Technical Discussion Thread: Brake Light Switch Replacement

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Technical Discussion Thread: Brake Light Switch Replacement

Hi,
doies anyone know the part number for this switch please?
My local dealer can`t find the part number, say they have rung Fiat Technical, where "all the staff have been highly trained and this switch can only be bought as a foot pedal assembly, and is not listed seperately".
Now I know why it had so many parts fitted under warranty!
The car has now done 99500 miles, much more reliable now FIAT don`t get their hands on it.

Thanks
 
Well that's just idiotic and a lack of training on their part

A brake light switch doesn't go under the "brakes" heading because it's not part of the brakes but it's easy enough to find under the "signalling" section because that's what it is.

Here you go, item 4
brake light switch parts ePer.JPG

I would walk away backwards from the parts department keeping the safety catch off as people that stupid are dangerous
 
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I've had a problem with the brake lights and ABD/ESP with my 5 door Stilo 1.2 Active. The ABD & ESP warnings have been flashing up on and off when I start the car for a few months now but they go out if I turn the engine off then back on again. More recently, the brake lights have stuck on after I've braked irrespective of the pressure used. To make the lights go out, I have to lift the pedal slightly with my foot. Is this a problem with the brake switch or something a bit more sinister? Hope someone can help.
 
It's very easy for the brake light switch to go out of adjustment. For example: if your foot slips off the pedal and it springs back up or if your foot were under the pedal and you pulled it up from it's rest position.

You could try adjusting the switch which is above the top of the brake pedal. You'd need a pair of angled long nose pliers. (or strong fingers)

Take off the black plastic sound deadening that cover the top of the pedals (2 plastic clips).
Hold the brake pedal down and pull the switch plunger with the pliers (it's on a ratchet and should click as you pull it) then let the brake pedal back up SLOWLY.

If that doesn't cure the problem, next thing to try is a new switch.

Dave.
 
Hello guys, that has to be my first post here.
I'm glad that such a good forum exists.

Now directly to the problem. I'm owner of a '02 Stilo 1.9 JTD 115 and I also had the brake light problem. My problem occured randomly, sometimes the break lights would work OK, sometimes they didn't work at all, so I decided to change the switch just in case.
My dealer gave me the replacement part (part number 46840510), I removed the old stop switch with my mechanic and by looking at them two we saw that the original one had the ratched all the way down while the new one (white) had it all the way up. This way, the new stop switch looked a lot longer than the old one. We decided that's the problem and mounted the new one immediately (no trimming or whatsoever). We made a quick check, everything seemed to work perfectly. But when I got back to the garage and parked close to a wall to see what happens I discovered that the switch was working just OK 20/20, but when I press the brake pedal just a bit (like when you hold it when the car is stopped in the traffic) there seems to be no illumination (at least not from the two tail lights, can't see about the third big one). I presume this has to do something with the calibration of the switch, but I can't find the right way by looking at the old one.
When the switch is more sensitive, when the ratched is all the way up, or when it's all the way down ? I just need to make it more pedal sensitive, that's all.

Also it may sound odd, but what do you mean by high level brakes and low level brake lights ? There are three brake lights at the back, one on the hatch door and two tail lamps ?
Can someone explain what's supposed to light when I press the brake pedal a bit, and when I press it hard all the way down?
Maybe I'm wrong to expect all the brake lights to ignite when I hold the pedal just a notch from its neutral position?
 
Hi, Welcome to the FF.

You need to adjust the brake light switch after it's been fitted to the car.

Hold the brake pedal down on the floor then pull the ratchet plunger all the way down then let the pedal up slowly. you should hear the ratchet adjust itself. Do not pull the pedal up.

High level brake lights are the ones above the hatch door. The ones that are at a higher level than the 2 main light clusters. The high level and main brake lights don't come on together but within about half a second of each other. I believe this is because one is controlled directly from the switch and the other via the body computer. I'm not sure which comes on first.

Dave.
 
Davren thanks for the fast reply, reading your words that was exactly what I did. Maybe I'm too strict on the lights. This weekend I'll resit the brake switch once again and we'll see what happens.

Thanks again, and sorry for sounding so noobish, I just wanted to be sure about everything.
 
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i joined this site yesterday because as a very independant female although im not thick i didnt want to ask for help from my husband !!!!
i replaced the brake switch from advice on here and am happy to tell you i got it working :)
i paid £6.50 for the part and i'm quite chuffed with myself lol
thanks for being a very informative site
xxxxx
 
Thanks to all for the excellent help. My lovely(??) little stilo decided that it was going to give me messages about auto gear box failure then ASR and ESP failures. First time this happened major panic, then came back home and checked out the forum, which gave explanation on cause. Got replacement switch and got fitted, and now car is working great again. apart from the usual Stilo quirks.

