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MG MGF Technical - Flickering rear brake(?) lights

Was at a set of lights when a car pulled up next to me and the driver pointed out that my rear lights were flickereing on and off intermittently. I presume he meant the brake lights. To avoid going to Rover and being presented with a bill of £250 for 10 mins work, does anyone have any ideas - and more importantly whether I can fix the problem myself easily enough?
Dimo

Did it ever occur to you to have someone walk to the back of your car and determine which lights were flickering before posting?
Easily Confused

Now isn't Mr/Mrs/Ms Easily Confused a 'nice' person.

Dimo

It could be the switch at the brake pedal - check out the FAQ and archives as this is a very common problem.

Ted
Ted

It does sound a bit like the switch Ted....
tim woolcott

I agree guys - the brake switch. It is on a ratchet on early Fs - and as such is meant to be self adjusting. Trouble is it can self adjust too far.

The FAQ does contain info on correcting the problem: basically the switch is mounted vertically below the brake pedal. Remove, and then yank the plunger upward. Replace and apply the brake, and the switch will adjust to the correct position, and problem solved.

Good luck Dimo!

BTW, if you have a digi camera, could you take some pix whilst you do it for me? ;o) Cheers!
Rob Bell

'Easily Confused' you are very easily confused. How is someone standing behind a stationary car going to reproduce the effect? You f*** idiot. OK, so someone could drive behind in their car - just as long as it isn't you.
Dimo

It alright Dimo 'EC' lives in the past and thinks we still have guy with a red flag walk in front of the car - so why not have a chap walk behind it as well.

Ted
Ted Newman

Why would it matter if the car was moving? Can one not turn the headlights on and off and apply the brakes on and off in a stationary vehicle to possibly narrow the problem down? You have all jumped to a conclusion without adequate data to support that conclusion. I was trying to get people to think and supply as much information as they could when asking for help, not just say such things as "my car won't start, what shall I ever do?"
e.c.

EC

I am not sure if you are an *F/TF* owner or have been around these boards for a while.

However the 'flickering' rear lights problem is well known and it only occurs when the vehicle is moving so we assumed (rightly or wrongly) that is was the over-adjusted switch problem.

You can also get more information from a person by asking a simple question, it is not required to treat them as though they are idiots - and of course the same goes for suggestions to narrow down a fault.

Ted
Ted Newman

Pulling the ratchet out did not cure my brake light problem as there was still 3-4mm gap left.
This was cured by gluing some rubber to the top of the plunger.

darce

I had this problem once upon a time.
I went to Trident's in Ottershaw, they had fixed the problem before I had finished explaining what was wrong....no trouble since!!
cost....£0!!!!!!
Brilliant!

Neil

This thread was discussed on 21/11/2002

MG MGF Technical index

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