no brake lights !!how many / where are brake light switches?!
 

another weird one....

found out the other day i had none of the 3 brake lights working at all which was pretty worrying !!

checked all the fuses etc and none blown, tried new anyway but no joy.it seems to be 1 in 30 times the lights just wont come on.

found out there is a brake light switch on the top of the brake pedal on the a3 (mines a 1.8tsq) which i replaced but what was weird is that the brake lights were working off the pedal whilst i had the switch in my hand (still connected) and that pressing the switch wasnt making lights shine.

so im thinking i obviously didnt have the brake light switch in my hand! but the part was right from audi, so does anyone know if there are more switches or anything else i should be checking/replacing?

any advice greatly appreciated

thanks, dan

RE: no brake lights !!how many / where are brake light switches?!
 

poor ground connections on the rear light cluster, the high line light on the rear window goes to one side break light so that's the one to check out

RE: no brake lights !!how many / where are brake light switches?!
 

cool, thanks - i'll check it out tonight.

just to check though, would the poor earth explain neither of the clusters or the high level working? or would we just be talking about one of the clusters and the high level?

i'm still a bit confused about the brake lights still working whilst i had what i thought was the switch in my hand :-) !


thanks, dan

RE: no brake lights !!how many / where are brake light switches?!
 

I had a similar problem....

I seem to remember that the brake light switch operated (ie closed the circuit) when the swith wasn't depressed which is kinda the reverse to every other switch i've ever known. This makes sense though, if you imagine that when you press the brake peddle you release the switch.

I had to take apart the switch and repair it as all the shops were shut when i found out. The contacts inside had corroded and needed cleaning and a bit of soldering. I've since bought a new one though for only a few quid.

RE: no brake lights !!how many / where are brake light switches?!
 

I had to replace the brake switch on mine recently because it was sticking, and it does operate 'in reverse,' if you like.

When the brake pedal is not pressed, the plunger on the switch is pushed in and the lights are off.

When the pedal is pressed, the plunger is released and the lights turned on.

So when you have it in your hand the plunger should be fully out and the lights will be on...

Hope that helps.

RE: no brake lights !!how many / where are brake light switches?!
 

Make sure you are installing it correctly too. It's pretty simple, but you need to follow some simple steps to make sure it will work properly.

Check here:

http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=1158315

Cheers!

RE: no brake lights !!how many / where are brake light switches?!
 

I've had a similar problem with intermittent brake light failure... turned out tobe a faulty (not blown) fuse in the fuse box. Replaced that and everything was fine!