Stop Lamp Switch?

[crankin]

Looking over my stuff adn trying to get things put back together...
and I am drawing a blank on where/what the stop lamp switch is.

Can someone help out?

[Leslie]

Clint,

On the brake-pedal tower, up above the master cylinder, is where it screws into, will have two wires clipped onto it. I'll look for a pic to link to for you.

[Leslie]

http://www.landroverweb.com/Pdf-files/Maunals/Land_Rover_Series_III_Part_6.pdf

Page 2 in this pdf (page 70-12 of the SIII Workshop Manual), upper right corner, you can see the SIII's brake-light switch on the pedal tower box above the booster.

[crankin]

Got it. I can't get the brake lights to kick on. I can get the running lights fine...but no brakes or turn signals.

It looks like from my fuse the white cable (slot 7) is carrying 12v...but it is only passing to the green about 50% of the time. I thought that my switch might be bad...but it’s all mechanical…so I doubt it.

I think my fuse box is busted.


Any thoughts?

[greenmeanie]

About a year ago a lot of the brass type brake switches through the usual suyspects were bad. British Pacific even refused to sell me one on the basis that so many were going wrong that they were fed up with the returns. If its a recent replacement it migh tbe worth spending more time on the switch.

[Nium]

Take the wires off the stop switch and touch them together and have someone at the back of the rover tell you if the brake lights come on when you do. If the brake lights illuminate it's a bad switch. If they don't then you've got some more troubleshooting in your future.

[SafeAirOne]

I know they're all green wires coming off #6 and #8 in the fuse panel, but do you know if the turn signals are on the same fuse as the brake lights (they shouldn't be,according to the schematic, but may have gotten switched around over the last 30 years--they're all green wires after all...)?

I know this is obvious, but if they're both coming off the downstream side of the SAME fuse, I'd suspect the fuse itself. If they're off two different fuses, as they should be, I'd suspect the fuse panel, or maybe even a white feed wire or the ignition switch, though that wouldn't make sense if you were getting a good 12v at the positive clips that hold the fuses in (you DID test for 12v there and not at the spade connectors where the white wires feed that end of the fuse box, right?).

Come to think of it, I'm going to put my money on a bad fuse or bad electrical contact between the fuse and the clips that hold them in.

[crankin]

(you DID test for 12v there and not at the spade connectors where the white wires feed that end of the fuse box, right?).

Yep. I followed it all the way back to the battery. All good.

Nium, I haven't thought of taking the wires off the stop switch and touching them together. I'll do this. That would at least eliminate some things... then on to the flashers.

[LaneRover]

Take the wires off the stop switch and touch them together and have someone at the back of the rover tell you if the brake lights come on when you do. If the brake lights illuminate it's a bad switch. If they don't then you've got some more troubleshooting in your future.

Sounds like a great way to check and see if it is the switch.

Brent

[superstator]

About a year ago a lot of the brass type brake switches through the usual suyspects were bad. British Pacific even refused to sell me one on the basis that so many were going wrong that they were fed up with the returns. If its a recent replacement it migh tbe worth spending more time on the switch.

I had the same problem. I replaced mine about six months ago, and went nuts trying to get it to behave; I'd adjust it perfect, then come outside an hour later and the brake lights would be stuck on. Readjust, and a day later realize they weren't coming on at all anymore. I finally gave up and got another new switch from RN last month, and they've worked perfect since.

So, if there was a bad batch out there, they seem to have moved through.

BTW, the best way I found to adjust them was to put my multimeter in continuity test mode (where it beeps if you touch the leads together). Then I could clip my leads to the spades on the switch, adjust, and if I heard a beep when I pressed the pedal I knew I had it right. Much easier than trying to find a mirror or a helper to see what the lights are doing behind you...

[Leslie]

I agree, pull the switch out; verify that the brakes will light up w/o the switch involved, then plug the wires onto the switch, and push the plunger to make sure that the switch works. I had to get a second one recently, after the first died (that aforementioned bad batch).

[SafeAirOne]

How does the brake light switch affect the turn signals? Perhaps it's just a coincidence? Nah...TWO things would never be broken simultaneously on a Rover. Chance in a million, really...

[crankin]

Fixed! It was the box. Got a new one in...hooked it up, and everything works.

[SafeAirOne]

Fixed! It was the box. Got a new one in...hooked it up, and everything works.

Box??

[crankin]

Sorry....fuse box (fuse panel)...