is a Toyota product. Makes no sense.
WTF? All that for a brake light?! F*** that noize. Thank God I have a 2000 Avalon and you just pop off the cover, pull the bulb out and replace it. 2 minutes tops. Sounds like a racket to me. I thought this was a prank video at first. LOL
This video sucks because it doesn't break everything down step by step. For example, it does not explain how to take seats out or anything, doesn't explain tools needed etc. Every step of this should have been recorded instead he just said what he was going to do but did not explain throughly.
Hi thank you. With your help I did it. Took 5 hrs. I watched your video about 10 times before attempting. I found your images most helpful, especially the c pillar and rear panel. Saved me a ton of money. Have a great day!
Great video on gaining access to this brake light. Took me about 2 hours to disassemble and reassemble.
Just to offer my experience on my 2008 Avalon: I removed and tested the failed OEM module with multimeter. The LEDs were OK, so I just re-heated the solder connections (10 of them) with new solder and some flux. This was sufficient to fix mine - no need to replace. 8 connections are on rear of PCB (resistors and diode) and 2 are on front of PCB (need to pop off the red bezel).
Other Avalon chat boards mention that cold/cracked solder joints are the primary cause of failure - bad quality control at the factory.
Update - still working great 3 years later.
This video helped a lot along with this post from Avalonsgalore on the Toyota forum. Just did mine and it took about 2hrs which included cleaning all the crap your kids left behind.
Avalonsgalore states “ This post was quite helpful, but I replaced my light in a slightly different way.
1. Remove the bench of the back seat. Disconnect the recliner lever wires.
2. Remove all three backrests
3. Remove the driver side seatback completely. This is accomplished by first removing the upper bolt in the plastic access panel behind the backrest, then folding the seat forward to access the lower two nuts holding it in place. Once the three bolts are removed, removal of the seatback is easy.
4. Remove the upper bolt from the passenger side seatback. Again, this is done by removing the upper bolt in the plast access panel behind the backrest. Once the bolt is removed, tilt the seat forward. I did not find it necessary to remove the lower bolts and take out the passenger seat.
5. On both the driver's side, pry off the plastic piece of door trim nearest the seat. It pops out fairly easily, as it is only secured by tabs. No screws involved.
6. Pry and then pull the air bag cover panel out. Again, this is only held in by tabs and slots. No screws involved.
7. Repeat removal of plastic door trim, and air bag cover panel on passenger side. This can be a little trickier, since the passenger seat is only tilted forward, and not removed. However, it is doable.
8. Take the plastic rear deck, and pry up the front part. You will not that some plastic pillars slip out of some metal supports when you do this.
9. Pull the rear deck away from the window. It should come out fairly easily, as it is only held in by some slots.
10. Take out the existing LED unit, being careful to not damage any of the tabs.
11. Put in a brand new LED unit. (If you did damage the middle tab, I found that I could cinch the new light into place by drilling a small hole in the rear deck near the third tab. Then I could secure the light unit with a small nut, bolt, and washer. A black bolt head is probably the least noticeable.)
12. Take the wires for the LED unit into place, using the same path that the former wire took.
13. Plug the wire from the LED unit in, and then turn on the lights, step on the brake pedal, and make certain that the new LED unit works.
14. Replace the rear deck. First push it back against the window, and then pull down the front edge so that the plastic pillars again fit into the metal supports.
15. Replace air bag covers, and door trim.
16. Bolt passenger side seat back into place.
17. Replace driver's side rear seat back, being careful to make sure the seat belt is in the right place.
18. Reconnect the rear bench recliner wires, and then put the rear bench back into place, making sure that the seat belt buckles are accessible.
All in all, it is not too difficult, and it is a great opportunity to find lost items, and to vacuum out garbage and gunk which may have accumulated under the back seat bench!”
I may add to remove the rubber molding just enough and the plastic trim to easily pull out the side door trim for airbags.
David. Thanks so much for putting this together. I made the change in just over an hour thanks to your terrific instruction. I think the C-Pillars were by far the hardest part. You saved me a few hundred plus a few hours. Thanks!
Thank you taking the time to comment. These videos are for you Kerry.
Thank you for taking the time to make this video, I'm pretty sure it's the only one on youtube that shows this much detail. I just followed your instructions to repair the cone on my subwoofer since this is the only way to access it. I might upload a video about it so other people aren't discouraged by how inaccessible it is.
