Date: Sat, 11 Sep 2010 14:50:21 -0400
Reply-To: Woody Halsey <WHalsey@SYA.ORG>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Woody Halsey <WHalsey@SYA.ORG>
Subject: brake lights not working
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Dear Friends,
I am not currently subscribed to The List, so hope you will be willing
to offer your advice directly.
The issue: Brake lights do not work at all.
The background: Most of the tail lights of the Vanagon had been working
erratically for some time. The left running light didn't go on with the
head lights; the emergency flasher did not work on the right side; and
the brake light did not work on the left side. A local mechanic
suggested that the brake light switches were shot, so I ordered new ones
from Ken Wilford. Ken advised me to disconnect an old trailer light
harness and to clean up the ground connections underneath the spark
coil.
What I've done so far: Replaced both brake light switches on the master
cylinder with new ones; polished all terminals on both ends of the
ground wires that go from engine block to the body under the coil (also
removed paint from the body metal); removed the trailer wiring
completely and taped bare spots on original wires.
Observations: One of the old brake light switches was burned out and
missing its third prong. The trailer harness wire was fried. One of the
ground wires had lost a terminal so was not connected to the block. All
the terminals were pretty tarnished. The terminals on the main ground
strap were badly rusted. The brake fluid reservoir is still at "Max."
After replacing the switches, but before removing the bad trailer
harness and polishing the grounds, the right brake light did go on once
or twice... and at one point stayed on even though the brake pedal was
not depressed.
Results: The flashers, turn signals and running lights all now work
normally on both sides, front and back ... but the brake lights still do
not go on when I hit the brake pedal.
Is there a fuse that protects the brake light circuit? If so, can
someone tell me where it is? I am thinking that perhaps the shorted
trailer wiring blew it out.
I hope someone has solved this problem in the past and will be able to
offer a solution.
Many thanks in advance,
Woody
83.5 V'gon
Haverhill, MA
W. W. HALSEY II
President
T 978.725.6828 ext.115 M 978.204.5795 www.sya.org
<http://www.sya.org/>
439 South Union Street, Lawrence, MA 01843
SCHOOL YEAR ABROAD
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