[T3] Brake light switches

[Bryon Garvin]

Jim,

I am fearing the same thing anytime now since that's how last spring went
for me :)

Anyway, if you don't find the Meyle info, I at least have this from my
notes.  This was the fellow that got back to me when I wrote saying I had a
problem with the internal wiring on the switches.  If you remember, they
made a bunch of switches that kept the lights on all the time and turned
them off when you depressed the pedal:
==============================
Peter Cohrs

*Wulf Gaertner Autoparts AG  *
Merkurring 111 • 22143 Hamburg • Germany
Tel.   +49 40 67506 533
Fax   +49 40 67506 633
Web  www.meyle.com
Chairman of the Board: Dr. Norbert Steffen
Chief Executive Officer: Dr. Karl J. Gaertner
Trade Register Hamburg HRB 71660

========================================

 - Bryon, '71 Fastback




On Tue, Feb 21, 2012 at 7:42 PM, Jim Adney <jadney at vwtype3.org> wrote:

> It's been so dry and warm here that I took the square out for errands
> last week, but coming home a passing pedestrian warned me that my
> brake lights weren't coming on. Thus another pair of brake light
> switches have bit the dust.
>
> Refusing to sacrifice them 2 at a time, I replaced just one on
> sunday, and took the bad one in to work today to cut it apart on a
> lathe. What I found surprised me.
>
> I expected to find the inner contacts corroded and burned, but
> instead, all the metal parts inside were pristine with no signs of
> corrosion or weathering of any kind, and no sign of brake fluid in
> that part of the switch.
>
> Instead, what i found was that there is a little plastic plunger that
> transfers the movement from the diaphram to the metal switch
> contacts. That plastic plunger had melted, so that it could no longer
> move the switch parts. Thus, at least in this case, the contacts were
> not the problem.
>
> The switch that failed was a rather run of the mill, possibly
> Brazilian, part that had a full length hex body. The replacements I
> now have are from Meyle and Euromax and the bodys are half hex/ half
> round, like the OE parts. I cut one of the Meyles apart last year,
> but I don't remember the details about that part of the construction.
> We'll see how this one does.
>
> This plunger could easily be made of metal, eliminating this problem.
> I know that the OG switches had metal plungers. I'll see if I still
> have the email for the Meyle rep. If I do, I'll forward this info to
> him.
>
> In the meantime, I also drilled holes in 4 switches so I could inject
> conductive grease in there to see if that will help. It might help
> with corrosion, but it shouldn't have any effect on the melting
> plunger problem.
>
> --
> *******************************
> Jim Adney, jadney at vwtype3.org
> Madison, Wisconsin, USA
> *******************************
>
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