Same here! The sub in my 2008 Limited went bad. Did you replace the sub with OEM speaker or aftermarket? Did you need any tools for the removal of the side panels? Please feel free to email at mike.austin0529@gmail.com.
Did you ever end up filming a video of how to do that? My subwoofer in my 05 is currently rattling and it's driving me nuts so I need to do the same thing to fix mine
Just fixed my 3rd brake light thanks to this video. VERY HELPFUL! After struggling to connect the rear seat reclining spring. I found it easier to bolt the seat backs in first. I used a small bungee to hook the neck then guide the "T" shaped connector into the bracket housing. It took me about 2 hours alone. Couldn't have done it without this guide. Thanks for the video!
Thanks David for posting this video. Amazing the amount of work that was required to replace the light and the expense of the light itself! Talk about over-engineering something. I've found this with other things on the Avalon i.e. head light assembly. When it comes time to replace this car, I might look at another brand. It's almost as if Toyota is engineering their cars to prevent us backyard mechanics trying to do work on their cars.
Done! I had it apart and tried to re-flow all of the solder joints on that light board last year. It held up for several months but as soon as the cold season came on the light quit working intermittently. Thanksfully I never put all of it back together so gettin in today was quick.
Those darn plastic rivets are always crap though. The ones that survived work out but about half bit the dust.
Biggest trouble I had was lining up the spring loaded seat back load points. After that the job finished quickly.
As you said... the plastic mounting for the light is not very sturdy. Use Caution!
Thanks to David for his video!
Thank you. Using your video and a $10 strip of led's from E-Bay, my wife's car is now fixed. You have no idea how grateful I am.
What leds did you use? Are they 12 volt?
Good thing you don't have to remove the engine and trans to replace a head light.
:))) lol
No but we have to remove the bumper and assembly for my HIDs in my toyota avalon limited 09
GM
Wtf! This is insane! Just for a damn light?!?!?! Think I’ll pay shop! 😂
Lol I bought the HID bulbs online and took it to my local dealer so they could replace them since the bumper has to be removed and it's hard to disassemble the rear headlight assembly. My local Toyota dealer had the audacity to want over $200 per bulb....!! I found the EXACT same HID bulbs(OEM too!) on Rock Auto for less than $30 each for a 2005 Avalon Limited. Thank God for the internet.
Thanks for making this video. Same thing happened on my 2005 Avalon. Switched it out no problem and replaced my stock subwoofer in the process since it is right there next to the light. Thanks again
What subwoofer did you use to replace the stock?
How to you remove the factory subwoofer? Did you have to take out the rear shade?
I may be missing something - the 'hump' containing the light just pops off of the rear deck. You can see the little white round tabs from underneath in the trunk. The lightbulb unscrews just light the headlight bulbs and can be replaced in about 2 min. I don't see why you could not install a new light in the 'hump' this way. I have done this several times because I used a LED bulb the first times, which are poled, and I had to rotate it to get it to work right. The dashboard alert do not clear with an LED, even if working properly, so I replaced with reg bulb. If you don't mind the alert, the LED works fine.
Ok. but in the Toyotas I have worked on did not have light bulbs. All of them had LED bars and the whole shelf had to be removed.
If your method works then I appreciate you sharing.
I will look into this further.
Thank you for taking the time to share you experiences with everyone.
Thanks for this. I'll tackle mine when the temperature is warm enough for short and t-shirt. Tip in lining up the spring-loaded seat back mounts, tie a thick sewing thread on the T shape, feed the other end in the hole, pull the thread to line up the t shape to lock it in. The nut will cut the thread when you screw it in. Con? You now have a piece of thread in the back of your seat 😂.
Thanks a lot for this! Really helped a lot. $400 just for a rear brake light. No thank you, Toyota. Internet wins again!!
I have to say great video. I couldn't get it for a minute. Went back looked at your video and figured out all thanks to you. Now I can get my inspection sticker
Thank you so much for posting this video! Very helpful. Was quoted 450+ dollars to fix this. With the help of a friend we got it fixed in just about an hour!
Excellent. Thank you for taking the time to comment.
Thanks to your trailblazing I got this done in exactly 2 hours. My least favorite part was putting the seat backs back on - it was hard to get the things to catch - but I found it easier after bolting the bottom parts in. And I almost forgot to plug the light back in before putting the seats back. That would have sucked! I ended up securing the side cover rivets with packing tape to stop them from popping out when putting those back in.
