Morris Minor Owners Club

My brake lights are working fine but while driving behind the Traveller while my wife was driving, she was only pressing the brakes lightly and the lights did not come on.

At first I thought there was a fault but each time I give them a firm press, they light up.

Is there any available adjustment on the switch to get them to come on with a light push of the pedal?

Afraid not, they come on under brake system pressure. They may vary a bit between switches, but thats it!

Don't think so, no

The Minor brake system holds about 5 psi in the system between presses - so the switch has to be set to operate above that pressure. Some have converted to a mechanical switch worked from the pedal rather than the hydraulic item.

If your car was off the road for a long time they sometimes are sticky and do come round with use, but for the sake of a few pounds for a new one rather than getting a rear end shunt I would buy a new one.

The switch may well be on the way out. There's been a bad batch of them recently - I've gone through about 4 I think, the last one was only coming on with a firm press so I replaced it before it stopped working altogether. Not hard to replace fortunately. I got the replacement from a local MG place (fits Midgets & Sprites) in the hope that it was better quality, time will tell.

Nothing is mentioned in the cars detailed history about a replacement so its likely to be very old. As you say, its best just to get a new switch, don't want a rear end shunt and then then getting the blame because of a faulty switch!

Stig28 wrote:The switch may well be on the way out. There's been a bad batch of them recently - I've gone through about 4 I think, the last one was only coming on with a firm press so I replaced it before it stopped working altogether. Not hard to replace fortunately. I got the replacement from a local MG place (fits Midgets & Sprites) in the hope that it was better quality, time will tell.

Its not a recent, but a constant thing. The quinton hazel item is the one to go for.

I had this problem a while back. My brake lamps stopped working due to an old worn out switch. I bought a replacement but found that the switch only worked when I pressed the pedal hard. This was obviously no good for smooth driving!.

On investigation I found that the switch WAS operating, but it would only allow a small amount of current through when the pedal was lightly pressed. It was acting like a variable resistor! To fix the problem I fitted a small relay to the circuit so that the brake lamp switch operates the relay coil, and the brake lamps are fed from the relay contacts. The brake lamps now come on instantly at the lightest touch of the pedal.

regards,

Andy

Interesting!