Near side brake light not working

[Andrew43]

Hi, my mk6 transit 2002 rear near side brake light isnt working. Ive changed the bulb and the light part is working but the brake eelement isnt working. The off side is fine , ive previously cleaned the elements but i could clean them again. Any help would be great. Thanks

[Jim Archer]

Check the connector to the light unit.

Jim

[Andrew43]

Thanks Jim, is the connector the part that unclips from the light cluster? Whats the best thing to clean them?

Thanks Andrew.

[Andrew43]

Whats the best thing to clean the contacts with plus where will the brake light switch be?
Andrew

[knobby1]

where will the brake light switch be?Andrew

Brake light switch is above the brake pedal. If the switch was faulty/not working, you'd have no brakes lights at all...not just one side.

Lord Knobrot

[Andrew43]

Ive taken the connector off and the top clip is broken, will it need replacing? Thanks

[Andrew43]

Cleaned earth and contacts, put new bulb in and still not working. Any suggestions?

[marcrbarker]

That's the trouble with electricty, you can't see it, only ever see the effects of what it's doing.

You need to use The Force
After placing a brick on the brake pedal use 12V light bulb "test light", usually like a see-through plastic screwdriver with a croc-clip wire attached. Makes the invisible visible. Or use any small bulb on the end of a pair of wires.
Clip the croc-clip to any known good earth within reach and leave it there, then probe in turn to each bulb contact to see if the bulb contact is actually getting a feed or not. No feed? Trace the feed back find if there's a break.
Test bulb had lit up when touched each one of BOTH the bulb contacts? Earth return break. Also causes the rear light turns off braking

[Andrew43]

An update. Ive got the brake light working for now. I tested to see if power was coming to metal part where the bulb goes, it was. So ive moved it slighly and it appears to be making better contacr. Thanks

[marcrbarker]

An update. Ive got the brake light working for now. I tested to see if power was coming to metal part where the bulb goes, it was. So ive moved it slighly and it appears to be making better contacr. Thanks

Get you through the MOT
BTW I know someone who solved this problem a novel way ran a looong wire went all the way from the lamp cluster to the brake switch.

[Andrew43]

Picture attatched.

[marcrbarker]

Can see dark spot 3rd contact in, counting from end nearest sticky-out contact.
The acid test is with brick left on the brake pedal, waggle around the wire and bulb a bit to see if it flickers.

[Andrew43]

Thanks, ive had the brake light working but its stopped working again. Not sure if the bulb is making good contact with the metal element. Going to push the bulb in manially to see if it works. Can i bend the brake element in the cluster slightly? Is it worth replacing the whole cluster? Thanks Andrew.

[marcrbarker]

Can i bend the brake element in the cluster slightly?

Yes be careful as the plastic rivets break easily. Don't try it with live terminals or you'll blow a fuse

Is it worth replacing the whole cluster?

Well worth a stab but if the plug on the harness has a dodgy pin the new cluster work for a while then go wrong again.
Since hadn't found where the fault(s) to 100% sure it's fixed you'd have to replace the cluster, that section of wiring harness, clean the pins where plug into, change all the bulbs for new ones and clean the earth terminal, and anything else I might have missed! (Personally myself I 'use the force' method as I find it much easier )

[Andrew43]

Thanks , are the plastic rivets on the top of the metal? If they are one has broken, is there anything i can use to hold the metal down? Andrew