Brake Light Activator Sticking

[armyofchuckness]

Taking the trash out last night, I was treated to the site of my '64 Valiant's tail light bulbs blaring in the darkness through my now-molten tail light lenses. It would appear that the metal actuator at the top of the brake pedal is sticking. I can pull back on it (with gloves because it was blazing hot) and it pops back and turns off. Every time I press the brakes though, it's stuck on again.

While I'm searching for a new driver's side lens, is there anything I can do to fix this little problem? I was thinking maybe WD-40, but I wanted to ask before I made it worse.

Thanks for your assistance.

 

[Optik]

spray it down with carb cleaner or brake cleaner then get in there with a q-tip and try to wipe out. there's probably 40+ years of crud in there. might also try a little bit of the dielectric grease that you get with a new set of plug wires, might help it slide a little better.
-Tim

 

[armyofchuckness]

Thanks for the advice, Tim. I'll give that a shot. The good news is, if all else fails, I just found a place that has some spares.

 

[Useless]

Ugh, sorry you didn't catch it sooner before your lenses were toast.

I just went thru this a few weeks back myself, had someone yell something that sounded like "Fix your f***in' brake lights!" while I was riding around. Pulled over and sure enough, the lights were stuck on. Turns out my problem was the switch fitting too loose in the hole and it was twisting and missing the brake pedal arm.