[Ben]: | A penny saved ... | Discuss This [0 comments so far] View Comments | Needless to say, driving without brake-lights is less than safe, to say nothing of illegal. Recently I found that brake-lights just weren't coming on in my Cougar. If I turned the headlights on, the rear running lights would come on just fine, but no brake lights.
Okay ... so what's first? I called up a mechanic and asked what it would cost to fix it. They guessed $75-$80, which seemed a little high but probably what I could expect most folks to charge for it. More than I wanted to pay. After work I ran over to AutoZone and asked what it would cost for a new switch. It was five bucks.
I took the switch home and figured out how to install it, but the next day the lights weren't working again. Thursday night I crawled back under the dash and noticed that one of the wires that run to the switch had burned out (which was probably the cause of the problem in the first place). Jury-rigging replacement wires isn't hard, so I replaced a segment of wire and got things packed back up. Works perfectly.
Sweet. $70-$75 I don't have to spend on keeping the car going.
Let's hope it keeps working.
-- Addendum: Friday morning.
Brake lights are beautiful. |
| 2007-10-19 Permanent Link: A penny saved ... |