I'm seriously fucking mystified, Veeky Forums. I have a 97 Camaro that's been a bit of a project for awhile...

I'm seriously fucking mystified, Veeky Forums. I have a 97 Camaro that's been a bit of a project for awhile, I just barely got the brake lights working and have noticed a massive fucking problem with them. Mostly the fact that they work backwards. As in when I am not touching the pedal they turn on, and when I press the pedal they shut off. I figured out why this is happening, it's actually the brake pedal switch for the lights. Here's where things get really fucky; the switch is mounted in front of the pedal, towards the driver, meaning that when you press on the pedal it should let the plunger out and turn the brake lights on, and when you let off the brake pedal it should depress the plunger and turn them off. The way the contacts are set up within the switch (which I have bought several of from different retailers, including a fucking official AC Delco switch) seem to be set up to be closed when the plunger is depressed and open when the plunger is out. Literally what the fuck. Am I retarded? Is this entire series of switches engineered incorrectly? Pls help.

Pic related is the switch

This is what the contacts on the inside look like with the plunger out, e.g. the brake pedal pushed down. The bottom two contacts which are for the brake lights are open meaning no power to them, the top contact is for the third brake light which actually works entirely as it should.

you could have installed the lights upside down

if not an easy fix would be to take the light fixtures out and wire them oppositely

It's called a normally open and normally closed switch, learn the difference.
Not every witch turns on when you push them, some turn off, wow.
Also, most brake switches are self adjusting, as in when you install them they adjust to where the pedal is, but if you take it off and put it back on it'll be out of adjustment.

And this is with the plunger depressed, which is the state it would be in with the pedal at rest. The fucking contacts are closed so the fucking brake lights are on.

Did you actually read my post, fuckwit? It turns on when you push it and off when you don't, which is the opposite of how a brake pedal switch works.

Upside down meaning what exactly?

So get a new switch?

Your reading comprehension is utterly astonishing. I said bought several new switches and they're the exact same way. Meaning either there's a massive engineering flaw here or I'm missing something.

the lights *should* only fit in one way but it's possible to fit them in "the other" way which would cause them to work opposite of the way they should

i've also experienced lights that were manufactured incorrectly and do the same thing

Probably a bad ground or somebody put the wrong bulbs in your taillights, I would pull all your bulbs and check to see if they are the right part numbers.
I've seen this kind of weird shit happen before from the wrong bulbs being used.

Noted. As far as I can tell the lights are correct (1157s) but the main issue seems to be that the switch functions as a normally open switch rather than a normally closed one, I can still try swapping the bulbs but I don't think that's the issue.

Just verify the part numbers on the bulbs, all the bulb numbers are listed online.

Sounds like the relay has been wired incorrectly. I highly doubt the switch itself is the problem

Are these all from the same supplier? Sometimes fuck ups happen in supply chains. Or they could even be counterfeits flooding the markets atm. Wouldn't be the first time.

Nope, one was a BWD switch, the other was Echlin, and the final one I tried was AC Delco. unless they're all sourcing their parts from the same manufacturer.

I've looked over the wiring diagram and there's no relay anywhere in the brake light wiring. I'll get a picture of the diagram in a minute.

There are three sets of contacts in that switch. With the plunger released, two are open and one is closed.

What do the terminals on the switch look like? Is it possible that you have connected the brake light circuit to the wrong set of contacts?

somebody probably did some jackhole wiring to fool a safety inspection or the cops some shit

The top two terminals are for the third brake light in the spoiler. It's closed with the switch released meaning it's working perfectly. The bottom four are for the main brake lights, and they're the two contacts that are open with the switch out.

The switch has to be pressed in when you install it noob. Look at how the one you have is installed then copy that

Here's the wiring diagram with the relevant wires highlighted in yellow. The yellow and dark green wires near the bottom of the image go to the lights.

I think you could be right, but I've devised a solution, I'm thinking the best solution is to wire the brake lights to run off the power supplied by the third brake light since that works correctly.

The two highlighted wires at the bottom are coming out of your turn/hazard assembly so they have nothing to do with the brake lights you thick-lipped, mouth-breathing moron.

No shit, retard, that contact controls all the brake lights, the other contacts turn off cruise control when you hit the brakes.

Hey nigger, I can see the whole diagram and they fucking do. They route straight to them. On GM vehicles from that era they use one lightbulb for the blinker and brake light, so the brake lights are sent through the turn signal switch so the brake light signal can be interrupted and the light will flash instead.

And I indeed just realized that and I am in fact a fucking retard. Gonna go drink some bleach now desu.

Kek this thread

underrated post.