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MG MG Y Type - Stop Light Switch

In "Hints & Tips", we can read that "The brake light switch fitted to Y Types is located in the Pedal Box. It operates by having a spring connected to the brake pedal, which when depressed completes a circuit and lights up the brake lights."

Is this switch adjustable so one can make it operate sooner? Or, if it is not adjustable, can the same result be achieved by shortening this spring?

Thank you.
Gilles Bachand

Gilles

Is your problem that the lights arent coming on at all? You can check this by shorting out the terminals on the switch. If they come on then, at least the circuit is working. It may well be that the terminals on the inside of the switch are just covered in crud and a good clean will cure the problem. If not, then No, shortening the spring wont help ... unless you have the wrong spring in there!

If your switch is shot, then the easiest way is to just fit one of the hydraulic conversion units that are available from the MG Car Club Y Type Register Regalia page - they fit right into the system and are easy to do.

Paul
Paul Barrow

I have the hydraulic conversion. The good news is that after about 3 years it still works unlike the prior NAPA hydraulic switches which lasted 3-6 months. If I read Giles comment corectly his problem is that just touching the brake pedal with gentle pressure the brake lights don't operate. I have the same problem with the hydraulic switch. If I stomp on the brake pedal all is well. But I have good brakes and I normally dont need to do that. Terry
Terry O'Brien

Yes, it's as Terry says. The pedal has to go to the end of its travel before the light switches on. I would like it to light up when I just lightly tap on the pedal, like when I want those too frequent tailgaiters to ****-off. (If you are younger than 14 years old, please replace these asterisks by the word «back» or «buzz». Thank you and have a nice day.)
Gilles Bachand

You need to fit one of those modern brake light switches where the stop buts against the brake pedal when its not being used but opens when you move the pedal away (hence use the bottom of the Y brake pedal). I have mounted one in my YB - as soon as I touch the pedal the brakes light up. I also have a hydraulic switch wired in just in case! If I think on will take a photo - its mounted in the round pedal cover [which is held by 3 bolts to the chassis rail]. You can get the switches quite inexpensively on ebay (put in brake light switch)- they were fitted to all sorts of post 1970s cars.
D MULLEN

Hi Dave,
I think many of us would be interested to see a photo of the switch and how/where it is located. How/where did you link the wiring into the loom? Thank you.
Keith D Herkes

Great suggestion Dave!

I think such a switch can also be made out of a home alarm window switch which can be very small and have no apparent moving part to snag underfoot during operation. See here: http://www.save-on-security.com/product-details-DCS-1621WG-Normally-Open-Surface-DoorWindow-Contacts-63-201.html

The switch box is screwed down on the floor near the brake pedal stop and the magnet is affixed to the brake pedal arm.

It has to be of the "normally open" type, meaning that as long as the magnet is near the switch box, no electricity is passing through the switch.

When the brake pedal arm moves away from the switch box, the contact closes, allowing electricity to flow in the circuit.

I guess that there is no escaping the fact that the wires have to join the original mechanical switch wires within the Pedal Box.
Gilles Bachand

Attached hopefully are photos of the brake light switch - it is put through a small hole in the cover held by the three bolts and has a plastic nut on the inside to secure it (this is important to hold it steady). The switch is operated by the button which abuts against the pedal.

D MULLEN

Here's another photo..

D MULLEN

and another....

D MULLEN

Many thanks for those revealing pictures, Dave! They allowed me to discover that I do not have that "round pedal cover [which is held by 3 bolts to the chassis rail]". I'll have to make one.

And I just found such a plunger-type switch in my garage, so I'm all set for a bit of tinkering this winter.
Gilles Bachand

If you do make up the pedal cover [that's held by the 3 bolts] make sure it has a drain hole in it or it will fill with water...and also there is a rubber pad that covers the pedal box and fits under the floorboard in case you were not aware of it - NTG sell them. Another thing is that with the plastic brake light switch its easy to damage the thread the nut fits on.
D MULLEN

I have made a mold up here for these pedal bar extention covers and am thinking about reproducing them in fiber glass (it is too complex a shape to consider a stamping in steel, plus tooling would be too expensive). If there is sufficient interest from others out there where these have gone missing over the years I will make them commercially available so let me know if you want one. Many of these, being metal, have rotted away over the years or been thrown away on rebuilds.

Paul
Paul Barrow

This thread was discussed between 29/11/2009 and 03/12/2009

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