Brake Lights stopped working

[Arsen_Design]

hey all,

i didnt drive my car for about 3 weeks, last time i drove it the break lights didnt work straight away, but after about 3 - 5 minutes of car running they started to work.

now i just started the car and basically the brake lights dont work at all. had the car running for about 20 min, still no brake lights.
all other lights work fine.

any ideas on the issue?
cheers,
mike

[Brianmoooore]

Brake light switch is near the top of the brake pedal. Remove the under dash panel, and check that the plunger isn't sticking when the pedal is pressed.
Four cylinder or six cylinder car?

[Arsen_Design]

its 6 cylinder (325i)
thanks.

[Brianmoooore]

In that case, you should have a 'check' panel in the roof. Do you know for certain that the lights aren't working, or is it just that the brake LED doesn't extinguish when you push the pedal?

[Arsen_Design]

the light on the obc shows that brake lights dont work and the lights ACTUALLY dont work.

[Brianmoooore]

the light on the obc shows that brake lights dont work and the lights ACTUALLY dont work.

Then check switch, as in my first post. Pull the plug off of the switch, and link together both terminals in the plug with a bit of wire when the ignition is on, which should turn the brake lights on.
Check that the brake pedal can't be moved upwards much when at rest. Over time, the linkages and bell cranks on the mechanism that connects the pedal to the servo push rod behind the glovebox wear very slightly, and the pedal drops, damaging the brake light switch.
The pull rod that goes across the car is adjustable to compensate for this.

[Arsen_Design]

thank you i will check that tomorrow.

m.

[Arsen_Design]

Thanks Brian - that worked!