Hi all I've just bought a 2011 s max and all the tailgate  brake lights don't work all other lights on tailgate are OK,as are the brake lights on the rear wings.im assuming it's not a LED problem as all 3 unlikely to pack up at the same time.

Thanks

Has anyone had this issue or could point me in the right direction.

 

The vehicle does not have brake lights fitted on the left and right of the tailgate. There is one centre brake light at the top of the tailgate only.

The tail and brake light combined units are fitted to the corner of each rear wing.

I'd suspect the only problem you have is the bulb needs replacing in the centre brake light.

 

See page 69 of the owners handbook for details.

https://www.fordservicecontent.com/Ford_Content/catalog/owner_guides/ENUSA_CG3533_GLX_og_201011.pdf

Thanks I can see now I've taken the cluster out ony 2 wires going to led for tail light

Will look at bulb on center

Cheers

Edited June 22, 20241 yr by Shag
Found my answer

I had the same issue with the NS tailgate Led lights on my 2012 S-Max , some appeared to be not working at all and one constantly flickered.

 

I managed to separate the cluster from the lens without damage and gain access to the circuit board, testing led's while they are still on the circuit board is very easy to do with a basic Multimeter, just set the meter function switch to the diode symbol and then place a meter probe to each side of the LED touching the contacts. LED's do have a positive and negative side so you may have to reverse the test probes (note which is the negative and positive side for when it comes to replacing). If the LED being tested lights up you know its good. I needed to replace three and while i had the board on my bench connected to a 12v PSU i noticed that one of the other LED's flickered when i moved the board which i took to be a bad solder joint so added a little solder to every joint on the board. The replacement LED's are type 3258 PLCC-4 Red SMD surface mount LED's which you can buy on ebay 10 for £2.69. I used i very small amount of clear UPVC window sealant to reattach the Lens, put it back in the car and it is still working perfectly.  I have attached a picture of the circuit board. Tools required: Soldering iron, Solder, tweezers, T20 Torx screwdriver  and a magnifying glass because the LED's are 3.5mm x 2.8mm in size.