Brake lights not working

[jamster]

Need help guys. Either I'm being a mong, missing something extremely simple or the laws of physics adopted by the cerb have gone straight out the window!
Anyway: Both brake lights do not work, both rear side lights DO work, put in replacement bulb on both sides, doesnt work, Checked fuse, its' fine. Checked to see if they were wired serially, Nop parralel!

Any other suggestions? How does the sense circuitry to the foot break work to switch on the lights?

Help! before someone creams trevors back side!

[arcbeer]

There should be a spring loaded switch at the top of your brake pedal. If this comes out of line the brake lights stop working. Worth a check

[kojak69]

A mong. Not heard that since I was at school.

[jamster]

arcbeer said:

There should be a spring loaded switch at the top of your brake pedal. If this comes out of line the brake lights stop working. Worth a check

Cheers Arcbeer I'll check that body boy spring! is it easy to get too?

[arcbeer]

Yes, just run your hand up the brake pedal arm. At the top the sprung loaded switch should be pointing straight back from the pedal arm. If it is pointing off to the side and not making contact with the bit behind, your brake lights will not be working.

This has happened to me before and I now regularly check the switch, as it seems to move over time.

[Except]

I have a brake light switch issue as well...

I found the white switch with the two connectors on either side. It is mounted horizontally. I can twist it a little to rotate it around its axis. Otherwise there iss ome flex to pretty much everything about it. So to clarify how I can possibly fix it, can someone elaborate on how it should be fixed?Then I can maybe check if it's the switch, the bracket, both, or something else....

A) Should it be horizontal, or does it not matter how exactly it's rotated?
B) How can you check if it's 'aligned along its axis'? Is it going to fail with a few degrees off?
C) Should it be this wobbly, my intuition would say that this switch should be mounted rock solid if it's to withstand sudden pressure changes and remain operational?
D) The mounting screws/bolt/nut... or multiple? I couldn't see any, is/are it/they at the back?
E) I assume you can check if the switch is working at all with a potentiometer?

Thanks guys!

[phillpot]

If it is a similar switch to earlier TVR's the switch will look a bit like this.........




Orientation won't matter, it should be held into a bracket by two nuts on the threaded part (this also gives adjustment).

Off the brakes and the pedal should keep the plunger (on the right) pushed in.

Push pedal, plunger comes out and makes circuit to put power to brake lights.

Pull the wires off,touch together and brake lights should come on.


Quite possibly switch has come loose, just needs tightening up?

[pmessling]

Further adjustment can be made by moving the bracket. I.e. Bending.

[Except]

Super helpful guys, thanks so much. Let's make the hands dirty

[Juddder]

Old thread, but I thought it might be handy to add how I fixed my non-working brake light switch

The switch itself is actually super simple, with a spring in the middle pushing a connecting bar between two terminals which is pushing a plunger, so normally connected when the plunger is not compressed.

When the brake pedal is not pressed, the pedal rises up and compresses the plunger, pushing down the bar disconnecting the two terminals, and thus lights the brake lights.

On mine the connectors on the bar and the terminals had got a bit corroded and worn from use, so I very gently sanded them down and bent the connecting bar slightly so that the was more push on the terminals when the spring pushed the bar and plunger back up

Here's an exploded photo of the parts and some close up of the cleaned up bar contacts and terminals



Centre bar and terminals



Assembled back together again



HTH and I also added a couple of compatible parts to my Alternative Parts List as I bought a replacement unit too just in case

[Byker28i]

I thought we worked out it was the same as one used on a classic Mini, around £5 Part number 13H3735
https://www.minisport.com/13h3735-brake-light-peda...

or it's used on a LandRover
https://www.lroe.co.uk/560864

Or is that too big?

[Juddder]

The mini one I believe is the same as the one pictured in phillpot's post above so should work I think

I went with the Lucas one as that is actually sold on eBay as a direct TVR replacement so sounded like it would definitely fit

Caveat: the Lucas one is still in the box as I ended up fixing the TVR one as above and have kept it for a spare instead

Edited by Juddder on Thursday 25th September 19:53

[Byker28i]

I saw that one but discounted it, but appears better made. I think I saw it cheaper

[sixor8]

Same as the one on my Griff. Repaired with use of 2-part epoxy resin.





Back together:



Been fine for 2 months now.

[Byker28i]

Juddder said:

The mini one I believe is the same as the one pictured in phillpot's post above so should work I think

I went with the Lucas one as that is actually sold on eBay as a direct TVR replacement so sounded like it would definitely fit

Caveat: the Lucas one is still in the box as I ended up fixing the TVR one as above and have kept it for a spare instead

Edited by Juddder on Thursday 25th September 19:53

Eurocar parts, $13.49 plus £3.5 delivery
https://www.eurocarparts.com/p/fae-brake-light-swi...

There's also the Citroen/Peugeot one, similar to the Mini/TVR one thats just over £9

https://www.autodoc.co.uk/hella/937180