[fred93]

I replaced the old stop light switch with a new one and I adjusted it so the stop lights would not stay on when the brake pedal is released. After the owner drove the car a few times he said the the engine died and would not restart.

I had installed a 30 amp circuit breaker previously and he said the ammeter was going to full discharge and then back to zero. It kept doing that so I thought that the cutout points were sticking. After checking the cutout I found that it was working ok, but I found that there was a short in the stop light system. I looked under the car and found that the stop light switch rod had been pulled out too far and the pin actually fell inside of the switch housing, making a short. Then when the brake pedal was released the brake return springs actually bent the brake switch housing --see photos.

After I removed the switch and bent it back to it's original shape I reinstalled it and it still seems like the rod is too short or the whole switch needs to be moved forward. If I press down really hard on the brake pedal it seems like that rod would fall inside of the switch again.

Why would the pin fall into the housing like that?

I guess that I have something adjusted incorrectly?

I bought the switch from Bert's.