'49 Brake Light Issue. Please Help
#1
'49 Brake Light Issue. Please Help
OK. I have a '49 and the brake lights will randomly come on and stay on while the vehicle is parked and drain the battery and while driving. I can park and the lights will be off and then at some point in time the lights will just come on and stay on. I have replaced the brake light switch, master cylinder, wheel cylinders, brake lights and housing, and rewired everything from the switch back. Any ideas on what could be causing this and how to resolve it?
#2
#3
The brake lights are a fairly simple circuit. Basically there is power supplied to the brake light switch at the master cylinder. When you step on the brakes the hydraulic pressure activates the switch connecting the power with the rest of the circuit.
If the brake lights are coming on by themselves then somewhere the circuit is shorting to a power source. The most likely place for this to happen is in the switch or at or near the connector to the switch.
Is it the brake lights coming on and staying on? or is is the tailights? Does your truck have one of those accessory turn signal levers on it? if so then the brake light wiring probably runs up and through that switch and that switch could be a source of the problem.
Bobby
If the brake lights are coming on by themselves then somewhere the circuit is shorting to a power source. The most likely place for this to happen is in the switch or at or near the connector to the switch.
Is it the brake lights coming on and staying on? or is is the tailights? Does your truck have one of those accessory turn signal levers on it? if so then the brake light wiring probably runs up and through that switch and that switch could be a source of the problem.
Bobby
#4
no turn signal switch and no shorts. It had been doing this for a while and that is what prompted me to rewire and replace all the electrical and switches for the tail/brake lights. Come to think of it, it may have started doing this after replacing the master cylinder. Any connection there? Could the master cylinder be building up and applying pressure on its own?
#5
#6
If you didn't adjust the brake pedal after you installed you new MC that could be your problem. Your old MC was worn and might have allowed the pedal to fade, when you installed the new unit the pedal is pushing into the MC causing slight extra pressure on the switch causing it to engage. Mine did the same thing, the lights didn't go on until I applied the brakes and then the switch stuck on. I didn't realize what was happening because I parked the truck during the day and didn't notice the lights were on. I'd come out and the battery was dead. I'd jump start the truck and everything worked fine but it would be dead again the next day when I went to start it. I just thought I had a bad battery and was planning on getting a new one. Then one day I was going some place and my wife was following me. I stopped at a gas station and when I took off my wife honked her horn to have me pull over. She informed me when I left the pump my brake lights wouldn't turn off. I was able to crawl under the truck and tweak the pedal adjustment and haven't had the problem since.
I would assume one the truck was parked for a while pressure was alleviated and the lights would turn off but as soon as some pressure was applied the MC would retain just enough pressure that the switch would activate.
I would assume one the truck was parked for a while pressure was alleviated and the lights would turn off but as soon as some pressure was applied the MC would retain just enough pressure that the switch would activate.
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I'd have to look under one of my trucks but I know the brake spring goes from the pivot peg to a hole on either the transmission bellhousing or engine block. It's just a small unnoticeable hole, kind of in a straight line from the brake pedal. Do a search of the forum, I know it's been asked before.