NICO Exclusive: Brake Pedal Switch... OR SOMETHING MORE?!!!!

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dickie
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You may have read that I was having electrical issues with my car that I believed was due to faulty wiring. The symptoms were: brake lights stayed on all the time, strong smell of burning wires, bad idle and hesitation.

Following the advice Florida240sx gave me, I decided to start at the switch that the brake pedal contacts to operate the brake lights.

It wasn't hot like he had described his, but something was definitely wrong enough for me to check it out. I immediately noticed i was going to run into a problem. Between the brackets for the steering column and the brackets for the brake pedal, there was really no room to operate back there.

I started be removing the lower dash cover and kick panel and dropping the steering column all the way by removing the 2x 12mm bolts near the wheel and 2x 12mm nuts at the back on the bracket. This allowed me at least a couple extra inches to work with, but the brackets still prevented me from getting a 14mm open-end wrench on the nut I needed to remove to pull the switch.

I asked my dad what he thought about it, and he said it looked like a job for a crow's foot wrench, which I had never used before. We had to make a quick trip to O'Reilly's to pick up a set (they don't sell them separately).

Due to the extra "lip" and the fact that they are made about twice as thick as a regular wrench, it was difficult to muscle it onto the nut holding the replacement switch to what has now become a parts car more than anything else. The switch that I thought was bad was not so lucky; I grabbed it with RoboGrips and broke off the plastic box after messing with it for nearly 10 minutes.

*NOTE* there is a second switch on the right side of the brake pedal, identical except in color. I believe this is used for cruise control shutoff when the pedal is pressed, so if you don't have a CC-equipped car, it might not be there for you. If you do have it, it will need to be removed to access the left switch.

The new switch went in fine and my idle problems and burning smell seemed to be gone, but the brake lights were still stuck on. Dammit.

I re-inspected the switch with the intention to adjust it so the pedal bracket made contact with it correctly, and I made a discovery that both shocked and appalled me. The bracket itself was NOT what depresses the switch button operating the brake lights. A PLASTIC RIVET in the bracket itself is responsible for that. Sure enough, the plastic rivet on the donor car was fine, and the rivet on my other car was in pieces on the floor.

WHY DID NISSAN USE A PLASTIC RIVET THAT CANNOT BE REPLACED TO OPERATE THE BRAKE LIGHT SWITCH?!

I was a little more than frustrated at this point having realized I spent time and money replacing something that may not have been broken (I later realized the switch was bad too, possibly from the same thing that broke the rivet). I tried creating a new "rivet" out of zipties, but failed miserably. Then I dug through my toolbox and found a small nut and bolt and decided to try that out. After another 15 minutes of futzing around with the pedal and switch to get some clearance, I was able to get the hardware in place and give it a test. It works better than it used to and cost me nothing. I wonder why Nissan didn't use something a little sturdier or at least replaceable when they installed it in the first place...

*NOTE* DO NOT attempt to adjust the switch's contact point at 11pm in the dark, you will end up making the switch depress the brake pedal just enough to drag your rear caliper, and you will only figure it out after you have been driving down the freeway for 10 miles and the pressure in the system progressively builds. You will have to adjust it on your back in an empty church parking lot with your brake pads smoking while calling your boss to let them know you will be a few minutes late.

DIAGRAMS:



1. Wire harness plug (black)2. Plastic switch body (lt blue and black)3. Bracket4. switch button5. POS plastic rivet that pushes switch button



this is where the rivets are located on the brake pedal.



my solution: a small nut and bolt that goes in the bracket on the brake pedal shown above in place of the rivet.

I hope that saves you guys some time and trouble next time you are diagnosing brake light problems.

e


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srpowered240sx
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wow, i litterally just dealt with this last weekend. no smell of burning wires or idle problems. i just went to my girls house, and her brake lights were on. i figured it was the switch, went to pull it off, and saw the pin went through the hole instead of depressing. i was shocked that there was a rivet and not just the solid peice of metal. fyi, this was a honda accord. so i grabbed a barbed rivet, popped it in, readjusted the switch, and viola. im kicking myself for not mentioning it sooner.



kinda like this
Modified by srpowered240sx at 9:30 AM 8/16/2007

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cmfireman
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Good to know.


