Brake light issue

[Whitaker717]

Hey guys I have a question. I added Eaglescouts cruise control kit to my 87, thanks by the way Eaglescout. My issue is my brake lights don’t work until my pedal is all the way down almost to the floor. I have a lot of travel in my pedal to begin with. Is there a way to adjust anything so my brake lights come on as soon as I hit my pedal? It seems to me that the white vacuum switch has to have the plunger all the way out before my lights come on. I could be wrong though. Any help would be appreciated. I have people pull up next to me occasionally and say my brake lights don’t work. 

[eaglescout526]

You’re welcome!

 

Thats an interesting issue. 
 

The white vac switch is only for dumping the vacuum from cruise control, that is adjustable and if it’s not adjusted right, cruise control won’t work at all. 
 

how badly faded are your tail lights? I’ve had someone tell me once that my tail lights weren’t working only to find that they were and the AZ sun was just washing them out. 

[Whitaker717]

2 hours ago, eaglescout526 said:

You’re welcome!

 

Thats an interesting issue. 
 

The white vac switch is only for dumping the vacuum from cruise control, that is adjustable and if it’s not adjusted right, cruise control won’t work at all. 
 

how badly faded are your tail lights? I’ve had someone tell me once that my tail lights weren’t working only to find that they were and the AZ sun was just washing them out. 

They are nice and bright when they finally come on. I refinished my taillight lens about a year ago, so the lens looks great too. 

[eaglescout526]

Hmmm. That’s good. 
 

I know the old style brake switch isn’t exactly adjustable but I think it can be angled incorrectly. 

[Eagle_SX4]

Does your brake light switch look like this?

If so the bolt that holds it to the brake pedal is probably to tight. The switch itself should be floating on the bolt and not tight against the pedal arm. I had a similar issue on my Eagle. I replaced the switch and the problem went away.

 

Here is a diagram I found of how it is supposed to go together.

[Whitaker717]

13 minutes ago, Eagle_SX4 said:

Does your brake light switch look like this?

If so the bolt that holds it to the brake pedal is probably to tight. The switch itself should be floating on the bolt and not tight against the pedal arm. I had a similar issue on my Eagle. I replaced the switch and the problem went away.

 

Here is a diagram I found of how it is supposed to go together.

Looks like this. 

[eaglescout526]

Wait…did I really send you a harness with the correct plug for the switch missing? If so, holy shcnikes I am sorry. 
 

Also very important to line up the wires to the correct color.

[Whitaker717]

10 minutes ago, eaglescout526 said:

Wait…did I really send you a harness with the correct plug for the switch missing? If so, holy shcnikes I am sorry. 
 

Also very important to line up the wires to the correct color.

You lost me. Lol. I’m not sure what it is supposed to look like. 

[eaglescout526]

It’s supposed to be a brown connector similar to the low level washer sensor connector. 

[Whitaker717]

16 minutes ago, eaglescout526 said:

It’s supposed to be a brown connector similar to the low level washer sensor connector. 

What does it look like and where does it go?

[Eagle_SX4]

Another thing you can check is how much slop is there between the brake push rod and the post on the pedal? If there isn't any or only a very small amount that would be why your switch doesn't activate until a lot of pressure is out on the pedal.

[Ωhm]

 

Is he missing the sleeve and spacer(s)?

[Whitaker717]

42 minutes ago, Eagle_SX4 said:

Another thing you can check is how much slop is there between the brake push rod and the post on the pedal? If there isn't any or only a very small amount that would be why your switch doesn't activate until a lot of pressure is out on the pedal.

I’m not sure I follow. That brake switch is bolted on pretty tight. 

[eaglescout526]

39 minutes ago, Ωhm said:

 

Is he missing the sleeve and spacer(s)?

Holy schnikes!! It’s actually not on the brake pedal! Good catch Ωhm! 
 

Whitaker, looks like you simply need to remove it and get the pedal bar in between the switch. 

[Eagle_SX4]

1 minute ago, Whitaker717 said:

I’m not sure I follow. That brake switch is bolted on pretty tight. 

The rod that goes to the booster is sandwiched by the brake light switch. That rod needs to have some slop on the rod in order for the switch to function. Press down on the brake pedal with your hand and watch what happens to the switch. The spring should compress slightly.

[Whitaker717]

6 minutes ago, eaglescout526 said:

Holy schnikes!! It’s actually not on the brake pedal! Good catch Ωhm! 
 

Whitaker, looks like you simply need to remove it and get the pedal bar in between the switch. 

Can you show me what that looks like?

[Whitaker717]

3 minutes ago, Eagle_SX4 said:

The rod that goes to the booster is sandwiched by the brake light switch. That rod needs to have some slop on the rod in order for the switch to function. Press down on the brake pedal with your hand and watch what happens to the switch. The spring should compress slightly.

Your talking that blue spring in the middle? Should that spring be a bit loose?

[eaglescout526]

Without literally sprinting to my truck to take a pic of such, the pedal bar needs to be in between that gap on the switch itself. 

[Whitaker717]

11 minutes ago, eaglescout526 said:

Without literally sprinting to my truck to take a pic of such, the pedal bar needs to be in between that gap on the switch itself. 

No rush buddy. Just when you get a minute. Lol

[eaglescout526]

 

My bad. I was slightly wrong. But what Eagle said is right. The rod for the brake master pushes on the switch itself. 

[Whitaker717]

1 hour ago, eaglescout526 said:

 

My bad. I was slightly wrong. But what Eagle said is right. The rod for the brake master pushes on the switch itself. 

I can’t really tell anything on that picture. Sorry man. 

[Eagle_SX4]

2 hours ago, Whitaker717 said:

I can’t really tell anything on that picture. Sorry man. 

Maybe this will help. 

 

This is how the switch should operate. You can see that the switch moves before the booster rod. I pressed the pedal down with my hand. Shouldn't take much travel of the pedal to activate the switch. (My truck is a manual transmission and the switch is on the opposite side of the pedal arm but is the same other than that.)

[Whitaker717]

42 minutes ago, Eagle_SX4 said:

Maybe this will help. 

This is how the switch should operate. You can see that the switch moves before the booster rod. I pressed the pedal down with my hand. Shouldn't take much travel of the pedal to activate the switch. (My truck is a manual transmission and the switch is on the opposite side of the pedal arm but is the same other than that.)

Perfect. Thanks. I’ll take a look in the morning. 

[Whitaker717]

17 hours ago, Eagle_SX4 said:

The rod that goes to the booster is sandwiched by the brake light switch. That rod needs to have some slop on the rod in order for the switch to function. Press down on the brake pedal with your hand and watch what happens to the switch. The spring should compress slightly.

You don’t happen to have a good picture of how that looks assembled the correct way do you?

[Eagle_SX4]

2 minutes ago, Whitaker717 said:

You don’t happen to have a good picture of how that looks assembled the correct way do you?

The video I posted was the best I could do with the clutch pedal in the way. I could pull it apart tonight and get better pics if that would help.