Great video!! Dealer wanted about $500 to replace. Watching the video I did the job in about 4 hours. While I was in there, I removed the rear sun shade--it would deploy and could not get it to close . Easiest fix--just remove it all together. Dealer wanted close to $1,000 for a replacement. No thanks Toyota.
Once again, very informative video---THANKS
Your welcome. Thank you for taking the time to comment. You are why I make these videos.
Thank you for taking the time to comment and give a detailed account of your situation to help others.
With the clear details of all the involved parts and structures from this video, I have mine done in 30 minutes without removal the back seats. You have to remove the three seat-belt latches on top of the back seats by unscrew the 2 attached screws, thus the back panel with the brake light could carefully slide right out; you might have to adjust the reclining of the back seat down to increase the clearance when sliding the back panel out.
1. Pull the back-seat back, using the lever on the side of the seat .
2. Removal the 3 seat-belt latches on top of the seat
3. Remove the side C panel on both sides as seen from the video. With a rubber hammer hit where there is the airbag sign couple times to loosen things up, then pull the top far end corner of the C panel out first. Then using it as a leverage to pull the whole panel toward you so it could slide out off the anchored slot (please see the video for detail of this panel and the slot)
4. Do same thing to the other side
5. Lift up the panel with the light housing
6. Disconnect the attached wiring on the driver side by pushing on the tab and pull the wire down.
7. Put the back-seat back to its original position to increase the clearance at the top of the seat for the back panel to slide out. Gently guide the whole panel back toward you and lay it down on the back seat
8. You may have to run from side to side and gently guide it forward and toward you.
9. Be careful with the middle tab holding the LCD light unit, very easily breaks.
10. Carefully disengaged the middle tab and gently pull that end up, slowly then you will detach it.
11. Put the new unit back in on the reserve order, after testing it working.
Good luck. Thanks for the video. Could not have done it without your instruction and details.
Thank you very much for adding your experience. Hopefully others can also shorten the time needed to perform this task.
Thanks for the tip, way easier to do what you listed. I've now done this by removing the rear seats and then just doing your shortened version. Your process saves a ton of time. Thanks again!
Excellent video. I replaced my third brake light on my '06 Limited with the help of this video. Thank you!
Your welcome. I am glad this video helped you. Thank you for taking the time to leave a nice comment.
Hi Doug, I have the same car and model. There is a couple of curtain airbag signs. Do I need to disconnect the battery? Also, Do I need to remove both the bench and back seat or just the backseat alone? Thanks.
@@PontiDelMercado I did'nt disconnect the battery. I did remove the bottom of the back seat, but I just removed the bolts from the backs of the back seat and folded them forward.
Thanks for sharing this video. Followed your instructions and was able to replace the light myself. Thanks again for helping to save me hundreds of dollars!!
You are why I post videos to RUclips. Thank you so much for your comment.
Thank you, with your video and insights I was able to replace my 2006 non- functioning center brake like in about 1 1/2 hours. Certainly a pain, getting those side panels off, but with your video I knew what I was up against!
Thank you for taking the time to leave a nice comment.
Nice Video. This is absolutely ridiculous the way Toyota put this together. I just purchased a 2007 Avalon & same thing, we failed at the safety inspection. Items such as this should be made to be maintained easier than this. It's like pulling the motor to change out the front headlight. That would make 0 sense. I believe I have a $10 solution. I will do a video when I fix the car & will be sure to post it. I was hit $140 at the dealer for the part but will be taking it back tomorrow. Thanks again for your video. Not looking forward to removing the rear seats...
Thank you for your comment. I would like to see your fix. Clearly the LEDs are OK but the circuit failed in some manner. Please post another comment with a link to your video and I will make sure the link gets posted and does not get hung up in the Likely Spam folder.
@@A_Renaissance_Man here is lowrider's fix.
ruclips.net/video/TK6-Z9SOcOQ/видео.html
Awesome video. I just had to do this job and your video saved me hours and hours. Great not to have to figure it out on my own, especially the C panels! Thanks!!
I have a 2011 Avalon LE. Fortunately, you don't need to pop off the seats... Unfortunately, you still seem to have to take off the side panels to pop off the back shelf... and that's where I'm stuck.. I'm trying to pop off the back shelf up, but am afraid to break something. Hopefully will work up the courage to give it another go soon.
