• Hi Guest!
    You can help ensure that British Car Forum (BCF) continues to provide a great place to engage in the British car hobby! If you find BCF a beneficial community, please consider supporting our efforts with a subscription.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

Help..Brake Light/Switch Problem

Share this page

B

BASS

Senior Member
Offline
Ok guys, here is my problem..My brake lights didnt work, so I took out the old brake light switch, and it turned out the old one is bad (the center pintle piece was rusted and didnt move)..I ordered a new brake light switch, and when I installed it, only the passenger side brake light works..

So, this is the problem now: With the parking lights off and the brake light switch on (i.e. the center pintle not pressed in), the passenger side brake light is on (bright) and the driver side light comes on (but dim).

With the parking lights on and the brake switch on (i.e. center pintle not pressed in), only the passenger side light becomes bright and the driver side light totally shuts off. When I press the center pintle in (i.e. brake switch off), the rear parking light go normal (i.e. both become dim).

What can be the problem??? Faulty brake light switch? It seems it doesnt matter which way I connect the switch either, is that correct? I checked all the connections and everything seems ok..Im really confused!
 
Bad ground on the dim tail lamp.
Or you have the red and grn/purple wires crossed at the connections.
The brake light switch only powers the grn/purple wire which should run to both tail lamps.
Or by some slim chance you have the wrong bulb and it's in backwards.
Should be an 1157 bulb.
 
Thanks Spritenut..So, wheres the ground for this dim tail lamp located (along the inner body panel in the trunk?). Also, does it matter which way the brake light switch is hooked up? (the new one has two green wires, and the connector on the car has a green wire and a green with purplish/white strip on it...

Also, its the correct bulb and I even swapped out two other ones with the same result..
 
I checked all the connections and they were good. This is what it looked like on the driver side right after the harness splits to the lights:

Red wire splits to the rear side marker light and the top part of the tail lamp.

Green/Purple wire goes to the green/purple wire on the tail lamp.

Green/Red wire goes to an all green wire to the rear driver turn signal (i.e. bottom bulb on the rear tail lamp)

Black wire goes to the black ground on the rear side marker.

Does that seem correct? I checked all the wires on the other side, and its a little more confusing/more wires on the passenger side, but everything seems to be connected tightly..

Can it be a bad brake light switch??

OR, maybe the green/purple wire and the red wire connections are reversed right behind the bulb holder???
 
The tail lamps ground via the bolts that hold them in.
Clean the paint off at least one slot on the inside of the trunk where the lamp nuts go.
It doesn't matter which wire, one is hot, the other goes to the lamps. Power in, contact, power out.
 
What year and model car do you have? I fthe brake light switch only has two leads and it is inline with the brake lines it doesn;t matter which way you hook it up. It sounds as if you have the wires crossed at the light that doesn't work properly. The other lught has to be burnt out. Have they worked before?

Okay, I just read your original thread again. I don't understand exactly what you are saying. Check the bulbs and then hte wires you have running to the actually lights. My original question stands.... where these lights originally working okay? Or are you getting this going for the first time?
 
Spritenut, you were correct!! I just went out there and tightened/cleaned one of the bolts that hold the tail lamp on, and viola, it works!! Thanks so much!! This forum is awesome!
 
And when Spritenut speaks we all listen.
 
Back
Top