Hi Guys,

Been meaning to get back here for a long time but lost my original password as Mendel.

I was out on the trails this weekend and had a strange thing happen. While stopped once I noticed that my rear brake lights were on even though the truck was shut off. Got the truck home and same thing in the garage. Removed the fuse for rear lights and no change. Removed the fuse for brake lights and the lights went out. Let the truck sit for a couple days and replaced the fuse and lights went back on. Is this most likely a problem with the brake light switch? Anybody have an idea of how to replace this part and maybe the best place to pick up a new one? Thanks for any suggestions

Dave, do the lights go out when you pull up on the brake pedal? If so, the switch may be out of adjustment.

Good to hear from you.

John B.

IIRC, the BRAKE light on the main dashboard cluster is not at all controlled by the brake pedal/brake switch. It is activated by one of two things only:

1. The Emergency/Parking lever is pulled/activated
2. The fluid level in the main reservoir is low and the float has tripped the sensor.

You can sometimes verify #2 by manually raising and lowering the sensor in the reservoir. If you have sufficient metal debris in the master cylinder, it can be enough to trip the magnet sensor mounted at the base of the reservoir.

If you have a dirty reservoir, I can only recommend a total drain, clean and flush of the current system. draining just the bowl, cleaning and refilling - you're likely to still get contaminants in the system later missed by not doing a total flush. Time consuming, but not the hardest job. Also gives you the chance toi remove the master cylinder and ensure it's not yet leakign into the brake booster.

Nothing more important on these big trucks than a good brake system!


<EDIT: Just re-read the 1st post, guess I should have paid more attention. X2 on the recommendation by FastEddy below. What I posted is a very common problem however and wouldnt hurt to check the Master Cyl at this point!)

Jim/MI-Mitsu

Its a pretty easy part to replace, on the frame that holds the brake pedal.jThere's a tab on the upper part of the brake pedal that pushes the off/on button of the brake light switch. It's all visible if you lay in the driver's footwell, a painful process. You should disconnect the battery positive cable before disconnecting the wires, or take massive pains to keep them from grounding out, since this circuit is hot at all times, key on or off. Pulling the fuse might be enough. The button on the switch should be depressed when the brake pedal is at rest (high), and should release when the pedal is pushed. The switch threads into place and has a locknut to hold position once adjusted. You release the locknut and turn the switch in and out to adjust it...

There is a little plastic plug that fits into an angled thingy on the brake pedal. This has probably broken apart and now there is nothing for the switch to actuate against. I have fixed both of my Monteros with a nail or screw epoxied in place in the hole that is left over. This will give the button something to press against and turn the lights off. I bet its not the switch.
John

x2 on that plastic thing breaking. It happened on all my gen1s. I just put a small bolt in there. I did not even epoxy it in place. Has been working for 8 or so years in my 91.

I didnt epoxy mine in either but it sounded good didnt it?
John

Epoxy is for idiots...

I have nothing useful to add.

x2! As Mike Holmes would say Do it/Build it right the 1st time!

however if this held true, we wouldnt need to repair anything - but nothing lasts forever! Everytime I make a repair I always ask myself if I want to deal with the end resutl in another 1-5 years with the belief i may have to repair it again. If you repair something the right way the 1st time, you may not have to deal with it again at all.

I recently had to replace my break switch which cost me' 12 dollars at my local ati parts store. The new unit appeared a much better design in terms of how solid it was compared to the old one. The old one was held together with a cheal metal clip that was disconnecting and heating up because It wasnt gounded when disconnecting. It was a cheap easy fix.