Dull Witted Brake Lights

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hambone
Post-Industrial Non-Secular Mennonite
Location: Portland, Ore.
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Dull Witted Brake Lights

Post by hambone » Wed Jun 29, 2016 6:42 pm

It takes an elephant push to activate the brake lights on my '69 Bus. I am guessing it is the switches on the master cylinder. Fuses are clean, not sure about the terminals but it shouldn't matter. Volts is volts.
Anyone have any beenteredonethat advice for a tattered old soul?
Since I'm heading off-grid I will deal with this later.
http://www.ipconlinestore.com/vw-brake- ... 3-bus.html

Always somethin. This just started acting up about 10 years ago.


ooooooooooo worth $50?
https://www.wolfsburgwest.com/cart/Deta ... 3945515CGR
http://greencascadia.blogspot.com
http://pdxvolksfolks.blogspot.com
it balances on your head just like a mattress balances on a bottle of wine
your brand new leopard skin pillbox hat

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wcfvw69
Old School!
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Re: Dull Witted Brake Lights

Post by wcfvw69 » Wed Jun 29, 2016 7:39 pm

Yup, bad brake switches on the master cylinder. My 67 bug did the same thing. I had to MASH down on the pedal to get the brake lights to come on.. The car had the cheap, Chinese Autozone special brake switches installed in the M/C. I bought ATE German brake switches off a guy on The Samba. I think I paid $15 ea for them. After installing them, problem gone.

This is where I bought them from. They are now $20 each.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/ ... id=1916942
1970 Westfalia bus. Stock 1776 dual port type 1 engine. Restored German Solex 34-3. Restored 205Q distributor, restored to factory appearance engine.

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hambone
Post-Industrial Non-Secular Mennonite
Location: Portland, Ore.
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Re: Dull Witted Brake Lights

Post by hambone » Wed Jun 29, 2016 8:48 pm

http://greencascadia.blogspot.com
http://pdxvolksfolks.blogspot.com
it balances on your head just like a mattress balances on a bottle of wine
your brand new leopard skin pillbox hat

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wcfvw69
Old School!
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Re: Dull Witted Brake Lights

Post by wcfvw69 » Thu Jun 30, 2016 5:24 am

hambone wrote:http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/ ... ?id=830008
Ya gotta bleed the brakes yah?
Nope.. I unscrewed them (one at a time) with something to catch the little bit of fluid that comes out under the M/C and simply screwed in the new ones. It's basically the same thing Colin does when he bleeds the back brakes on buses. He cracks the bleeders and lets gravity do the work.

Just don't touch the brakes with them un-screwed.
1970 Westfalia bus. Stock 1776 dual port type 1 engine. Restored German Solex 34-3. Restored 205Q distributor, restored to factory appearance engine.

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asiab3
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Location: San Diego, CA
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Re: Dull Witted Brake Lights

Post by asiab3 » Thu Jun 30, 2016 8:20 am

When the new switches are almost tightened down, I will have an assistant push the brake pedal slightly to get any air bubbles out, then I'll finalize the torquing. THEN the assistant is allowed to release the pedal.

Robbie
1969 bus, "Buddy."
145k miles with me.
322k miles on Earth.

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hambone
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Location: Portland, Ore.
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Re: Dull Witted Brake Lights

Post by hambone » Mon Jul 31, 2017 1:45 pm

New switches finally! Hey not bad only a year.
Seems to have solved the problem, I'll know for sure tonight.
http://greencascadia.blogspot.com
http://pdxvolksfolks.blogspot.com
it balances on your head just like a mattress balances on a bottle of wine
your brand new leopard skin pillbox hat

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asiab3
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Location: San Diego, CA
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Re: Dull Witted Brake Lights

Post by asiab3 » Mon Jul 31, 2017 3:07 pm

Excellent. Off to adjust my rears so I won't rear-end your fancy brake lights at the Lab.
Robbie
1969 bus, "Buddy."
145k miles with me.
322k miles on Earth.

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