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More Car Trouble
Aug. 31st, 2014 01:03 pmOn the way to faire yesterday morning, a Pleasant Prairie police officer pulled up next to our car at a stop light to let Lisa and I know that my brake lights weren't working. The middle one lights up, but the side two do not. When we turned off the road to check it out, he followed. He'd watched us turning and wanted to tell us that, in fact, the problem is intermittant because they were working again as he watched us go.
I'd known there was some kind of brake light issue since my brother had told me that someone had told *him* that the lights weren't working. I was going to try to track down the issue, but hadn't made it to it yet. I'll have to prioritize it.
After faire, Lisa stood behind my car to provide feedback as I tried to narrow down the issue. In the end, I determined it's connected to my turn signal switch!
I haven't mentioned that my turn signal switch has been erratic since I bought the car. To get the signals to blink correctly, I have to pull back toward me on the stick, not quite far enough to activate the high beams. As it turns out, I *also* have to pull back on the stick in the same way to get the tail lights to function as brake lights. This seems really odd to me, but doing a little Googling has shown me that this is actually pretty typical. The wiring for the brake lights goes through the turn signal switch.
On the plus side, I know what the problem is. Sadly, the solution, as is so often the case, is spending money. Hopefully not more than in the $200 range. Unless I decide I want to try dismantling the steering column myself. Maybe I'll give it a shot; I do have a full selection of security bits for my screw driver....
In the meantime, as I keep fiddling with the turn signal switch every time I step on the brakes, I hopefully will not get rear-ended or ticketed!
I'd known there was some kind of brake light issue since my brother had told me that someone had told *him* that the lights weren't working. I was going to try to track down the issue, but hadn't made it to it yet. I'll have to prioritize it.
After faire, Lisa stood behind my car to provide feedback as I tried to narrow down the issue. In the end, I determined it's connected to my turn signal switch!
I haven't mentioned that my turn signal switch has been erratic since I bought the car. To get the signals to blink correctly, I have to pull back toward me on the stick, not quite far enough to activate the high beams. As it turns out, I *also* have to pull back on the stick in the same way to get the tail lights to function as brake lights. This seems really odd to me, but doing a little Googling has shown me that this is actually pretty typical. The wiring for the brake lights goes through the turn signal switch.
On the plus side, I know what the problem is. Sadly, the solution, as is so often the case, is spending money. Hopefully not more than in the $200 range. Unless I decide I want to try dismantling the steering column myself. Maybe I'll give it a shot; I do have a full selection of security bits for my screw driver....
In the meantime, as I keep fiddling with the turn signal switch every time I step on the brakes, I hopefully will not get rear-ended or ticketed!
