Brake Lamp Blinking

[HarryD]

Today, on the way to lunch, my red brake warning light started blinking. My brakes seem to be operating fine with no change in the pedal effort and the handbrake is fully disengaged.

Looking at the wiring diagram, it looks like both the switch on the master cylinder and the handbrake switch can activate this lamp. Since the lamp is blinking, I figure the master cylinder switch is ok. This leaves a problem with the handbrake switch or a short in the wiring between the switch and the lamp.

While I figure I will spend "hours of fun" tracing down the problem, if anyone has solved a similar problem, your comments would be appreciated.

TIA

[Ivs]

I had the same problem & dealt with it for years before fixing it. On my vehicle [69 E] it was the hand brake contact switch that went bad. The switch is comprised of a piece of plastic with a strip of metal. When you pull the hand brake up the metal grounds and the light illuminates. If this piece of metal separates from the plastic that it is embedded in, then it will " float " around and occasionally contact the ground wire { the black wire that enters the hand brake assembly from the rear }. The hand brake contact switch sells for $8.99 in the Mid America Motorworks catalog [ pg.64 (h) ]. The driver seat will have to be removed, and the hand brake assembly taken apart, hand throttle, heater control, etc...... It is a RPITA!!!!!! Good luck, maybe it is just a loose ground.

[HarryD]

I pulled the wires to the switch in the brake master cylinder and my blinking stopped. This leads me to believe I have a bad switch since if the master cylinder was truly bad, my brakes would not be working. FWIW, the rubber boot protecting the wire connectors was split as well.

Has anyone replaced just the switch? Do I need to remove the master cylinder to replace the switch or just the cover pan? How do I tell if it is just the switch or a failure of the cylinder itself?

TIA