New owner....brake lights intermittent

[TonyUH60]

Driving around the other night...noticed the brake lights werent working, parking lights were on, but step on the brakes, nothing.....figured it was the fuse. turned the car off, checked the fuse, it was fine. turned the car back on and they are working again. I've been reading up on the forum and saw something where the turn signal lever may be a culpret, and to do a bypass, cut the white wire from the steering column and jump it to the dash harness. before I do any cutting, I wanted to check to see if there is anything I am missing or do first. I'd rather not cut the wire but will do so as a last resort. Thanks for any input.

 

[turbofrank]

brake light switch adjustment

 

[TonyUH60]

thanks for the input......i wiggled the brake switch a bit and the lights came right on.....going to dig into it how to set/adjust/tighten down.....thanks again

 

[TonyUH60]

after messing with the brake switch it worked for about a day then completely went out. I replaced the switch and now i can't get the brake lights to come on at all.it's adjusted correctly.....checked the circuit breaker and that is good.....what's the next step where i should look?

 

[Turbo6Smackdown]

Noone? Bringing it back. Need the same help. And no, it's never the brake light switch. Those are dreams. What else do I check.

 

[robs87t]

Bad ground? My taillights did what you are describing and it was a corroded ground. Good luck.

 

[aminga]

It isn't the turn signal lever it's the turn signal switch in the column. Power to the brake lights have to come through the signal switch since the bulbs are used for both brake lights and turn signal. There is a white wire out of the turn signal switch that gets fatigued from the tilt column and breaks.

Symptoms: No brake lights but you will have running lights and turn signals. Sometimes it only happens when the wheel is tilted down, up it is fine (took me months to figure this one out on my car). Third brake light comes from another source will come on regardless.

You can replace the switch or you can splice the wire.

 

[Turbo6Smackdown]

Good stuff to check. Will get on that. Though, would you know off hand where the tail light ground is? (I'm not too electrical savvy. will be however, in 16 weeks )

 

[aminga]

The trunk

 

[Turbo6Smackdown]

Roger.