How to test brake light switch on 210

[welland99]

Hello all,

Various things wrong with the 210 today. First of all got the ABS and ESP warnings while driving along. This is not unheard of as i do occasionally get them. It usually goes away when the car is restarted, but not today.

Then after restarting, I noticed these warnings had not cleared. Then, i couldn't get the gear lever out of PARK. (I did move it after sticking a pen in the hole )

Then I noticed that the brake lights don't work (but no warning on the dash about it. )

Do you agree that the brake light switch could be faulty?

I've got the old switch off, but now I can't see how to test it. There were two plugs, each with three wires. (ie 6 terminals altogether).

Is it possible to test this with a multimeter?

Any rapid responses this evening would be much appreciated.

PS, It's a facelifted 210 estate, 1999, E280.

 

[Howard]

They are about £15 from the dealer , take your VIN

Worth changing as a first port of call.

 

[welland99]

Been doing some continuity testing. There are two sides: A and B, each with three connections: 1, 2 & 3.

The first reading is when the plunger is not pressed / the second reading is when the plunger is pushed in.

Side A:
pins 1-2: 1/0
pins 1-3: 1/1
pins 2-3: 0/1

Side B:
pins 1-2: 0/1
pins 1-3: 0/1
pins 2-3: 0/0

Anybody know what this means?

 

[Auto-mobile]

Start the car with your foot on the brake, no lights..... Release foot brake if you now have warning lights your switch is faulty.

No need for all this unnecessary testing.

 

[welland99]

Start the car with your foot on the brake, no lights..... Release foot brake if you now have warning lights your switch is faulty.

No need for all this unnecessary testing.

thanks for your reply. Erm could you please run this by me again, please?

press then brake before turning the key
when the engine has started remove foot from brake pedal
now what?

 

[welland99]

Bought a new switch from the main dealer today (only £12.71 :bannana.

Fitted it this evening and confused by what has happened since.

Straight away after fitting the new switch, the brake lights worked and the gear lever was not stuck in PARK . But, the ASB and ESP errors kept getting displayed on the dash. I stopped and started the car about 4 times and it was the same every time. So i went for a drive!

About 50 m from home, i decided to press the ESP button and this stopped the errors.

I have since swapped the old switch back into service and the errors have stayed away.

So, everythin seems to work fine now, but i'm not convinced that it was helped by the new switch.

 

[DennisTheMenace]

ESP needs to recalibrate and see wheel movement from the wheel sensors and steering column, sometimes you just go lock to lock to clear the esp light.

If the old switch was the issue why refit it?

 

[Auto-mobile]

Get your fault codes read, you will have brake light switch fault and other fault codes for the warning lights, brake lights/park lock have been cured by the switch but if there are still warnings there is an underlying issue.