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RE: Stop Light Blues

To: "Randall Antosiak" <randya@pacbell.net>
Subject: RE: Stop Light Blues
From: niceone@attbi.com
Date: Tue, 28 Jan 2003 21:43:02 +0000
Sounds like a lot of you have switched to silicone brake fluid.  How do you 
like it?  Is the pedal kind of mushy?  Do you have boosters?  Requires a 
complete brake system rebuild and replacement of all lines correct?
--
TIA,
Bill
> Steve - I had exactly this problem.  I'm using silicone fluid in my brake
> system.  After replacing the brake switch a couple of times without success,
> I decided to go to a mechanical switch.  The switch has a "button" on one
> end, and when the button is depressed then the circuit is open.  When the
> button is not depressed, then the circuit is closed.  I mounted the switch
> under the dash so that the button end is in contact with the brake pedal.
> When the pedal is up (not braking) it presses against the switch and opens
> the circuit.  When the pedal is depressed the circuit is closed and the
> brake lights go on.  I purchased the switch from my neighborhood auto parts
> store and the bracket was home made out of some sheet metal.  I've had no
> trouble with this in the last two years.
> - Randy
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-tigers@autox.team.net [mailto:owner-tigers@autox.team.net]On
> Behalf Of ssage@socal.rr.com
> Sent: Tuesday, January 28, 2003 8:55 AM
> To: Tiger Mailing List; Alpine Mailing List
> Subject: Stop Light Blues
> 
> 
> A week or two ago I bragged how I had fixed the Tiger's stop light
> switch by taking it out, banging it on the ground a few times, and
> re-installing it. It did, in fact, work properly for a few days. A
> couple of days ago, though, I realised the switch is again working
> intermittently. (I have figured out a way to get it to temporarily work
> while still installed: Bang on it a bit with a wrench while it's still
> installed! Be careful not to damage any brake lines, though).
> 
> I spoke to a Sunbeam expert who's first question was if I'm using
> silicone fluid and, in fact, I'm using Valvolene Syntech (I don't know
> if it's silicone, but it is synthetic). My friend said this is almost
> for sure the problem and that he's heard from numerous Sunbeamers that
> synthetic brake fluid does not allow the switch to function properly.
> Something about it coating the internal contacts so a circuit can't be
> made. I've since found reference to this on a couple of hot rod web
> sites, and that there are switches that will function using synthetic
> fluid (and those that will not). A suggestion was also made that you can
> fit a mechanical switch under the brake pedal. I visited a couple of
> parts stores and looked at a few mechanical, under the pedal switches,
> but none seemed like they had the right geometry to work in a Tiger or
> Alpine.
> 
> Short of switching back to Girling fluid, has anyone else out there had
> this problem? Is there another switch that will work that will fit the
> thread down there, or has someone found a mechanical stop light switch
> that will go under the pedal without major surgery, or another solution?
> 
> Steve Sage
> 1967 Tiger MK1A

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