1971 Road Runner - No Brake Lights...any help appreciated!

[ryanjroberts]

Hey guys,

I appreciate your time in reading this. I have a '71 Road Runner that lost its brake lights. I don't drive it that often, but was backing her in the garage and my son said that there were no brake lights. I figured to start simple...the brake switch off the pedal has continuity and voltage, while I was under there I noticed the fuse was blown for the "stop light". Hmm, replaced the blown fuse with a new 15 amp fuse expecting it to blow but nothing happened. Fuses don"t just blow without reason I know, but the new fuse stayed intact. Everything seems good but blinkers are slow... marker lights and tail lights all work, 4 ways work...all other lights work, but brake lights don't. That's it. Also, I noticed if I pull on the lights, the left green blinker light in the dash console stays lit, even not having it "clicked" to the left. Haven't had the lights pulled in years but I don"t remember that....

In reading, all signs point to the turn signal switch...as voltage passes through that before the brake lights? My question is are you guys do you agree I should replace that and go from there, and also where the heck is it at? I know it is buried somewhere under the ash tray area.......

Thanks a lot for any info!

Best Regards,
Ryan
.............Please do not post email addresses here - it is against site rules, and for your protection.

 

[WileE]

Have you checked the bulbs ? Then, check you grounds before anything else.

 

[ryanjroberts]

I did, bulbs good...grounds good...

 

[terzmo]

jumper the switch and see what happens

 

[Car Nut]

aboard Ryan!

 

[ryanjroberts]

aboard Ryan!

Thank you! :hello2:

- - - Updated - - -

I did, still no good..switch works, metered it out and is ok. Jumped it and nothing lights on the brakes. Guess I've got to dig into the colums and go for the turn signal switch! Steering wheel has to come off, yaay....

 

[Budnicks]

welcome to FBBO

maybe try posting this in the general discussion forum section
or the year specific 71-74 Mopar forum section
or electrical & ignition forum section

either of them will result in far more views & responses too,
this is merely the welcome wagon,
it's intended for getting to know each other,
maybe some background & share photos etc.

good luck either way

 

[super-bee_ski]

Hi Ryan,
Welcome aboard and thanks for joining the forum.

I recently restored a 1988 Toyota Pick-up 4X4
I had the same issue.

As mentioned above, many items can cause this outage.
Follow basic troubleshooting steps.
1. Check Ground
2. Check bulbs
3. Check bulb "Fit" in the sockets (important)
4. Check switch at pedal.

 

[WileE]

Ok... how do you know/ how did you check the bulbs ? Not by just looking, I hope.

 

[moparmarks]

Good chance it is the EM switch that is bad. Brake light circuit goes through it and is common for these to go bad. I've changed out several over the years and 4 of them in customer's car in the last few months. The T/S and EM switches are one assembly in the column. NAPA has them for around 45.00

 

[ryanjroberts]

Thanks for the assistance guys. I metered the bulbs and are good, jumped the brake switch, that's good so I ordered up a t/s - hazard switch, got one coming in the mail. Hoping that yanking the steering wheel and horn guts wont be as bad as it looks, will find out in a few days. Gives me time to find somebody that has a puller, as I'll likely only use it once. Thanks again! I'll let you know if she lights after changing the switch. HAve a good one. - RYan

 

[Jimclo2002]

what is T/S and EM switches?

 

[flypaper]

t/s - turn signal
em - emergency hazard switch

 

[Budnicks]

welcome to FBBO

you'd be better off posting this in the general discussion or other appr. forums & they have far more viewership, than the welcome wagon

this is the welcome wagon it's not really intended as a Q&A tech section
it's meant more for intros, a little back ground, share a few photos, getting to know each other etc.

good luck with you issues, I see you got some help

 

[joe12459]

I've had this happen several times, and it was the turn signal switch every time. That usually causes all kinds of issues with brake/tail and turn lights, depending on which contacts are burnt. That's definitely where I would look. If you could get a spare, you could plug it in and test it first, before you take the column apart to replace it.

 

[joseph p.]

i dont know if you have auto zone stores were you are , but you can rent it for free,just a 20 deposit and you can get the 20 back,and whats sweet is you can keep it for 90days, i just finished repairing my turn signal cam.

 

[1fastrunner]

I've had this happen several times, and it was the turn signal switch every time. That usually causes all kinds of issues with brake/tail and turn lights, depending on which contacts are burnt. That's definitely where I would look. If you could get a spare, you could plug it in and test it first, before you take the column apart to replace it.

I second the turn signal switch. Might not need to replace, just clean the contacts. This worked for me, good luck!
Jim