No brake lights and can't shift out of Park

[thehat]

Just wanted to pass along some information I gathered through troubleshooting and repairing my 98 F-150, 4wd, automatic, 5.4L. I had no brake lights at all (not even third light) and was having a very difficult time shifting out of Park. Additionally, it was difficult (damn near impossible) to kick the cruise control off by using the brake pedal. After doing research here, I determined that the trouble had to be in or around the brake switch. I crawled under the dash and found a wire broken off of the switch. The factory connector and protective tubing made the wire too short and the movement actually caused it to break. I removed about 3 inches of the gray plastic tube, restripped the (green) wires and put on insulated spade tip slip-on connectors. I put the connectors back on the switch and in one fell swoop, all three of my problems were eliminated!

Thanks for all the help!!!!

the hat

[Franklin2]

Thanks for writing in. It's always good to know possible factory wiring problems.