You should be able to pull the shelf straight out. Don't lift the end too much.
David Prokity thanks for this video! My 3rd brake light is Dim. I will try and solder it and see if it helps. Now I just need to figure out how to fix the Grinding of the rear Sunshade! It tries to go up but just grinds. I put silicone spray in the track for the rails but didn’t help. I also gotta fix or Remove the rear subwoofer cuz it’s blown, too!
Thank you for taking the time to share this video. It is very helpful and detailed. I have a 2011 Avalon and might have to do this someday.
Hopefully not, hopefully Toyota has improved the quality in manufacturing this item. Thank you.
@@A_Renaissance_Man I hope you're eight. You're very welcome.
My wife just took her 2007 Avalon for state inspection. The 3rd brake light was out,(WE didn't know it). The dealer charged her $300 to change it. She did this without checking with me first. I Seen the part online for about $75 or so. If she would have called me first I would have told her to wait. I wanted to see just what it takes to change these. Thanks.
Thank you for your comment. $300 was less than I was quoted.
Thanks a lot it’s save me a lot of money then service asked 140 to install but I did it by myself I bought 10 mm and 12 mm sukit
the back seats don't have to come out , u just remove the rest panels behind thd rear seats on thd upper wall just behind the rear windows and once yoh pop them off , remove head rests and pop up the back panel and slide it out towards you ..its easy ...
Thank you. that sounds like a good idea.
Same thing happened with me! My commute starts at 1am usually, I can see the center light working perfectly fine, and by the time I get to work 35 miles later, it's not working. Been like that for a week.
Great video especially helps on that rear seat pillar trim tip!
Thank you for taking the time to leave such a great comment.
Thanks i just change my light that was easy thanks for the video
Thanks for the video. Used it to walk through the steps, however instead of replacing the light I read that sometimes it's a solder joint on circuit board. I took apart the light and resoldered joint.. And good to go. Pain getting the reclining seats to latch though.. 😁
Same here - resoldering fixed it. For seat latches, I used thin wire thru the reclining spring to lift and catch the seat latch. Once bolted in, just pull out the wire.
My wife's 2009 Honda Civic had the same bad solder joint problem..........fortunately, it was much easier to remove for the repair. I'm sure looking forward to repairing my Toyota Avalon's center brake light and rear sun screen when the time comes..........NOT!!! Thanks Toyota!!!
1:34. "Wow, it pops right out!" Great, but how did you pop it out????? Seems like step one is the most important.
Hey Bud, did you mean to replace the light or just the bulb? I changed my bulb on my 2004 and it took me 2 mins and I just had to slid the cover off and replace bulb. The dealer marks up thing because they can. With advancements in tech they make things easier to replace not as difficult. No shade just FYI.
These are LED's and required the unit to be replaced, or repaired if you are electrically inclined.
I did this repair without removing the seats. He says he can't understand how the dealer could do this in under two hours. It's because they don't remove the seats.
Please share how to do it
Thank you for the video. I just did this to my 2009 avalon today. I've seen drawn schematics online but those get confusing sometimes. Because I watched this video a few times before doing it, and im pretty well mechanically inclined, I managed to do it in about an hour and a half. I just got tired of the light wanting to work when it wanted to and not work at all for a couple of days at a time
Would you happen to have a part number for that third brake light?
Dorman 923-402 Center High Mount Stop Light Compatible with Select Toyota Models
Great video! Thanks for your help!
Your Welcome. Thank you for taking the time to leave such a nice comment.
Thank you. That was very helpful.
Actually the two brake lights in the body always need to be operational The Auxiliary Brake Light is not mandated to be working any time you apply the brakes. This brake light is for those behind any vehicle behind you to let them know there is slowing ahead.
Thank you. Here in Virginia all lights installed must work. Brake lights, fog lights, seperate circuit off road lights, et.al.
On my 2006 Camry, it takes 1 minute.
Just saw a video that shows a tab behindthe middle headrest that will let the seats flood down.
On what model of vehicle? Avalon seats do not fold down.
Thanks for posting this video. Saves me from trying to take it apart, breaking half the clips, throwing a wrench through the window and then not being able to re-assemble it properly! I guess I am going to just have to take it in to get it fixed bc that looks like a pain in the @$$! What a crappy design feature...
