Brake Lights

On the Kelowna trip, a 355 following me came close during a quick stop.  It turns out that the brake lights on the 308 weren't working.  At the next stop, I pulled off the panel covering the fuses and relays.  After swapping fuses and relays, the brake lights still didn't work.  There wasn't much else I could do until I got home.

After looking at the 308 GT4 service manual (only one for the 308 series of cars), I found that the brake light switch was near the brake arm and was a normal mechanical switch, as opposed to one actuated hydraulically.  Not the easiest place to get to given the low stance of the 308 and the minimal size of the driver's foot area.

But having a lift does help in situation like this, so once the car was in the air a couple of feet, I was able to sit on the door sill, lean down under the dash and see the switch.

I pulled off the wires and put a jumper between them and magically, the brake lights then worked (the key has to be on).  So the brake light switch was the problem.  I removed it and an ohm meter test confirmed a failure.  However, after I had pushed and released the switch it started working.  I guess that the full stroke press and releases knocked off some corrosion.  I'll order a new one the next time I need a Ferrari part, so I'll have a replacement when this one fails again.

Adjusting the switch was a pain.  You can't use the Ferrari wiring as you have to rotate the switch to adjust the on/off point and the wires get twisted up.  I ended up using a couple of thin jumper wires to the ohm meter.  The jumper wires were flexible and long enough to just twist up without a problem as I found the correct adjustment.  Once that was done, I reconnected the Ferrari wires and double checked that the brake lights went on and off correctly. The other thing I noticed when I was shoe-horned under the dash was a loose wire by a relay style box.  There was a empty spade lug, so I connected the loose wire on it.  Then, the key and seat belt buzzer started working as the relay box was actually the buzzer.  Since I always use a seat belt and making sure that the key is off when the car is parked in the garage, I'm going to leave the buzzer connected.

Hopefully the switch will continue to work for a while, or at least until I get a new one to replace it.