[T3] Brake light switches
Keith Park
topnotch at nycap.rr.com
Tue Feb 21 20:03:10 PST 2012
Well at least it wasn't the silicone brake fluid.
Keith
Top Notch Restorations
topnotch at nycap.rr.com
http://www.a383ina68.addr.com/radiorest/main.htm
71 Squareback "Hothe"
65 Notchback "El Baja Rojo"
65 Squareback "Eggcrate"
87 golf "Winterat"
93 RX7 "Redstur"
-----Original Message-----
From: type3-vwtype3.org-bounces at lists.vwtype3.org
[mailto:type3-vwtype3.org-bounces at lists.vwtype3.org] On Behalf Of Jim Adney
Sent: Tuesday, February 21, 2012 10:43 PM
To: type3 at vwtype3.org
Subject: [T3] Brake light switches
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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