Went out on Boxing Day mainly as I don't like leaving the P6 in the garage 
The roads were going to be quiet and also dry
So I had a quick blast to a friend's house to check on their cats a few miles away so I made that P6-o'clock. On the way home, I wondered why everyone was backing off on the motorway home (and not to admire my car) but because I had no stop lights when braking.
Yikes!
I've got a Series 1 V8 and thought it would be a simple case of the pedal switch either needing adjustment or at worst, replacement.
Oh no and nothing in the workshop manual about any kind of pedal switch or any switch come to mention it (shared with the US version - the then 3500S complete with fancy dual brake circuit to confuse matters a little) after reading through 'Braking system', 'Electrical system' and then 'Interior Electrics' still none the wiser.
An hour later and getting increasingly more foxed by what I thought was a simple problem, I read through the two pages on fuses.
There in one paragraph did I get a hint on the problem...
To paraphrase ..."A pressure switch to activate the stop lights...." but no diagram on what this mythical switch looked like or its location. By a process of elimination (by comparing the braking system diagrams did I find the pesky thing next to the servo and connected to the brake lines. Cue visual images of having to replace the unit and also bleed the entire brake system. The two spade connectors were removed and I could get the stop lights on by tapping them together.
Uh oh, definitely looks like the unit was faulty was my next thought.
More in hope than any plan on my part, with a degree of desperation, I got some 1200 grade wet and dry and gently rubbed down the terminals on the switch. After pressing the brake pedal several times, I got some flickering from the stop lights. So I used a little electrical connection cleaner on the connectors and got them working sometimes but not reliably.
So took off the old spade connectors and put on some new shielded ones.... hey presto! Stop lights now on everytime I pressed that big pedal.
Pressing the brake pedal 50 times and 50 times they lit at the same pedal pressure. Happy that the switch was no longer faulty went back indoors to enjoy a cheeky snifter or two of sherry. Purely to drive out the cold of standing in the garage for an hour like a muppet reading the workshop manual you understand
And it was Christmas
Another case of the curse of the dirty electrics striking again.
Very odd as the connectors tapped together provided a connection yet on the terminals... useless.
I thought I'd post this little adventure because I couldn't find anything on this fabulous forum about said pressure switch. Hopefully this experience will prove useful to others.
Happy New Year all, may your projects for this year be stress free and not too tough on the wallet.
The roads were going to be quiet and also dry So I had a quick blast to a friend's house to check on their cats a few miles away so I made that P6-o'clock. On the way home, I wondered why everyone was backing off on the motorway home (and not to admire my car) but because I had no stop lights when braking.
Yikes!
I've got a Series 1 V8 and thought it would be a simple case of the pedal switch either needing adjustment or at worst, replacement.
Oh no and nothing in the workshop manual about any kind of pedal switch or any switch come to mention it (shared with the US version - the then 3500S complete with fancy dual brake circuit to confuse matters a little) after reading through 'Braking system', 'Electrical system' and then 'Interior Electrics' still none the wiser.
An hour later and getting increasingly more foxed by what I thought was a simple problem, I read through the two pages on fuses.
There in one paragraph did I get a hint on the problem...
To paraphrase ..."A pressure switch to activate the stop lights...." but no diagram on what this mythical switch looked like or its location. By a process of elimination (by comparing the braking system diagrams did I find the pesky thing next to the servo and connected to the brake lines. Cue visual images of having to replace the unit and also bleed the entire brake system. The two spade connectors were removed and I could get the stop lights on by tapping them together.
Uh oh, definitely looks like the unit was faulty was my next thought.
More in hope than any plan on my part, with a degree of desperation, I got some 1200 grade wet and dry and gently rubbed down the terminals on the switch. After pressing the brake pedal several times, I got some flickering from the stop lights. So I used a little electrical connection cleaner on the connectors and got them working sometimes but not reliably.
So took off the old spade connectors and put on some new shielded ones.... hey presto! Stop lights now on everytime I pressed that big pedal.
Pressing the brake pedal 50 times and 50 times they lit at the same pedal pressure. Happy that the switch was no longer faulty went back indoors to enjoy a cheeky snifter or two of sherry. Purely to drive out the cold of standing in the garage for an hour like a muppet reading the workshop manual you understand
And it was Christmas
Another case of the curse of the dirty electrics striking again.
Very odd as the connectors tapped together provided a connection yet on the terminals... useless.
I thought I'd post this little adventure because I couldn't find anything on this fabulous forum about said pressure switch. Hopefully this experience will prove useful to others.
Happy New Year all, may your projects for this year be stress free and not too tough on the wallet.
