1997 BMW 318i Brake lights not working??

[PeterC]

I have a 1997 318i. None of my brake lights work. I had the car inspected in
May and all worked then, not sure when they stopped working. Fuse is good, no frays in the wire that run out of the trunk lid to taillights. From what i read it sounds like its time for a new brake pedal switch. If I pull the switch and jump the pins with a piece of wire the lights should turn on correct? That is what I will try in the morning. Hope not to break any clips when removing the panel. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Pete

[jmo69]

Is your OBC showing a failure? When my switch failed it showed a message but the lights still worked.

[PeterC]

I don't have an OBC on my car.

Pulled the connector off the switch jumped the the 2 pins lights came on. Bad switch.

[e36alpineM3]

Check trunk wiring harness, I was having issues of the lights turning on and off. The cables were all cracked and some not even connected anymore.! Its were the harness folds right before going into the truck. Check out some more threads, on friends computer or would show pics on phone.

[vickzip]

I don't have an OBC on my car.

Pulled the connector off the switch jumped the the 2 pins lights came on. Bad switch.

I had the same problem, I removed the switch, disassembled it, cleaned the contacts and now it's working again, that switch is a simple mechanism that works with 2 pieces of copper and a couple of springs.

If you want, try what I did before replacing it.

[PeterC]

It was a bad switch, replaced the switch which was a PITA to remove. Back to working order. Thanks for all the help.