Brake Light Switch Question

[Stacey26]

Hi,
I've got (or rather my old man has) a 52 plate Toledo with a suspected brake light switch failure.

I spotted he only had the high level brake light switch working today. He hasn't changed the bulbs recently so I checked out the fuse box, all seems ok there. He then tried the 'spare' he was sold but that only has one filament so is clearly the wrong bulb, however this does work when depressing the brake pedal. He also mentioned in passing that the glow plug light has been flashing intermittently. A quick google implies that this could be the BLS as I originally suspected, however as the high level light is still working, could this mean I would be wasting my time changing the switch, or is the 3rd light a red herring?

Any advice would be appreciated as he'll need to put the car in for MOT by Friday and I'd rather not take time off to change the switch only to find it not solving the problem.

TIA

Stacey

[Alan G H]

Hi,
I've got (or rather my old man has) a 52 plate Toledo with a suspected brake light switch failure.

I spotted he only had the high level brake light switch working today. He hasn't changed the bulbs recently so I checked out the fuse box, all seems ok there. He then tried the 'spare' he was sold but that only has one filament so is clearly the wrong bulb, however this does work when depressing the brake pedal. He also mentioned in passing that the glow plug light has been flashing intermittently. A quick google implies that this could be the BLS as I originally suspected, however as the high level light is still working, could this mean I would be wasting my time changing the switch, or is the 3rd light a red herring?

Any advice would be appreciated as he'll need to put the car in for MOT by Friday and I'd rather not take time off to change the switch only to find it not solving the problem.

TIA

Stacey

If the incorrect bulb you tried works when you press the brake, then the likelihood is that the switch is OK. Start by fitting two new (correct) bulbs, it's not uncommon for both to blow.

[Waddellg]

Hi
I agree with the above post but you can get the brake light switch off of ebay for about a tenner so it maybe worth getting one in case you have to replace before the MOT...