Oops!...

[moveoverGM]

I was doing some maintenance up under the panel on the drivers side and accidentally got some WD-40 into the stop light plunger button that is activated by the brake pedal. The stop lights now no longer work...:-(
If I buy some plastic friendly contact cleaner and spray the inside of the button, what are the chances that the lights will come back to life? If not can the button be had at my LPS or will I have to order it? Live and learn I guess....

 

[cbaker65]

I was doing some maintenance up under the panel on the drivers side and accidentally got some WD-40 into the stop light plunger button that is activated by the brake pedal. The stop lights now no longer work...:-(
If I buy some plastic friendly contact cleaner and spray the inside of the button, what are the chances that the lights will come back to life? If not can the button be had at my LPS or will I have to order it? Live and learn I guess....

That's weird ,Ive never heard of wd-40 destroying a switch!
It must of corroded the contacts with dirt.
Hit again with wd!....

 

[polarbear]

PB Blaster.

 

[Lorddurock]

contact cleaner should work, used clean sticky pots on guitars and amps with the crc stuff.

 

[smokey]

The crc stuff is what I use on my pots and switches.

 

[Beach66Bum]

The spraying with the WD-40 must have dislodged some debris. It is used a lot on electrical systems to clean and displace moisture, so it is not harmful to the electrical components. Re spray and wipe the excess off, you should be good.

 

[Jasperrc]

I've had good luck with the CRC stuff and I've also used CorrosionX with good results.

 

[Ozzie]

I agree with the others that it seems strange that the WD-40 would kill the switch. After trying to bring it back to life, if there are no lights, verify that the switch is actually the problem and go buy a replacement. Most places sell it for under $10.

 

[moveoverGM]

Thank you all for the timely suggestions. Will try to get it working tomorrow

 

[moveoverGM]

Update: Performed a little test and discovered that the brake light switch is ok. But after having done some homework on line I have found that many other Ford truck owners have had similar problems. The good thing is that there is a lot of information that I can draw from to try to troubleshoot this thing. Bad thing is that it seems that things like this pop up a lot with Fords and it may be a deeper issue than I had originally thought. Now that I know that the plunger switch is good I will move on to the fuse box and check the connections there, grounding etc. Then I will check the hazard flasher, turn signal switch, etc, etc... you get the picture.

 

[moveoverGM]

Took my truck to a local guy I trust. He and another mechanic that works for him worked on it for about an hour then discovered that it was a bad connection at the fuse. Problem solved!

 

[smokey]

Great it's fixed. Those simple things can be a bear to find.