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No Brake Lights

597 views 6 replies 2 participants last post by  theicewall 
#1 ·
The vehicle in question is a 2007 Liberty with 165k miles on it. It belongs to my wife who is a second owner. In the first 5k miles of her ownership half the engine needed to be torn down and replaced. Other than that an blowing 3 water pumps in 65k miles (really?? yes really) the vehicle has run ok. During our last snow storm I used 4 Lo to get out of a parking spot and when I switched back to 4Hi and 2WD noticed the Part Time light was reversed from what it had been and took the vehicle to a transmission shop. When I dropped the vehicle off there the brake lights were working fine. They replaced a selector ball and a cable for the transfer case which was rotting and rusting out and put a new 5-position selection indicator switch in which only partly works... when in 2WD the Part Time light blinks on occasionally 1-2x every few minutes and goes right back off.

When we picked the vehicle up, the 4-way blinkers were not working and that turned out to be a fuse, which they replaced. I followed my wife home and observed the turn signals to work but that the brake lights did not appear to go on when she depressed the brake pedal. I looked in the fuse box by the driver's side door and replaced the 15amp fuse for slot #12 and given the turn signals issue I was certain this was going to fix the issue. It did not. I looked up into the fender well and found the pressure switch for the actual pedal and while I was not able to check it with a volt meter and was in a hurry to get out of the cold (its back in the 20's today) it seemed to be in the right place and looked externally intact. I have considered that it could be bulbs but given that all three brake lights worked before I dropped it off at the tranny shop would think it least likely that both Main brake light bulbs and the 3rd brake light bulb would all blow at the exact same day.

Anyone have any ideas? Is there any wiring near or through the transfer case area that could get messed up by the tranny shop when they either took apart the transfer case or opened the center console (if they accessed anything like the lever from the inside)? Should I just buy the brake pedal position switch and try that? Does anyone think its worth buying a single tail light bulb and replacing it just in case there's an oddball chance all three lights blew simultaneously?

I obviously want my wife's brake lights to work and would like to avoid $100 cost at the stealership on an old beat up Liberty if its an easy enough fix with a minimal amount of detective work to find the issue. I'm also happy to force the tranny shop to fix something if it looks conclusively like they broke it.
 
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#2 ·
With all three out and the fact the fuse was okay I'd say check the switch carefully first. They can get gummed up and fail even though they look okay externally. Isn't it on the brake pedal lever under the dash? You said fender well but I'm not familiar with the 07.
 
#3 ·
Sorry if the above description was at all confusing. If I typed fender well I meant foot well. I have ordered a new switch because it's not terribly expensive and I suspect that just swapping out the switch is likely more time efficient than trying to check voltages over the pins of the switch. Hopefully thats the issue though it is awfully coincidental that it occurred the same time the transfer case was rebuilt.

Thank you for your recommendation.
 
#5 ·
Thank you for the response, sorry for the delayed follow up. I changed the brake light pressure switch in the foot well and that apparently is not the problem....

I went back and looked at fuse #12, a blue 15 amp mini fuse and it blew. I put another blue 15 amp fuse in its place, started the vehicle, and stepped on the brakes and zzzzzp. It blew again. This is all quite interesting because the first time the fuse was completely intact, even though I changed it out anyway. I would doubt that putting in an OEM (but non-Chrysler 55217 0009 BRAKE LIGHT SWITCH 2002 LIBERTY KJ 56045043AG 10.99) brake lamp switch from Quadratec would cause the fuses to blow.

There must be a short somewhere. I have no idea if those wires run anywhere near where the transmission work was done. I'm thinking that I'm going to get stuck taking the vehicle to the dealership if I want it done right. Any thought??
 
#6 ·
If you haven't done so, might want to check around the brake light sockets first and see if they are okay. I thought I remembered some talk of them getting sort of cooked. Might get a short there and cause the fuse to blow. I thought the wire harness ran under the carpet and not under the vehicle. Maybe some sheathing is worn and shorting. Can't remember if it is in the left or right side of the vehicle.
 
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