Hi All,
I am the very proud owner of a new (to me) 1955 C3100 first series that I drove home today form the buyer ( 35 miles away) — He pointed out that the brake lights did not work, so I drove home with the flashers and now am set to repair this problem and get my plates and get on the road.

I have the following situation
• Brake lights do not turn bright upon any braking — both sides
• Tail lights are single bulb — both sides
• Turn signals work in tail lights — both sides
• Tail lights turn on when light switch turned on from dash
• All other lights work as normal ( Front headlights, front turn signals)
• The two wires leading to the brake light switch have battery voltage when I put one lead on one wire and other lead on other wire

The above symptoms point to a bad brake light switch to me, as I am new to this truck and I don’t know the circuits that well yet. The switch appears to be mechanically grounded when the brakes are not applied, via a lever that moves with the brake pedal which contacts a extension on the switch. While I was at the local auto parts store, I asked if they could get it and they said they would have it tomorrow and it is $20.

I am assuming that since the tail lights work, that are properly powered and that since I see 12V (13.5 actually) between to two wires that connect to the switch, the switch is never closing between the two contacts. One last test I was going to do before running out of time and daylight was to make a jumper between the two wires going to the switch to bypass it as they are simple female “banana” style connectors — I did have some concern though that the switch may also have a current limiting resistor in it, so I also decided to wait on the shorting jumper until I could ask here, so I would not pop the bulbs in the back — I do not know yet how hard getting those bulbs in the back will be to get ( are they 1157’s?)

Anyways, I would appreciate the thoughts of the many smart readers here and especially suggestions as to other tests if needed in your opinion. These darn brake lights are stopping me cold from enjoying my new baby. Image of the switch I see on the firewall (directly below steering column) matches the image from Orielly auto ( URL below)


http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t49/JoeStine/brake%20light%20switch_zpscec5tcns.jpg

Any help or suggestions would be most welcome

Joe




Joe Finkelstine
Born and bred in Motown