break lights

Found out sunday morning, my battery was flat as my break lights wouldnt turn off

Its down to the break switch, it seems the pedal isnt coming up far enough to close the switch, i was just unpluged the switch as i had to buy a new battery!

Before i started messing about i thought i'd ask on here first so…how do i fix it> :mrgreen:

The brake light switch on the mk1 is on the master cylinder, so the brake pedal travel shouldn't affect the brake lights directly (unless the master cylinder is damaged, and is holding the brakes on a little)

It's most likely that the switch (or switches - there are sometimes two, one for each brake circuit) is knackered. You can check them with a multimeter or test bulb, and replace the bad one. This is a bit of a pain, as you have to bleed the whole brake system after changing one - which is why later cars (and late Mk1 cabbys, I think) do have a switch on the brake pedal…

Type17 said

You can check them with a multimeter or test bulb

How? having same problem

out of interest have these cars had a rear disc conversion ? i had same problem on a previous golf and i would lift the pedal back up with my foot and it did eventually cure it ????

mk1jim said

out of interest have these cars had a rear disc conversion ? i had same problem on a previous golf and i would lift the pedal back up with my foot and it did eventually cure it ????

hmhm…mine as….but did,nt do anything for me.

I had the same problem on my 99 citi,
the brake lights stayed on,
found out it was the switch on the brake pedal. what happened was, i knocked the pedal towards me with my foot,
pressing the switch in deper than usual, clicking the black moving part out of position,
to rectify it,
all i did was pull the black part outwards towards the engine and it was fine ever since.

BiG_PoPPa said

Type17 said

You can check them with a multimeter or test bulb

How? having same problem

Use the Multimeter to do a continuity test on the switche(s) while a friend presses the pedal, or use the switche(s) to turn the bulb on and off (or not) while the friend presses the pedal…