Brake Lights Stay On
Q: Brake Lights Stay On
I have an annoying problem: I changed my master cylinder due to a leak. The operation was a complete success, with no extra parts left over! When I drive the car, and then stop, my brake lights are on. I’ll tap them, they go out and stay out. What’s up?
A: Two possibilities. There is a return spring on the peddal and if it came off for some reason while you were replacing the master cylinder (or maybe it wasn’t on from before) then you are relying on the internal springs of the master cylinder to push your pedal all the way back and not quite making it.
The other possiblility is that you just have to adjust the switch a little bit forward. It’s on the peddal assembly under the dash.
A: It’s probably the plunger switch down under your dash.
A: Have you checked your brake light switch on the pedal assembly? There is a switch under the dash that turns the lights on until the brake pedal come up high enough to contact the switch and interrupt the circuit. You will either need to adjust the switch down a bit to insure contact with the brake pedal, or you may need to move the brake pushrod to a higher hole on the brake pedal if the pedal isn’t coming up far enough to touch the switch.
My guess is that since you can get the brake lights to go off by taping the pedal, it will require only a small adjustment of the switch to make things right.
A: Are you talking about the brake lights on the back of the car or the brake warning light on the dash? Others have addressed the brake lights on the back so I won’t go there. If it’s the brake warning light then the problem is in you splitter valve below the master cylinder. Most likely, it air in the line causing it to go out of balance. If this is the case, you must bleed the brakes again to remove all air from the lines.
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In regards to the previous post “Brake lights staying on or not working” I am going through the same issues. I noticed on my Camaro that the brake pedal moves left to right which indicates to me that the bushings in the brake arm assembly or worn. This is causing the brake arm not to center on the brake light switch (button) when the spring pulls the pedal back. I am going to attempt to adjust the brake switch for now until I investigate the bushing issue more. My brake light in the instrument panel stays on all the time too. I replaced the brakes, wheel cylinders and lines and bled the brakes twice. I will try a third time and maybe that will work.
I had a similar problem and what I found was the bracket that holds the brake light switch was actually moving slightly as it had metal fatigue. I removed the brake light switch and used some JB Weld on the bracket to firm it up. Let it set for a day, bracket was now firm and then reinstalled brake switch. Adjusted the brake light switch so it was total depressed when brake was in resting position. Issue went away.