Jump to content

Brake light issue


Recommended Posts

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. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Does your brake light switch look like this?

1S5385.jpg

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.

267012d1425651047t-brake-light-switch-88

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 minutes ago, Eagle_SX4 said:

Does your brake light switch look like this?

1S5385.jpg

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.

267012d1425651047t-brake-light-switch-88

Looks like this. IMG_6741.jpeg.4e375c1e2da63421e2699d56c02dd1d9.jpeg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

39 minutes ago, Ωhm said:

IMG_6741.jpeg.4e375c1e2da63421e2699d56c02dd1d9.jpeg

 

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. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...