missis only found out when a friend was following her so i checked the fuse and that is fine, its both brake lights plus the tailgate brake light. Side lights are fine. Has anyone else had the same problem?

Look for the brake light switch above the brake pedal. It needs the switch to pop out when the pedal is pressed, if the switch is too far in, then they won't come on.

Cheers

PD

seicento_minto said:

missis only found out when a friend was following her so i checked the fuse and that is fine, its both brake lights plus the tailgate brake light. Side lights are fine. Has anyone else had the same problem?

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Check the brakelight sensor on the underside of the brake pedal, sounds like the fault.

I love being ignored.

Cheers

PD

just checked the switch, the nipple comes out about 1cm

Try removing the wires from the switch and touching them together, if the lights don't come on it may be an earth fault somewhere.

thanks for the rapid replys fella's, much appreciated, ill break my back tommorow when theres enough light to see what im doing hope it doeant turn into an expensive electrical fault

I think for all three lights to fail within a week would not suggest an earth problem.

If the switch is working its got to be a supply problem, so really check the fuse, and make sure the fuse has a supply.

Cheers

PD

Very true supply likely cause, but it can only be one or the other if the switch test fails to isolate the problem, I think I am correct in assuming the switching is on the earth side, though both are easy to test for.

just put a multi meter across the fuse, its getting power when the brake is pressed so the switch and fuse must be workin ok now what? do the brake lights take there power through the bootlid to backpanel spring connectors or through the body?

doh, its the rear wash wipe and tailgate brake light that take there power from the brass contact, now need to find the wires that supply the back light cluster

Did you touch the wires together?

The wiring for the lights is down the nearside.

Cheers

PD

rallycinq said:

Did you touch the wires together?

The wiring for the lights is down the nearside.

Cheers

PD

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i see the wireing loom disappear in the quaterbanel, i only checked at the fuse box to see if power was going through there to the switch

I think they are earth switched, so put the two wires together as a check.

Cheers

PD

rallycinq said:

I think they are earth switched, so put the two wires together as a check.

Cheers

PD

Click to expand...

breaking my back under the dash trying to get access to the switch, would have though checking it across the fuse while pressing the brake would give the same result, brake down switch on - voltage at the fuse, brake off no voltage at the fuse

mmm certainly strange, but I like simple checks before heading off looking for the wierder stuff.

Cheers

PD

seicento_minto said:

just put a multi meter across the fuse, its getting power when the brake is pressed so the switch and fuse must be workin ok now what? do the brake lights take there power through the bootlid to backpanel spring connectors or through the body?

doh, its the rear wash wipe and tailgate brake light that take there power from the brass contact, now need to find the wires that supply the back light cluster

Click to expand...

If you put the voltmeter ACROSS the fuse and get anything but zero, then the fuse is blown. If the fuse is good, then it will act as a short and you will get 0v across it.
If you were measuring between the fuse and the earth, then you should expect around 12v.

Just an idea.

Looks like my assumption about earth switching was not correct, it would have to be incorrect becuase the circuit would be live at all times (silly me) I have had a chance to look at some wireing diagrams and the switch is ignition powered (Int) sending voltage to the rear clusters when the break pedal switch contact is made.

Live feed problem
So if the switch is in good order (which you must check) it may mean there is break in the live feed from the brake pedal switch to the rear cluster X3 brake lights.

Test, run a wire from bat positve or swithch to the positve brake light. If lights come on make new permanant connection. If no see below

Earth problem
One earth is supplied and joined in series to the x3 brake lights.

Test, run a wire from bat earth to one of the rear brake light negative, if lights come on find a good earth point and make a new earth connection.

try what spedo suggested, and check the fuse once again by getting it out and testing it with an ohmmeter. it should show around zero ohms (a few ohms is okay). If you have tested it by measuring the voltage across it and you got something that's more than, say, 0.2V, the fuse is probably blown. Ideally it should show 0V across.