Have owned various models of Fiats over the years and enjoyed every one, (except the Tempra) :D
 
good day, y'all!

i'm new here but after reading this thread i feel my problem is a bit different.
everyonce in a while i get bulb failure right. i believe it only happenes when using the brakes and, as far as i could see, it manifests in two ways>
1. i don't get the error -> both bulb lights work, but not the tailgate light.
2. i get the error -> left bulb and the tailgate light work, right bulb doesn't work.

since it's obvious that all three lights are functional, i assumed there was a problem with the contacts of the right light block (i apologize for the wrong terms, but i'm in a hurry and didn't look up the right translations) so cleaned them with contact spray. unfortunately the problem didn't go away. i don't think it's the brake switch as it was mentioned before that it affects both sides. could it be a dying brake bulb? or should i look somewhere else?

thanks!
 
good day, y'all!

i'm new here but after reading this thread i feel my problem is a bit different.
everyonce in a while i get bulb failure right. i believe it only happenes when using the brakes and, as far as i could see, it manifests in two ways>
1. i don't get the error -> both bulb lights work, but not the tailgate light.
2. i get the error -> left bulb and the tailgate light work, right bulb doesn't work.

since it's obvious that all three lights are functional, i assumed there was a problem with the contacts of the right light block (i apologize for the wrong terms, but i'm in a hurry and didn't look up the right translations) so cleaned them with contact spray. unfortunately the problem didn't go away. i don't think it's the brake switch as it was mentioned before that it affects both sides. could it be a dying brake bulb? or should i look somewhere else?

thanks!


I think you were right by checking the contacts/plug. I had the same problem, eventually discovered the spade like connectors inside the plug were a bit of a loose fit. Gave them a little squeeze with some snipe nose pliers and ploblem was solved so might be worth you taking another look at the contacts/plugs.
 
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I have just changed my brake light switch. It comes out quite easily but had a lot of trouble getting the new one in. However, when I compared the new one with the old one, I noticed that the 2 white lugs were slightly longer on teh newer one. As previously recommended, I shaved off the extra bits with a small sharp paring knife to make it as close as possible to the size of the lugs on the old one that I removed. Once I had done this, I was finally able to twist the switch 90 degrees to its correct position.
*******IN fact I would now recommend anybody doing this job, to compare the lugs first, and shave the new one to the size of the one you remove if they look different in size. Trust me, this will save you so much trouble!
 
Hi, Welcome to the FF.

You need to adjust the brake light switch after it's been fitted to the car.

Hold the brake pedal down on the floor then pull the ratchet plunger all the way down then let the pedal up slowly. you should hear the ratchet adjust itself. Do not pull the pedal up.

High level brake lights are the ones above the hatch door. The ones that are at a higher level than the 2 main light clusters. The high level and main brake lights don't come on together but within about half a second of each other. I believe this is because one is controlled directly from the switch and the other via the body computer. I'm not sure which comes on first.

Dave.

The high level brake light illuminates slightly quicker because it is LED and not a filament bulb, therefore iilluminates immediately.

I had this problem and bought a new switch. I had to file the tangs to be able to fit the new switch, however, I must have taken too much off as the new switch didn't work. In the end I taped two pennies to the top of the brake pedal to close the gap (this worked for me) I'll try to reset the switch to see if this fixes it. Pulling on it with pliers seems counterintuitive!
 
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Well I just tried adjusting the switch as advised with pliers....... I ended up pulling the plunger and attached spring out! Major panic ensued when I couldn't get it back in. Had to push it into the concrete with force.
To be honest I'm quite heavy handed but please be careful if you try it.

Anyway, once I put it back together I managed to get it back in and as suggested it ratchetes itself up when you release the pedal.

I went a step further and pulled the pedal up and at each click checked the brake lights. I then found the maximum number of clicks it allowed before the fault appeared and set it at that point.
I do have huge feet and the pedal box is cramped in the Stilo, so I'll now carry the pliers in the car for when I inevitably set the fault off again!
 
Re: Brake Light Switch: ESP/Lights/Selespeed Problems?

Thank you deck chair, went straight in once followed you advice. I am concrned it coul rotate now. Any ideas on how best to secure it from rotating?
 
Ancient thread this but I thought I'd add to the discussion and the product of three hours faffing about working by feel under the dash of my daughter's Stilo 1.6.
The big thing here (presuming the switch is OK) is the calibration of the switch itself. The operation was helped by depressing the brake pedal with (in my case a 3/8" socket extension between the pedal and the bottom edge of the dash this keeps the pedal away fro the action - there's a steel strengthener handily on the bottom edge f the dash) then getting in to the switch plunger with fine offset needle pliers (I used circlip pliers) and pulling the switch spindle out (I got four "clicks") and then gently releasing the pedal from the socket extension and this 'calibrates' the switch - in my case it clicked back two. Make sense?
As mentioned elsewhere I suspect lifting the pedal has recalibrate the switch in advert
antly. Probably I suspect the all too frequent changes in footwear!
Daughter happy camper now off to get Warrant of Fitness (NZ) - equivalent of a UK MOT check.
 
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