Repaired Parking Brake Light Switch

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Martin Hash
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Joined: Wed Jan 20, 2010 2:02 pm

Repaired Parking Brake Light Switch

Post by Martin Hash » Mon Oct 18, 2021 1:47 pm

These things are super rare, especially working. I found one on ebay for an outrageous price but it said "bench tested" so I bit the bullet and paid. When it came, I could plainly tell it was seized up, the plunger stuck in the barrel, and the electrical connector almost busted off. I sprayed some WD40 on it to see if I could get it to move but all that happened was the connector came all the way off. I put it back in the box and returned it to the seller who assured me he would replace it. About a week later I inquired and he said he sent it back. I thought he meant another one but when the package arrived, it had a note saying he didn't take back broken parts, and accused me of doing it. It dawned on me that ALL of his switches were seized (very common fail) and he didn't have a working one to replace it with so he lied. I gave him a bad Seller Rating on ebay and wrote what happened. He then doubled-down. After considering the situation, I thought what the hell, I'll fix it myself. So I pressed out the plunger, scraped out the resin in the barrel, machined a new end-cap, pop-riveted on the armature tighter, sanded out the chase, sanded the plunger, and reassembled the whole thing with glue. Even a Corvette expert wouldn't know this thing's rebuilt.

Parking Brake Light Switch.jpg
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