Old car troubles...

 I think I was channeling my Dad today. He was a Tinker. I remember being a little girl and following my Dad out into the front driveway ready to be the "helper" because we were going to fix something on the car. I got to hold the light...hand him tools...use the super long magnet to fetch the rogue screws. I was happy. But as I got older, he did show me a few things- and he definitely would have been proud of my skills today!

The dilemma: My husband comes home from work and says..."my break lights won't shut off, even when the car is off."  Hmmmmm what could that be?

We checked the fuse??? nope..still on. I got down and played with the break pedal and noticed little bits of broken yellow rubber pieces down on the mat:

Nice right...so if you rearrange them- this is what that pile probably was:

A little round rubber washer like thing....where did that come from???

My answer to everything my husband asks me is : "you can Google it" so Google it we did!

This is what we discovered:


"There's a small rubber pad which sits on the brake pedal arm, and holds the brake light switch OFF when the pedal is released. When this rubber pad falls off, the brake light switch is on all the time, not just when the pedal is pressed down." (This info was found on a FixYa forum answered by Mr Andrew Rose...whoever or where ever you are- Thank You!) he also said "Find the rubber pad, and glue it back on, or make a replacement from cardboard, duct tape, whatever."

Which is what I did!


 First thing- you'll need cardboard, duct tape, scissors.

Cut a little circle about the same size as the busted rubber thing. Cover it with duct tape. I did a big piece and wrapped it up double- figured it should be thick to stay in place!

When you are done- it looks like this:

Tada!!!

Now you have to install it. Super fun- and my husband said I looked "HOT" doing this part :)

You will need a small flashlight and a limber back.

Look at your break pedal and follow the arm up into the under cavity (I don't know what that part of the car is called so we'll just call it that-ok? OK)
I was lucky to still have a small piece of the yellow rubber thing stuck there so I found the spot pretty easily. If you are not that lucky- I would suggest pressing on the break pedal and watch for a small white piece that looks like it pokes into another piece....look around here:

 Now this picture already has the new "duct tape washer" in there...but you can see the little white piece that looks like it is pushing into the duct tape. That is where you need to place the new washer.

 Green arrow- right there. Your lights should go off at this point. Press the petal to make sure they turn on when you do actually use the breaks :) And you are good to go!

Hope this helps someone out. This was a really simple fix and who knows how much a garage would charge to "find" this problem??? Like I said- my Dad would have been proud of me today...and the real bonus, my hubby thinks I am amazing!

Now go fix that car! Cheers!
~Casey