Rear Brake Lights Problem

Aug 23, 2005 3 Replies
A

Fellow air-cooled drivers,



The rear brake lights on my 1974 Super Beetle won't turn on unless I'm practically standing on the brake pedal. I roll the car backwards in my garage and apply the brakes. The car comes to a complete stop but the brake lights aren't on. Does this sound like a master cylinder problem? I did install a Brazilian master cylinder last year (I didn't know that German ones were still available).



Also, are the 2 three-prong brake light switches redundant? If one fails the other switch turns on the brake lights?



Thank you



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J

How about the front brake lights?

yea, that's how they work. Technically one is for the front and other is for the rear circuit, but it doesn't really matter which one you get the signal from. Only if you have a busted line somewhere, which would render the other circuit useless (and thus pressureless), you would still have the second circuit still operational (not very, in real life) and the brake lights would still work.

But you wouldn't want to drive the car like that anyway.

Jan

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S

You're correct. Replace both switches.

The circuit is on my web site:

formatting link
Scroll down to: "Wiring of 3-prong brake light switches ('70 and later) with warning light connection."

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