No Brake Lights

[FrankH]

My brake lights quit working. The bulbs are good and the fuse is good. I shorted across the switch and the switch connectors, and I fussed with the connectors near the fuses and at the lights. Any other ideas?

Frank

 

[David_DuBois]

Frank - How about the tail lights, do they work? Did you have the ignition switch on when you shorted across the brake light switch? How did you check the fuse - with a meter or did you just look at it? Finally, did you try shorting across the fuse terminals and check the connections to the fuse. If you have a meter, start checking for voltage (with the ignition on) at each connection from the fuse to the switch, then with a jumper shorting across the switch, check at each connection in the line from the switch to the sockets.
Cheers,

 

[bgbassplyr]

Don't forget to turn the switch off when you are through or you may burn up the coil/points.

 

[David_DuBois]

Don't forget to turn the switch off when you are through or you may burn up the coil/points.

Good point. The wire between the coil and the distributor could also be removed while troubleshooting to avoid cooking the coil or points.
Cheers,

 

[bob67bgt]

I would start with a test light. With key on there should be power to the Green wires at the fuse box. Then go to the brake switch and check. Next stop should be the trunk. The wire back there will be green with a different color tracer which should match the wire coming out of the brake light switch.(both of those are green but it plugs into a green w/tracer). It could be as simple as a broken connector in the trunk. By your profile i am guessing its a 71 MGB....? Bob

 

[FrankH]

They're working, thanks for your help! There was a bad connection at one of the lights. Sorry I forgot to say the car is a '71 MGB GT.

Thanks, too, for the tip about the coil. It did get a little warm when I had the switch on the first night.

Frank