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Thread: Fun with brake lights. Maybe, not so much...

  1. #1
    On a roll Al_C's Avatar
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    Fun with brake lights. Maybe, not so much...

    Saturday afternoon got off to a good start. I had all my weather pack connectors installed on the harness ends and on all of the lights. Time to test them. Dim headlights, bright headlights, tail lights, parking lights all work. Not so for turn signals or the brake lights. Let's focus on the brake lights for now, shall we?

    They were on. All the time. As you would expect, it was a problem with the brake light switch. Let's start with this photo from the manual:



    That's how I had installed the switch. (when it was easy to get at it, by the way). The issue is that as installed, the plunger wasn't pushed far enough in to break the circuit, so the light was continually illuminated. So I took the switch out and removed the inside locknut. Put it back together and with the switch body pushed all the way to the bracket, the plunger was far enough in to turn the light out.

    Now the fun began. With a locknut on either side of the bracket, it's reasonably easy to keep the switch tightly in one place. With just one nut on the pedal side of the bracket, who knows. So, the logical thing seemed to be put both nuts on the pedal side and tighten them down as much as possible. Which I did. I happened to have Magicmarto on the phone and we concluded that it would be good to have something on the threads to keep the nuts from loosening. He suggested nail polish; I decided to use thread locker.

    So I get everything just about tight and I hear "snap!" and the brake lights don't work anymore. Terrific. Did I just fry my switch from tightening it too much or putting thread locker on it? Actually, no, the switch tested out fine. I just blew a fuse. I must have shorted something, probably with the pliers when I was trying to tighten it down.

    FINALLY, I'm getting to my question. Is my approach the best way to solve this problem (getting the switch closer to the pedal arm) or do you have a preferred method? Everything is apart and sitting on my workbench for now. Nothing is going to happen until I replace the fuse.

    As a post script, I did something else that turned out to be less than smart. The tail light was dangling from the frame - with the lens sitting on the floor. I decided to put a towel under the lens to protect it. Bad idea. The heat from the continually illuminated brake light melted the lens. Do any of you who decided to use single rectangular tail lights have a round lens hanging around that you'd like to get rid of?

    Once this is done, I can start messing around with turn signals!
    Mk IV Roadster - #8650 - delivered 7-17-2015 - first start 7-28-2018 - first go-kart 10-13-2018 - licensed and on the road 9-9-19: body/paint completed 3-17-2020.
    Complete kit / 2015 Coyote / TKO600 / IRS / Wilwood brakes / Mid-Shift mod / Power Steering / Heater and Seat Heaters / RT turn signal / Breeze radiator shroud and mount

  2. #2
    Senior Member edwardb's Avatar
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    Several things about the brake light switch. I'm guessing by thread locker you mean something like blue Loctite? If so, not a good idea. Loctite will do damage to plastic, and isn't recommended to be used with it. Factory Five is actually supplying a different style switch now. I've found it has a wider actuation range. Whether it would adjust any easier than what you have, I don't know. I don't see it on their parts website, but I'm sure they sell them if you call. Couldn't find a picture, but captured a picture from the current build manual. If you want to stay with the same switch style you have (which I've used several times successfully) you might want to switch to a genuine ACDelco D885 part. It's a better quality part in my experience. Available on Amazon and I'm sure elsewhere. Finally, don't know if it would work for you, but you could adjust where the switch actuates by changing the location of the pedal arm itself. Perhaps that would help. Move the pedal a bit by adjusting the master cylinder pushrod location on the footbox clevis.

    Last edited by edwardb; 03-31-2019 at 05:07 PM.
    Build 1: Mk3 Roadster #5125. Sold 11/08/2014. Build 2: Mk4 Roadster #7750. Sold 04/10/2017. Build Thread
    Build 3: Mk4 Roadster 20th Anniversary #8674. Sold 09/07/2020. Build Thread and Video. Build 4: Gen 3 Type 65 Coupe #59. Gen 3 Coyote. Legal 03/04/2020. Build Thread and Video
    Build 5: 35 Hot Rod Truck #138. LS3 and 4L65E auto. Rcvd 01/05/2021. Legal 04/20/2023. Build Thread. Sold 11/9/2023.

