• Welcome to the Contour Enthusiasts Group, the best resource for the Ford Contour and Mercury Mystique.

    You can register to join the community.

96 Contour (No brakelights) only 3rd works

T

TurboPage

New CEG'er
Joined
Sep 29, 2005
Messages
9
Location
Modesto CA
Ive got a 96 Contour GL

Everything works but the brake lights, the 3rd brakelight is the only one that works..
Both bulbs are both good..

turn signals (work)

hazzard lights (work)

running lights (work)

3rd brakelight (works)

I've got a solid ground.

I tested for power off the brakeswitch and that works fine, I took the brake switch off the mount so it would just hang and keep the brake light on so that I could search around under the dash with my test light..

Just off of the brake switch there are 2 wires
orange with a yellow stripe = (3rd brakelight)
Orange with a white stripe = (L/R Brakelights)

Those lead into a connector that has an additional white, brown and green wires as well as the 2 orange wires listed above..

so I seperated that connector and inspected that.. those were good..
So I plugged the connector back in and tested just after the connector and thats good.. then it goes above some metal and dissappears and its not accessable.. Then I found the same color of wires on the door sill leading to the back and tested it there..no power.. So at least I know its under the dash..

Its totally not accessable...

I was reading the wiring schematic and its pretty simple. Its a full time hot (15 amp) fused.. Fuse is good.. brakeswitch is good..

The stock brake switch worked fine, the new aftermarket one was defective..
Once it was pushed in, it stayed that way. so the 3rd brakelight would stay on full time..

FYI; Stay away from Neihoff brand brake switches for the 96 and whatever else is the same.. Stick with the OEN stuff..

I bought one (Neihoff) just to try it and the second I pressed in the switch, it stuck in the upright there.. I asked for another one, that one got stuck as well.. So 4 of those later (all stuck) I gave up.. When it was hooked up, it kept the brake lights on full time no matter what.. (or in my case, just the 3rd)

So I swapped back to stock..

I've joined a few forums, searched the internet and nobody knows whats what.. I've seen that there has been quite a few people with this problems on other sites, I followed the posts and they either got it fixed and didnt post after that or they rigged it off the 3rd and added a whole new socket and did it that way..

So for now Im considering the easy way out to just wire up a relay off the 3rd brake light to a set of LED strips that I'll mount somewhere under or inside the taillight..

Unless anyone can shed some light on this subject..
Im in the dark (literally) :)

Thanks for reading my Novel of a post..
 
Last edited:
TurboPage said:
Ive got a 96 Contour GL

Everything works but the brake lights, the 3rd brakelight is the only one that works..
Both bulbs are both good..

turn signals (work)

hazzard lights (work)

running lights (work)

3rd brakelight (works)

I've got a solid ground.

I tested for power off the brakeswitch and that works fine, I took the brake switch off the mount so it would just hang and keep the brake light on so that I could search around under the dash with my test light..

Just off of the brake switch there are 2 wires
orange with a yellow stripe = (3rd brakelight)
Orange with a white stripe = (L/R Brakelights)

Those lead into a connector that has an additional white, brown and green wires as well as the 2 orange wires listed above..

so I seperated that connector and inspected that.. those were good..
So I plugged the connector back in and tested just after the connector and thats good.. then it goes above some metal and dissappears and its not accessable.. Then I found the same color of wires on the door sill leading to the back and tested it there..no power.. So at least I know its under the dash..

Its totally not accessable...

I was reading the wiring schematic and its pretty simple. Its a full time hot (15 amp) fused.. Fuse is good.. brakeswitch is good..

The stock brake switch worked fine, the new aftermarket one was defective..
Once it was pushed in, it stayed that way. so the 3rd brakelight would stay on full time..

FYI; Stay away from Neihoff brand brake switches for the 96 and whatever else is the same.. Stick with the OEN stuff..

I bought one (Neihoff) just to try it and the second I pressed in the switch, it stuck in the upright there.. I asked for another one, that one got stuck as well.. So 4 of those later (all stuck) I gave up.. When it was hooked up, it kept the brake lights on full time no matter what.. (or in my case, just the 3rd)

So I swapped back to stock..

I've joined a few forums, searched the internet and nobody knows whats what.. I've seen that there has been quite a few people with this problems on other sites, I followed the posts and they either got it fixed and didnt post after that or they rigged it off the 3rd and added a whole new socket and did it that way..

So for now Im considering the easy way out to just wire up a relay off the 3rd brake light to a set of LED strips that I'll mount somewhere under or inside the taillight..

Unless anyone can shed some light on this subject..
Im in the dark (literally) :)

Thanks for reading my Novel of a post..
Click to expand...

Check out your turn signal switch. It may not be the prlblem, but the brake light signal usually goes through the turn signal switch on most cars.

If the 3rd brake light lights up when pushing on the prake pedal, it will not be a brake light switch problem.
 
Multi Function Switch (MFS)
http://www.autozone.com/servlet/UiB..._us/0900823d/80/1b/d6/05/0900823d801bd605.jsp

From Ford CD
1. Disconnect battery ground cable
2. Remove two screws and upper steering column shroud
3. Depress the multi-function switch locking tab.
4. Slide multi-function switch up and off of steering column.
5. Depress locking tabs on multi-function switch electrical connectors and remove from the multi-function switch.
 
Some additional insight. I also discovered that I had no brake lights except for the 3rd brake light. Wondering if I may have disturbed something when I installed my new steering wheel, I went back into the turn signal (multi function) switch area. I had moved the switch out of the way without disconnecting the wires while changing the steering wheel.

The brake light came back from moving the switch around. On closer inspection, I found a lightly corroded pin. It was the middle pin on the smaller connector. I gently cleaned it with a pocket knife and also gently bent in the female part it mates to on the wiring connector side and brake lights are fine again. I suspect that there was a slightly loose connceting that allowed corrosion to build up from light arcing. It may have been enough to have just unseated and reseated the connector a few times to clean it up.

So, the brake lights are routed through the turn signal switch so that is a correct common point to trouble shoot, and, as always, it may just be a bad connection.
 
Thats great news!

I notived from all the untreated metal lots of surface rust on everything, so that sounds like something definatly worth looking at...

I wonder if this should be a sticky for future refference?
 
I can see the light!

I can see the light!

Its been a while sence I've been on here and I just got to this..

I've been in and out of the hospital from being rear ended car in my pickup..

Anywho, I just got done fixing the problem, BIG JIM, just as you said, middle pin on the smaller connector.. The harness connector was corroded and seperated a little bit..

I cleaned the MPS's pin with a q-tip and some alcahol then I used some electrical connector spray (like brake cleaner) and took care of the corrosion within the harness..

I also offset the MPS's middle pin to keep a little tension on it as well as bending the pins back into place..

Excellent fix and I truely think this should be a FAQ of some sort..
Thanks to all who lent a hand in helping me to solve this problem..
Those diagrams helped out a bunch Tony2005

I'm happy it wasn't expensive..
Thanks again guys! :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top