The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay brake lights don't work. **Update**

Not sure why - all wires appear to be good. Tail lights work.

How hard is it to replace the brake light switch?

First of all, have you checked the fuse to the brake lights? If that is good, go find a circuit tester probe(not sure the correct name, you can get them at walmart in the automotive electrical section, they have a probe with a light on one end and a wire with an alligator clip on the other) if you don't have one and test both leads at the stoplight switch. If power goes to one at anytime, your switch is getting power. If both have power when the brake pedal is depressed, your switch is good. As far as replacing a brake light switch, I'm pretty sure two screws hold mine in on the '54

Unless you have more dollars than sense, don't go throwing money at a problem trying to make it go away. In other words, don't replace the switch until you know it's bad.

Jordan's troubleshooting advice is right on. However I prefer troubleshooting with a meter. With a meter you can not only detect that there is power where you need it, you can also detect if there is a break in a wire somewhere or a short to ground. It can also be used to determine the integrity of your grounds.

Sounds like good advice.If you have to replace the brake light switch it's very easy,just need a second set of hands to thread the screws from the inside.Good luck!

Yep, Cletis is right. I have a multimeter too and sometimes it works better for certain situations. The important thing to do is to find the problem and fix it right the first time instead of running to the parts store every hour ending up replacing the whole thing before you find the problem. It may be that you just have a bad ground, both of my parking lights didn't work until I cleaned up the wires and ground location. Although I think it is extremely rare, it may be that the filaments to the brake lights on both sides are burnt up but the tail light filaments are still good.

Thanks for the advice guys.

I have a multi-meter, but don't know much how to use it.

What is a 'good reading' and what is bad?

My truck has no fuse box or fuses.

I have replaced the tail bulbs with a set of LEDs I had in an old trailer - tested and working.

There was a broken wire under there I found & re-connected but it didn't do the trick.

As far as throwing money at the problem - How much does a switch cost?

Last question I swear - Is there a way to modernize this with a modern switch and a new bracket? any value in this?

Use the web, Luke.

A video tutorial of how to use a multimeter.
Tutorials on several different multimeters.
Another tutorial complete with helpful diagrams and pictures.

After you follow the advice above, if you find the switch is bad:

Those brake light switches seem to be quite reliable but they can get dirty, rusty, and tight. Does the lever move freely when you depress the pedal?

I have "saved" several tight stoplamp switches/levers by liberal use of penetrating oil and movement of the lever until it moved freely. If the switch is no good, it is easy to replace and it is not very expensive.

Midget farmer, using a multimeter is not that hard, you just set it to the voltage setting(just for checking if you have power) that your truck has and put the ground(black) lead on a good grounding spot(shiny piece of metal if you can find one) and the red(power) lead on the connection you want to test. Sometimes you just have to poke around with the ground lead to find a spot that will allow you to test it but they are pretty easy to use. I'm still convinced that your truck should have a fuse box or something on the firewall or under the dash somewhere. My '54 has tail light and brake light fuses(the only original fuse location on the truck except for the heater) on the firewall under the generator regulator. I'll see if I can find where the fuse location is on your truck but for the life of me I can't figure out why your tail/brake lights wouldn't be fused, if they weren't they be blowing almost every time you hit the brakes or turned the light switch on.

I was stumped too on the fuse box - I was told here that some trucks didn't have a fuse box if there were no add ons.

My truck has the radio delete kit & an after market heater.

The headlight fuse is in the switch. Otherwise there isn't a one anywhere! Trust me this is always the first thing to check.

Thanks for the advice on the multimeter. I'll give it a shot.

The switch does move freely. Who knows - it sat for 15 years it could be mouse chewed somewhere for all I know.

I don't know, I thought that Advanced Design and up had fuses for this stuff and that it was standard... Hmmmm, oh well, if your truck doesn't have them it must mean that some didn't.

jdl,

All Advance-Design (note: not Advanced) trucks had a fuse box. Here is a discussion about Advance-Design fuse boxes. In that discussion is a link to the 48-51 Shop Manual section that describes the fuse boxes (and the change-over in 1950).

It looks like a fuse box (actually, an accessory junction-block) became an option in 1955 second-series trucks. If you read on in that 1955-2nd Truck Shop Manual, you'll find the discussion about a circuit breaker being part of the light switch, providing protection for the entire stock lighting system.

Tim

That's spot on, junction block was option on the '55-'59 trucks. The block does have provsions for powering both the turn signals and brake lights through a fuse, however.

Thanks Tim, this thing had me confused so much because I wouldn't think that a car company would go to fuses, then go a different way, and then reverse the decision a few years later and go back to separate fuses. I also wouldn't think that the stop lights would go through the light switch but that makes sense if there are no fuses to protect them.



P.S. That was a typo up there where I mentioned the Advance Design. I do know what they are called though!

At one point with my truck a few months ago my brake lights worked, but not my running lights or blinkers. My fuses were all good and i ended up crawling under the length of my truck following the wires and turns out it had a loose connection where the tailights come in through the firewall, i knocked it loose while messing with my carb. Anyway, just sayin it never hurts to check that kind of stuff, it is free of charge! I have no further advice so good luck!

I finally crawled under the truck today determined to fix the brake lights.

I found two broken wires. Now considering there are only two wires to the switch I suspected this might be the problem.

I pulled the old switch out (after having to use the roto tool to cut new grooves in the screws) and made a new pigtail from the switch to the two existing wires.

Brakes lights work perfectly! It will not be long before I get this truck safely on the road.

I still don't have turn signals, but I peeked under the dash & found the flasher is missing. I'll pick that up tomorrow.

At least I can say that all of the previous owners have not hacked up the few wires in the truck.

I have not found a single cut or spliced wire on the truck - despite having no fuse box.