Brake Light Switch

[larryziegler]

My wife informed me that she couldn't get the Beetle out of park this morning. Having replaced the brake light switch exactly 1 year ago, I knew what the problem was. I called Clovis VW and picked up the part for $15.85 + tax (the parts person gave me extreme warnings about breaking the part, which has been addressed in Eeyore's how-to and the Vortex how-to. At lunch, I removed the part, and using it as the ghuinea pig for proper replacement and using Eeyore's method of adjustment for this part, I followed all the directions in hooking it back up...VOILA....the old part now worked again.....at first with the brake lights on all the time, then properly after a re-adjustment of the spring loaded pin. For how long, I don't know. Before I replaced it, it was working intermittently, so after replacing it, I decided to drive it back to work and have had abssolutly no problems with it. It takes longer to remove/replace the 3 screws for the underdash panel than it does to replace the part itself. Now I have a spare part (the dealer won't make refunds on this part), but for $17, it was all worth it, especially having the piece of mind of the new part there, in case I broke the old one.

[bman]

Originally Posted by larryziegler

My wife informed me that she couldn't get the Beetle out of park this morning. Having replaced the brake light switch exactly 1 year ago, I knew what the problem was. I called Clovis VW and picked up the part for $15.85 + tax (the parts person gave me extreme warnings about breaking the part, which has been addressed in Eeyore's how-to and the Vortex how-to. At lunch, I removed the part, and using it as the ghuinea pig for proper replacement and using Eeyore's method of adjustment for this part, I followed all the directions in hooking it back up...VOILA....the old part now worked again.....at first with the brake lights on all the time, then properly after a re-adjustment of the spring loaded pin. For how long, I don't know. Before I replaced it, it was working intermittently, so after replacing it, I decided to drive it back to work and have had abssolutly no problems with it. It takes longer to remove/replace the 3 screws for the underdash panel than it does to replace the part itself. Now I have a spare part (the dealer won't make refunds on this part), but for $17, it was all worth it, especially having the piece of mind of the new part there, in case I broke the old one.

Glad it worked out for you. I always am happy that I can drive my car (a manual tranny) without regard for whether or not the brake light switch is working... wouldn't want to be stranded after all!

But the more I think on it, it would be nice to know when that switch was in fact faulty - it's hard for me to activate the brake lights and see if they're working or not without a vehicle or wall behind me at night, or someone else helping me out otherwise...

[jpdeuce]

Do you have links to those guides on how not the break the part and how to adjust it?

[larryziegler]

http://forums.newbeetle.org/showthre...threadid=32064
http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=1158315

Part #191-945-515-E

The most current part number shown now has the suffix E at the end. Your old part will have something between A-D.

Both of these threads had very useful info to use.