brake light switch

[davey670]

is it just me or is the brake light switch fitted to the mk4 golf the biggest load of rubbish on the market.
i just had to fit my third switch as they seem to just burn out on me.

nice way to make money at £8 per switch.

[Crasher]

We get through loads and clutch switches too but it isn’t just Golf’s, it is Audi’s as well. I did the clutch switch on a 2003 A4 Cabrio this morning. If they stopped messing around redesigning the switch to cost about £8 and said “OK, lets make it cost £20 but not go wrong”, people would be far happier.

[davey670]

i could not agree more with that, i would pay £20 for a switch you only replace once.

i stripped the old switch apart to see how it works.
cheap is not the word i would use for it.
the main brake lights them selfs work on a thin copper plate held with two small welds then its own tension is used to make and break the contact
i could see without a doubt that over the months the plate has lost some of its tension and allowed the contact on the end to burn away.

i can see why people bugger these switches as well when fitting,
if you forget to leave the brake pedel up which in turn pushes up the contact plunger while you twist the switch in to place it will smash in to the two small push plastic lugs and rip them clean off.

that switch does not need another redesign it needs going back to the drawing board and starting over.

as a little tip for anyone of you that has a automatic like i have and that switch fails without warning try this.
i done this a few times just to get myself home.
please only attempt this if your switch has failed and you need to get home.
on no account try this with a working switch.

push the brake pedel down as far as it will go with your left hand.
with you right hand feel in between the brake pedel for the bottom of the switch, push this up with your finger, do not push too hard or you will mess up the self adjustment, the idea is you just lift the switch plunger up up a little bit like the pedel would, now remove your finger, because the pedel is out the way the spring tension in the switch will make it snap down very fast.
do this a few times and suprise suprise its enough to get you home