On my red car the brake lights do not work. Do these cars have the switch under the pedal like an old ford pickup. Also any ideas or wiring diagrams would be appreciated. thanks
Yes, same as the pickups. I had an '81 Ford truck and the brakelight switch was the same as my Maverick.
Old Ford pickups had the switch on the master cylinder. The Maverick/Comet has the switch ON the front side of the brake pedal.
I recently installed a 3rd brake iight on my car. Upon doing so, discovered the brake lites don't come on till the pedal is almost at the end of it's downward travel. I had no idea the pedal had to be this far in it's travel to turn on the lites. Just to see how my lites on daily drivers activate compared to the Comet -- big difference -- abt 1/4 to 1/3 travel. I need/want to try and change the travel distance so the Comet will activate sooner. Reading some old thread/post here and looking at the switch, it appears there are no adjustments to the switch. Won't do anyone any good if ur rear ended cuz the car behind u did'nt know u were braking.. Any ideas?
I used late 70's F150 brake light switch on my Falcon. On a Maverick/Comet you will need to make an ell shape bracket to mount the switch and bolt the bracket to the pedal support. The truck switch is adjustable and works kinda like a door jam switch for the dome light
Ok Jeff thanks for the suggestion. I have'nt really took a hard look at that switch - don't like getting under that dash any more than I have to. In this case there will be an exception. I will remove the seat to make for more favorable wrkin condx. Is that bracket on ur Falcon OE or DIU? I don't suppose the switch cud be moved to far unless the pedal height is altered or brake lites wud stay on? I gess some experimenting is in order.
I hated those old pressure switches that were mounted on the master cylinder! I had more than one that would get a partial short and run down the battery over a weekend. It was never enough of a draw to light the lamps, but it sure as hell was dead Monday morning when you were ready to go to work!
Had the same problem on a '62 Galaxie. I happen to touch the pressure switch when checking wiring connections. It felt like I touch a hot exhaust manifold. I had blisters on my finger tips as soon as I looked.
The hole in the bracket on my Falcon is where a rubber stop bumper once lived. The switch fit in the hole perfect. The first way I did this was using a stereo strap but the metal wasn't stiff enough to keep the switch in place. The switch would sometimes slip off the pedal and make the brake light stay on. Maybe if I drilled a bolt hole closer to the switch things might have worked out better
