<VV> No brake light on right rear of 65 Monza

[Sethracer at aol.com]

In a message dated 5/11/2010 7:41:53 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time,  
johngull at bellsouth.net writes:

Dear  Gurus , I cannot get the right rear brake light to work on my 65 
Monza!
Any  ideas? I have replaced bulbs and sockets with no success! Both turn
signals  and running lights work on either side. The brake light on the left
side  also works.  Very puzzled! Thanks for any ideas.   John







John - My guess is something inside of the turn signal switch. The normal  
path to the brake lights feeds voltage from the brake light switch near the  
pedal into the turn signal switch on one feed. Inside the switch, the  
current is fed to both sides of the turn signals. The current travels out  of 
the switch to each bright filament and both the brake lights turn on.  When 
the turn signal is engaged, a second source of power (from the flasher)  
inside the turn signal switch is fed to the wire out to the one bright  light 
filament, at the same time, the feed from the brake light wire is  interrupted. 
That is so the brake light will flash, even if the brakes are on.  So if 
the turn signal filament flashes, that means the wiring from the switch to  
the bulb is okay. That is good news. I think the problem is the bent metal  
spring inside the switch. For some reason, the feed from the switch under the  
dash is not reaching the feed wire to the rear. So the right brake light  
can't turn on. (If the left side brake light comes on, the wiring to the turn 
 signal switch is probably okay.) The actual switch is a complex little  
thing with a pair of spring loaded bent metal pieces being trapped inside. 
They  lay against a pair of posts to feed the rear brake lights and, when the 
switch  is activated, are pulled away from those contacts and hook up  to the 
output of the flasher at the base of the dash. The bent metal  pieces can 
wear, they can become deformed. Lots of things can happen to them.  
Unfortunately, the steering wheel has to come off to dig down into the switch  area. 
You may get some great advice from somebody on another way to go, But I  
feel that if the turn signal works properly, and the tail-lights are working  
okay, there is nothing wrong at the rear of the car. It has to be the feed,  
under the dash or inside the column.
 
Seth  Emerson

C's the Day! - Corvair, Camaro,  Corvette