Actually the car is not an EVO, but since all last generation Lancer models share the same trunk brake light, I thought about starting a thread in this Electrical subforum.

The trunk brake light of my Lancer malfunctions in the way I describe here: 1st, 3rd and 5th LEDs (counting from left to right) randomly are way less bright than the rest 3 LEDs. (I'm not sure if there are times when these 3 problematic LEDs don't turn on at all.) Of course, as you understand there are times all LEDs work perfectly.

Is there a way to fix that issue or do I have to replace the brake light with a new one?

 

It's an LED array on a circuit board so if you're good with a soldering iron and electronics, or know someone who is, it should be repairable. If you have to pay someone to repair it, a replacement would probably be cheaper.

 

That depends. If for example an IC needs replacement that may not be widely available, then the solution may not be that easy. In case it's something repairable, it would be great if the solution was readily available, but as far as I am concerned I haven't seen anyone mentioning this problem again. I searched, but I didn't find anything similar.

 

Yeah, it's not so common that's there's a write-up fix. Someone with a degree in electrical engineering should be able to figure it out on the bench in a few minutes but it's not something you can fix in the garage with a soldering iron. They are SMD components so you'd really have to have a good setup to fix/replace the dim LEDs or the drivers. There are aftermarket options that are cheap so I'd look into that route or a used part since it's not that common a failure.

 

Just replaced mine on my X. It started randomly working so I jumped online and looked at prices. I think I ended up paying about $15. Aftermarket. OEM is more expensive of course. Works, looks and fits great so no complaints here. Like posted above... They're cheap and readily available.

 

There are some aftermarket ones that are quite expensive: https://www.carid.com/dorman/replace...gleid=16404641
Probably most of the cheap ones would do fine though.
I don't see a reason to go OEM. I only do so when there are no alternatives.