I swapped out my brake switch about two months ago, I had fancy LED bulbs that went bad and had 12VDC on both sides of switch. Anyway installed plain ole bulbs and a new brake switch, I noticied today its not working again. Hooked a meter up to it and it does not pass voltage with brakes applied. I'm wondering are these switches known for this, am I just lucky, or don't buy one from Autozone. Any info would be appreciated.

 

Don't buy parts at Autozone or any of the cheap parts stores, you get what you pay for. Are you running silicone brake fluid by chance? That stuff seems to mess with the switches. Get a good switch thru NAPA or CarQuest, as long as your using dot 3 fluid. If you have silicone fluid in your system, I hear the Harley-Davidson makes a switch that will be ok with that fluid.

Barry

 

Nope I'm running DOT 3 fluid. Wells is an old brand but not a good one for these switches I guess. I try Napa this time.

Thanks

 

I had one I bought from the local parts house it went bad after about a month but they replaced it no questions asked

 

From your comments I'm guessing you have the orginal pressure activated switch. When you get tired of the orginal setup switch to a brake light switch that mounts to the brake pedal. I have some pictures in my gallery. It was a fun little project to keep me busy one day. I have almost a hair trigger on those break lights now. My pedal moves about 1/2 inch or less before the lights come on. Someone else has a how to site also, but I did my slightly different since I didn't want to remove all of the original rubber bumper stop.

later

 

I agree. I had a fluid pressure switch plumbed into the brake lines in my '53 and it would never work right. I even ordered a "low-pressure" switch from Painless wiring and it didn't work any better. I finally went to NAPA and got a brake switch for a late 70's Ford pickup, built a bracket, wired it in and it works great. The late 70's pickup switch is nice, as it is a 2-wire assembly, and is a plunger type switch. So, mount it or build a bracket for it to where it will sense pedal movement and be activated. Good Luck!

 

I just got a new pressure switch at NAPA, works fine we'll see how long it lasts. Not sure why a change to a pedal switch, my lights come on long before stopping. I am running a dual reservoir from a later model Ford and have it inline with the rear brakes, don't know if that makes a difference. Never did really get an answer if these switches are known for going bad other than with silicon.

Thanks