Not sure if you check your comments often but once its all unassembled would that rear speaker subwoofer be easily accessible? Mine needs to be replaced and I figured if its already there...
Thank you for your comment. I would think the speakers are accessible with the back shelf off as they are not accessable from the trunk.
I have 2001 Avalon, i can easily take off third light plastic assembly and replaced the bulb. Thankfully, i don’t need to remove all the seat crap.
David, how much of this disassembly is required to reach the rear sunshade assembly? Would rather not mess with the two seat pillar panels. I just want to disconnect it entirely.
Hi. This fix was four years ago and I do not remember the Sunshade other than the shade did not have to be removed. If you do not want the shade to work then I would look up the fuse and pull the fuse if the fuse does not also power something that you want or need. I think the plug for the shade motor is behind the right shoulder of the right rear passenger so the rear seats would have to be pulled to see where the connector is. There may be some diagrams out there on the internet to help you. GL.
Replacement or repair of the sunshade is a big deal as far as time into the project would go.
I’m still nervous about trying this replacement but your video made me buy the part. Now I just have to wait until I feel like tackling this PITA repair or I’ll leave it until my wife gets pulled over for it and the cops make it an “urgent” fix.
Yea ... There is a lot to it. Good Luck with your efforts.
Just got pulled over because the light was out. It just snowed so i'm pretty sure the cold cracked the soldered joints. Seems like alot of work. I wonder if i act surprised i can get off everytime with a warning
Hi Dave. Nice video. Very comprehensive. Would your procedure work on a 2002 Avalon?
I have an '04 Lexus ES, and am able to extract the housing from the top shelf, under the rear window glass without removing seats, etc. Is the Avalon a whole different car from Camry or Lexus? I assumed they were basically the same platform, when searching "how to" videos. Japanese cars are so reliable, but even the simplest repair is a major production (valve cover gasket, etc.) Excellent video, but I'd never be able to do it this way. Glad I didn't buy an Avalon!
Thank you for your comment. I do not know about you Lexus and I followed the Toyota Service Manual for that repair so it is what it is. Good Luck with your repair.
Great Video. Worked on my 2009. Ordered part from rockauto.com Thanks 500 times.
Man I got scared after watching this. I have a 1998 though and the top of the light fixture which is also the subwoofer cover just popped right off and I didn't have to remove anything!
Do you know what the little black box right behind your 3rd brake light, sitting on the trunk is? Antenna? Also the book labor for the 3rd brake light is 1.4hrs. On AllData
Correct. That car has satellite radio.
Thank you. Just bought an 07 avi limited. And hadnt seen that before
So I have a 2005 avalon XL. My issue is similar but sometimes my light does work and does not. Its a base trim so it doesn't have a rear sun shade. Am I able to just pop off the cover without having to undo the seats?
Rick, The rear shelf is also anchored by the C-Pillar panels. In my opinion, removing the rear shelf without removing the seats and pillar covers first would cause damage to the shelf and pillar covers. So the choice is yours as what you want to live with. Working on cars has taught me that most of the work is getting access to the faulty part and this is no different. Not having a rear shade only means that you do not have to make sure the arms have clearance through the slot. Otherwise, I feel that disassembly with the method shown is your best bet. Good luck and if you find a short cut please post your results for others to follow.
thank you!!!! david!!!!!!
Your Welcome. Thank you for taking the time to comment.
How to do get access to the bolts in the first part of the video? I cant seem to locate them
The bottom back seat just lifts out.
05 Avalon.When I put in reverse getting a loud squak from the area of the 3rd light. The 3rd brake light is now out... Help!
Those two symptoms don't go together from my experience. So shops do not charge for diagnostics, if you wanted to have it checked out. Sorry this was no real help.
@@A_Renaissance_Man thanks sir...
I love my Avalon but why did they us like that? No bulb should ever be difficult to gain access to. Bulbs go out, so why would they bury it in 2 hours of labor? Pisses me off!
The LEDs should last the life of the car but, the circuit board is failing at extreme temperature conditions like summer heat and cold winters.
which way did you pull the bench seats to remove it. tried pulling from the bottom on the front but no luck.
Monique Evans The bottom seats just lift right up. pull one corner up and go around to the other side and the seat should pop up like the video showed.
