I have no brake lights. I imagine it's the switch. Where is it? Nothing at the pedal or master cylinder. It's a '62 Buick Special wagon.
It should be a pressure switch on the master cylinder as seen in this photo of a 62 Special. Those kind of switches have a tendency to rust stuck either off (like yours) or on (like my 46 Ford)
That's what I would expect to find, but there's no switch or even loose wires that would have hooked to it. There is a poorly bent piece of brake line in that spot. I can't imagine the previous owner just removing the switch. Actually, this is a guy who cut a hole in the floor and bolted a paint roller handle to the shift linkage to shift, because it was sticking in park. So, I guess he could have done something like this.
follow the lines back. there's got to be a T junction with a switch in it someplace(although maybe not and maybe thats whu the brake lights don't work )
I see nothing. I know the guy drove the car for a few years. I can't imagine him removing the brake light switch, then wondering why the brake lights don't work. I guess some people are just a little slower than others.
i'm sure it's there somewhere...have you looked real close bt the brake pedal underneath the dash? if not ,it would be easy to add one in the brake line. i'm sure your lines are 3/16"...so get a weatherhead fitting 652X3. it is a tee that has inverted flare two sides , 1/8" pipe thread the other side so you could screw in a `65 ford brake light pressure switch. put it in the brake line. you wuill need flaing tools and have to bleed the brakes or you could go with a mechanical switch...i have found the one from a `54 chevy adapts to most brake linkages the you would have to get your turn and brake lights to work properly...the brake switch has 12 volt constant power one one terminal , and when the brakes are activated the other terminal should send the 12 volt to your steering column turn signal switch. if you could find a wiring diagram it would be helpfull..or it may be the white wire that GM semed to use for many years
i just checked napa online...and it shows it as a hydraulic switch , so it was somewhere in the brake line it looks like this:
Is there more than one brake line coming out of the master cylinder? Like one on top and one on the side?
gonna resurrect this one. There is a clip with two wires going to the switch. Should I have power on these wires? I used a test light and got nothing.
My old F85 had one on the master cylinder. The pinched off line you see may plugging the hole left when someone removed a leaking unit. The switch has pipe thread IIRC. Is there an adapter between the pinched line and the master? One wire of the switch should be hot. The ignition switch may need to be turned on, though.
At a loss here. There is no power at the fuse for the brake lights. I pulled the panel down and there is no juice in either wire on either side. Everything else has power and is working
Thats odd...because according to this schematic I found on-line for you the fuse takes its power from a buss bar that also supplies several other fuses. The brake light fuse also appears to supply power for the turn signals! Got turn signals??? I'd pull the fuse panel from the mount and look for corrosion behind. Schematic: http://www.tocmp.com/tOCMP/wiring/5765wiring diagrams/Buick/MWireBuic65_3WD-012.jpg
I did, Turns out that the switch was bad. I wasn't getting power at the switch connector so I figured it was something else. Spent ten bucks on a new switch and we were in business. It's a lot more fun driving down the road when you don't have to constantly worry about getting blasted at a stop sign. Thanks for the help, I am sure that wiring schematic you found will come in handy down the road.
On another note, anyone know what kind of fluid I should be using? I figure it's Dot3 but I am not sure. R
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