That's where I got my picture from. I realized it had the wiring diagram after I posted here. Thanks for confirming it. Pooh Bear

Explorer owners, Good day! First of all i would like to state my apology in putting up this thread. Just badly need help with the brake lights of my car and i hope you understand. Feel free to remove this one in case you think this is an inappropriate post. So, I recently bought a used 2000 Explorer XLS and the one brake light was not working and the other one was intermittently working. I replaced both brake lamps and still had the same problem.I replaced both brake lamps and still had the same problem. Upon close inspection of the lamp sockets, I discovered that theyboth showed signs of overheating. I replaced both brake lamp sockets with an aftermarket product called Conduct-Tite lampsocket found off the shelf the shop here in our place. The part number is 84764. This part number is for Ford trucks from 1997 and newer. The part is American made by Motormite, Division of R&B, Inc., Colmar, PA 18915. The price was $7.95 for each socket. This fixed my problem. The counter man also recommended that I use a heat transfer silicon type salve smeared on the base of the replacement brake lamps, which I bought. Related post: Ford Repair

I don't know anything about your car specifically. Generally speaking, if your car uses dual filament bulbs, ie one bulb serves as brake and tail light in the rear, I'd start looking closely at those. Often times the end of one filament will burn or break off in one of these bulbs, allowing it to contact the other filament. That creates an alternate path for electricity to flow, perhaps back feeding the lights you're talking about. Even a bad connection at the socket bulb plugs into can sometimes cause strange things to happen. Other things to check would be the grounds related to your lighting, especially those that might be in the trunk area. Also check the fuses. Sometimes an open fuse causes grounding or back feeding through seemingly unrelated circuits. That's all I've got. Good luck.

I've got a '98 Stratus, but I think that the replacement of the center stop light is about the same on most years of the Stratus. You're in luck. This one is the easiest of all the lamps to change on this car. Open the trunk lid (all the way). Locate the leads going to the lamp unit and find these terminated to the backside of the lamp socket. Turn the lamp socket to the left (counterclockwise) about 1/8 turn and the lamp socket should come out. Replace lamp, insert the socket with new lamp, and turn to the right to snap into place. Note: Should you find that the leads are too short to permit the socket to turn enough for release, then unplug the lead from trunk lid wire harness.