How do I adjust my brake light switch

On my 83 gti cabby. Electric sensor seems to be on the brake cylinder, brake lights only come on when pedal pressed very hard. A bit dangerous for those following. Any ideas appreciated. Cheers

REplace the switch, or the master, I would suspect the switch is bad as in taking too much pressure or you may need to set the free-play on the pedal.

alternatively modify pedal box to accept a pedal switch, like later cab/rocco have

Thanks guys, new switch ordered. Fingers crossed that sorts it. You confirmed my suspicions that the switch it is not adjustable. If new switch doesn't work, I'll play with the pedal adjustment (remove slack (I don't think there is much as car brakes/stops fine). Do I assume for this I need to remove the link from the pedal to the 'brake side conversion arm' inside the bonnet. Is this done just by removing the split pin on this link, located under the bonnet that is on the drivers side of the car (i.e. immediately under the bonnet the other side of the pedal). I couldn't see how else to adjust, but that was only with a 5 min look. I guess this may also adjust the pedal height too, which I don't really want to do as they look nicely inline at the moment.
Cheers

I would leave the brake bar well alone, if over adjusted the brakes will stick on.

Fit a new switch and see how that goes.
My 1978 Mk1 Scirocco has 2 switches in the master cylinder, do you only have 1?

New switch sorted it. Cheers all. Do I need to full bleed brakes now?

How old is your brake fluid?

see how the brakes are. if spongy then bleed the system, if not then all is well. also as above if the fluid is well old may as well take the opportunity to bleed it

I have no idea on the age, so will give the fluid a change anyway to be sure. Thanks all.

Dot 4 is what you want, brake fluid should be changed every 3 years, you may find the brake pedal will feel a lot firmer with new brake fluid in there.

If you use a clear pipe on the wheel cylinders and calipers when bleeding the system you should see the change in colour of the brake fluid and you can check there is no air bubbles in there.

Clean the threads of the bleed nipples and spray some Plusgas or WD40 and let it soak for a day if possible, go careful with the nipples as you don’t want to sher them off.

Let us know how you get on.

mark1gls said

Dot 4 is what you want, brake fluid should be changed every 3 years, you may find the brake pedal will feel a lot firmer with new brake fluid in there.

If you use a clear pipe on the wheel cylinders and calipers when bleeding the system you should see the change in colour of the brake fluid and you can check there is no air bubbles in there.

Clean the threads of the bleed nipples and spray some Plusgas or WD40 and let it soak for a day if possible, go careful with the nipples as you don’t want to sher them off.

Let us know how you get on.

Carefully remove the bleeder ports from the Calipers and the Cylinders.

Wrap the threads and ends with Teflon tape, pierce the bleeder hole on the port.  Replace, the port, they will not rust freeze ever.

Build your own power bleeder with a cap from the wreckers (besure to get a gasket with the cap.).

Make a large collection jar. and you will be a one man bleeder maniac.

DIY Make Your Own 1 Man Pressure Brake Bleeder - YouTube

I used a 2 quart sprayer.


For a large collection jar I used a Pasta Sauce glass jar.