Alright amateur sleuths, I've got a mystery and I've run out of clues. Here's the short version: When I turn the ignition on, the brake lights come on. When the brake pedal has a light pressure applied the lights go off. When brake pedal is pressed harder the lights go on again.
Here's the facts, jack: Phred is a 1971 bus that was taken off the road about a year ago so that my friend and I could do extensive body and paint work. We are close to the end and have been reinstalling lights and trim. During this process I also replaced the front calipers on both sides of the bus as well as giving the rear drums a thorough cleaning and inspection. I bought new rear taillights as the old ones were more rust than metal. We've got everything put back together and have come across the problem with the stop lights. The turn signals are fine as are the running lights. When the ignition is on, the brake lights come on and stay on. When light pressure (resting your foot on the pedal) the lights go off. When steady pressure (normal braking) is applied then the lights go back on.
Here's what we've done: During brake installation, there was some gunk (would you believe Teflon tape, I couldn't believe it myself) in the front lines. The lines were completely done over and now the brakes work great
We checked and replaced both brake light switches on the master cylinder.
We've checked the electrical connections at the brake light switches. All three sockets (that go over the prongs of the switch) show continuity whether the brake is pressed or not.
Checked the wiring going from the brake light switches to the brake lights themselves and all is good there.
The only thing we have able to come up with after spending all day at this is that we are getting a continuous flow of current through the brake light switch. Could back pressure be a culprit? Could the problem be in the electrical connections before the brake light switch? Should we just sacrifice some BBQ to the VW gods and hope for the best? All reasonable (and maybe some not so reasonable) responses will be attempted.
I thank you and Phred thanks you.