David Prokity I'll try again or get someone with a little more strength to help lol. let you know if I make any progress. thanks
I did not need to remove the seat bottom, just the seat backs on 2008 Avalon. Tilted seat back forward after removing top bolt to gain access to the bottom bolts of seat backs.
You don't have to go through all that bullshit all you have to do is pop the top with a screwdriver with a cover of the speaker and you will see the plug on the bottom of the light on screw it and change the bulb and put it back together again 5 minutes
Please send me a link to the procedure or make a video as I cannot figure out how to lift the back shelf up and access the light bar without removing the back shelf.
Wat about a Camry 2008 ??? Same way
I am not sure. They must be LED without access from the trunk.
Is that also how you get to the subwoofer?
I do not remember and I think that you would. I did not show the speakers in the video.
Looks like the sub woofer around 3mins
Why its hard to replace it? The toyota suppose make it eszier than this
When they first came out with third brake lights for cars in 1986, I used to think it was optional, that you don't have to have it if you don't want, that you can take it out if you want.
I don't want to brag or anything but my 2000 Avalon.. I paid $4 for the third brake light and just had to tug back on the housing by the window, pull out the old light and put in the new one.. Yeah.. I know,.. I'm an asshole! LOL
Why not make a easy access compartment behind the seat but too let’s build it so you have to take out the seats. 🙄
Mine is the same as yours. It keeps coming on and off
The problem is with the LED solder connections.
Yea right! All this for a break light
Cold solder joints
same steps for 2011 Avalon ?
Should be extremely simular. I doubt the car assembly design has changed that much with the same chassis.
Internet will always win, I guess RUclips can't censor Toyota driver's!
OMG, i can't beleave Toyota made this so hard. why not just have a door to get to the light bulb. ( forget the leds)
Yup. A real mess. The LEDs should last the life of the car but the curcuit board sure doesn't.
It’s TOTALLY RIDICULOUS that Toyota did such a poor design just to change a freaking light!!! You should be able to just unscrew the housing on the back deck lid to get access to the light…this is just insane!!🤬
You got that right. The design criteria has the LEDs lasting the life of the car but the circuit board has a tendency to fail.
So, the idea is sound but the practice is subject to real world failures.
@@A_Renaissance_Man my original light lasted about 14 years before it started to fail. I just paid the dealership $400 to have it replaced. That’s way too expensive to replace a FREAKING LIGHT! I’m not a handy person so I had no choice but to have the Toyota dealership do it….otherwise the car drives better than new cars today. I bought it brand new in 2005 and plan to keep her until she dies…current mileage is 257,000 and going strong. Love the car! Also it saves miles on my new truck!
Just had the same thing happen to me they wanted 490 dollars in total I was like nah I'll try it myself
Typical. They definitely made Avalon as close to a Lexus as possible 🤦 including the stupid methods to get to stuff
Toyota doesn't want you doing this. Most other makes, like my '05 Mercury Grand Marquis, just have a screw on both sides of the brake light housing.
If the unit was properly manufactured with good solder joints, it should never need to be replaced. That is why Toyota made it inaccessible - thinking it would never fail. Mine had cold/cracked solder joints - the LED's were fine. Repaired by reheating the solder joints with fresh solder and flux.
Why is this replacement any different than that of the same year Lexus ES350 or Camry which takes a few minutes ? This is a Toyota product. Makes no sense.
Don’t do this!!! Just pull the housing straight back! It’s a 45 second fix. Don’t remove your seats
I hope that works.
Thank you for sharing.
@@A_Renaissance_Man it did
Looooooow mileage on that baby
WTF? All that for a brake light?! F*** that noize. Thank God I have a 2000 Avalon and you just pop off the cover, pull the bulb out and replace it. 2 minutes tops. Sounds like a racket to me. I thought this was a prank video at first. LOL
That's alot to do for changing a single piece of light :/
It's not mandatory. I would've left it
Failed State inspection in Virginia
helpful but could have been filmed better
What a horribly designed way to do a task that should be relatively simple. Smh.
Wow, what a stupid design. I guess I will go without it. Should have been a simple bulb change
Yea, well ... LEDs really last a long time compared to bulbs, the circuit board is the problem.
This video sucks because it doesn't break everything down step by step. For example, it does not explain how to take seats out or anything, doesn't explain tools needed etc. Every step of this should have been recorded instead he just said what he was going to do but did not explain throughly.
I would not trust this video !