1966 Buick Wildcat no brake lights

[hotelstationery]

One of the items that the car failed on the safety inspection was brake lights. Also the head lights, tail light and signals. The car has been sitting and forty nine years of humidity have put some corrosion on the fuse block.



I pulled the fuses, hit the ends with steel wool and then the terminals with fine sandpaper. Everything works except the brake lights, which appear to be the top left fuse.

I pulled the brake light switch out of the holder, so I wouldn't have to pump the brakes to check their function. With the brake light fuse out, the signals won't work but they do when the fuse is in. I have power at the brake light switch and the switch appears to work. I pulled the fuse and put the multimeter on the terminals but it only shows half a volt.

Any ideas? Are there any common faults that I should examine?

I also found this under the dash



I can't seem to find an opposite plug to run in into. I'm hoping that it's for some optional accessory that my car is not equiped with, although I am showing five volts between one side and the middle.

jeremy

[hotelstationery]

After much manual reading and many continuity tests, the lights are all working, so now it's off to the glass and muffler shop.

[betamax1966]

Could you post what was done to fix the brake lights?

On my 1966 Electra I had the same problem about 10 years ago and traced it to an intermittent riveted connection in the turn signal switch. The white wire (from the brake pedal switch) in the center of the turn signal switch has a lug on the end and a rivet thru the lug. Thoroughly cleaning the lug and the rivet and soldering the connection fixed the problem. It has to be done quickly and carefully to avoid melting the nylon part. This switch is hard to find and I was wondering if it is 1966 only.

Last week I found that I have turn signals but no brake lights again. Pulled the steering wheel to check the turn signal switch and it appears that my solder joint may have fractured or the white wire may have a poor crimp to the lug since the insulation on the wire is slightly discolored at the lug. This time I may also remove some insulation and solder the wire to the left side of the lug and re-solder the lug to the rivet. Again being very careful to not melt the nylon.

The wires from the turn signal switch to the brake lights are good because they use the same wires as the REAR turn signals. The turn signal switch mechanically does the selection of brake/turn signal to the REAR lights. The front turn signals are operated from a separate part of the same switch. Switching the rear stop/turn light bulbs to red LED should reduce the current required and put less stress and heat on the connections.