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srpowered240sx
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cmfireman wrote:That picture in your post looks very silly Srpowered.
...............................................its a plastic pop rivet......dont know how its silly.

BOOMSHAKALAKA
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You probably don't see it but a hotlinking message showed up saying how silly it looks.

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srpowered240sx
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BOOMSHAKALAKA wrote:You probably don't see it but a hotlinking message showed up saying how silly it looks.
ohhhhhhh, bastards. did that one work??

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cmfireman
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it's good.

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dickie
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on the nissan, the rivet looks more like a round ball with a thin shaft sticking through a plastic ring. sucks donkey balls imo. cant remove it without breaking one or the other.

PS. about the other problems, i am thinking its time to replace some grounds in the engine bay to see if that will help the overall situation.

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bone_stock_240
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Can you edit your thread title and spell brake properly you n00b?

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dickie
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ah ****, im stupid. in my defense, it is spelled properly in all other instances of the thread

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Rex
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d!ck wrote:ah ****, im stupid. in my defense, it is spelled properly in all other instances of the thread
You fixed the "Thread Title", but not your original "Post Title" (bold text at top of you post). And you also mis-spelled Exclusive.



Nico Exlusive: Brake Pedal Switch... OR SOMETHING MORE?!!!!

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srpowered240sx
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brake pedal switch depressor rivet clip.............terrorlst.

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bone_stock_240
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d!ck wrote:ah ****, im stupid. in my defense, it is spelled properly in all other instances of the thread
That just doesn't cut it. Your dumb. Trust me, I no what I am talking about when it comes to spelling.

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dickie
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okay well i guess i wasted the 30 minutes drawing MS paint diagrams and posting the info for you ingrates... and since im going to hang myself in the back stall in the bathroom after i post this i guess I wasted my time fixing the brake lights on my own car last night too.

by the way, i plan on making it look like an auto-erotic asphyxiation accident to spare my family the shame of my suicide.

please tell my mom this was not her fault.


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bone_stock_240
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You can always just drive off a cliff, and pretend your breaks failed. That way you're family will only blame nissan.

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dickie
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no, because then there would be some news story claiming i had been "drifting like on the latest Fast and Furious movie" and it would make it back to this forum and the circle of humiliation would be complete.

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churro
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It's "know" not "no"
bone_stock_240 wrote:
Trust me, I no what I am talking about when it comes to spelling.

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dickie
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he burned you, dude.

icnuthin
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yea same thing happened to me. i actually put a stud and bolt (very small) so that little rivet problem will never happen again

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Florida240sx
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Glad I was able to help.

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sebazztard
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good job on figuring out your prob, and thanks for sharing your discovery

if i ever stumble across this problem in the future i knows how to fix it

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Uberck
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ahh good to know. i have seen this so many times on some of my friends cars, i always thought they were leaving their lights on

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bone_stock_240
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churro wrote:It's "know" not "no"
I guess the concept of irony is lost on you. That is ok, it is a pretty advanced concept.

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dickie
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i thought i negated the irony of the situation with my facetious comment... ****, the internet is complicated.

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srpowered240sx
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d!ck wrote:i thought i negated the irony of the situation with my facetious comment... ****, the internet is complicated.
.......not really. i go to google.....and search "asian p0rn". its easy, and rewarding.

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Uberck
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hoa u contruct teh that with tha surch?

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bone_stock_240
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d!ck wrote:i thought i negated the irony of the situation with my facetious comment... ****, the internet is complicated.
Now I am confused. I guess that is what I get for trying to be ironic to poke fun at the situation. I remember in one of the threads, encryptshun or whatever his name was talked about the common misspellings that bothered him, and I said how much it bothered me too. From that point on, I made all of those errors deliberately, and it was just insane at how many people pointed out, "y0 dud3, its you're and not your, LOL pwnt"

And yes, I realize that I used "its" wrong. In case you didn't notice, that right their was a deliberate mistake.

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dickie
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jon, i tried your suggestion but for some reason i got a message informing me that my contract with my employer was terminated and i should pack up my desk and leave... i guess it didnt work

any other suggestions?

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churro
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me fail english? thats' unposible

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Uberck
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If it doesn't fit, you must acquit. me have smart


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