  3. #3
    On a roll Al_C's Avatar
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    Thanks, Paul! Actually, I did put blue loctite on the threads, then noticed that it wasn't recommended for plastic on the label! Of course, it was at that point that the fuse blew, so I took everything apart quickly thinking I had fried the switch. I wiped off all I could. I'll be interested to hear if you think that switch is still toast! I'll check out the other options.
    Mk IV Roadster - #8650 - delivered 7-17-2015 - first start 7-28-2018 - first go-kart 10-13-2018 - licensed and on the road 9-9-19: body/paint completed 3-17-2020.
    Complete kit / 2015 Coyote / TKO600 / IRS / Wilwood brakes / Mid-Shift mod / Power Steering / Heater and Seat Heaters / RT turn signal / Breeze radiator shroud and mount

  4. #4
    Senior Member edwardb's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Al_C View Post
    Thanks, Paul! Actually, I did put blue loctite on the threads, then noticed that it wasn't recommended for plastic on the label! Of course, it was at that point that the fuse blew, so I took everything apart quickly thinking I had fried the switch. I wiped off all I could. I'll be interested to hear if you think that switch is still toast! I'll check out the other options.
    More than likely it's OK without any longer term exposure. But that's a semi-intelligent guess at best.
    Build 1: Mk3 Roadster #5125. Sold 11/08/2014. Build 2: Mk4 Roadster #7750. Sold 04/10/2017. Build Thread
    Build 3: Mk4 Roadster 20th Anniversary #8674. Sold 09/07/2020. Build Thread and Video. Build 4: Gen 3 Type 65 Coupe #59. Gen 3 Coyote. Legal 03/04/2020. Build Thread and Video
    Build 5: 35 Hot Rod Truck #138. LS3 and 4L65E auto. Rcvd 01/05/2021. Legal 04/20/2023. Build Thread. Sold 11/9/2023.

  5. #5
    Member BobCarter's Avatar
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    I too had the issue you describe. I was able to solve it by installing a spring which pulled the brake pedal back to its at rest position after applying the brakes.

  6. #6
    On a roll Al_C's Avatar
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    Update! Problem solved. I got a new switch and it looked an awful lot like the old one. The old one still worked, but I decided it wasn't worth chancing it in case the blue loctite came back to bite me. Well, the new switch came with cheaper nuts. See the photo:



    The new one is bigger and thinner, and effectively goes over the switch body. So, I used a new one on the back side of the bracket and was able to tighten down the "old" nut on the pedal side. Thankfully, it was sufficient to make a difference. I was going to try to move the pedal, but that looked like it was going to be more trouble than it was worth. I'm glad the new nut worked out. It seems like these little items are the ones that take the longest to deal with. Whatever.
    Mk IV Roadster - #8650 - delivered 7-17-2015 - first start 7-28-2018 - first go-kart 10-13-2018 - licensed and on the road 9-9-19: body/paint completed 3-17-2020.
    Complete kit / 2015 Coyote / TKO600 / IRS / Wilwood brakes / Mid-Shift mod / Power Steering / Heater and Seat Heaters / RT turn signal / Breeze radiator shroud and mount

  7. #7
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    I don’t remember why I did it. Maybe for the clutch.

    I shortened the black threaded part to allow the white plunger to go further inside the switch. That increases travel and make the adjusment easier. Instead of switching after 1mm travel from fully depressed, it switched at 4mm, it makes the adjustement less critical.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Al_C View Post
    Update! Problem solved. I got a new switch and it looked an awful lot like the old one. The old one still worked, but I decided it wasn't worth chancing it in case the blue loctite came back to bite me. Well, the new switch came with cheaper nuts. See the photo:



    The new one is bigger and thinner, and effectively goes over the switch body. So, I used a new one on the back side of the bracket and was able to tighten down the "old" nut on the pedal side. Thankfully, it was sufficient to make a difference. I was going to try to move the pedal, but that looked like it was going to be more trouble than it was worth. I'm glad the new nut worked out. It seems like these little items are the ones that take the longest to deal with. Whatever.
    AL_c, The brake switch seems to be a common problem. Where did you get the new switch with the thinner nut? Wonder if those nuts are available at a hardware store?

  9. #9
    On a roll Al_C's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by coyobra View Post
    AL_c, The brake switch seems to be a common problem. Where did you get the new switch with the thinner nut? Wonder if those nuts are available at a hardware store?
    The thinner nuts came with the switch. I gave the guys at the parts store (local Bumper to Bumper store) the part number of the AC Delco unit that edwardb mentions above (D885). The came up with a switch made by Standard. Their part number is SLS66 M19023.
    Mk IV Roadster - #8650 - delivered 7-17-2015 - first start 7-28-2018 - first go-kart 10-13-2018 - licensed and on the road 9-9-19: body/paint completed 3-17-2020.
    Complete kit / 2015 Coyote / TKO600 / IRS / Wilwood brakes / Mid-Shift mod / Power Steering / Heater and Seat Heaters / RT turn signal / Breeze radiator shroud and mount

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by Al_C View Post
    The thinner nuts came with the switch. I gave the guys at the parts store (local Bumper to Bumper store) the part number of the AC Delco unit that edwardb mentions above (D885). The came up with a switch made by Standard. Their part number is SLS66 M19023.
    Thanks for checking. Off to the store!

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