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MG MGF Technical - brake lights

My car is a 97vvc and after going for drive today I noticed when I got home that none of my rear brake lights are working (now I think of it there were some random light flashing and beeping), including high level boot. I have checked the fuse under bonnet which is fine and probably could have found out by pressing horn which is I believe the same fuse. The bulbs are visibly OK, by which I mean the filament looks fine. What am I missing? Probably not connected but when fiddling around with the rear cluster the tail light bulb is prone to flickering on and off as though connection on the circuit board is poor.

Can anyone help with ideas of how to fix.

Thanks
tim

First thing to check with any electrical fault is the wiring loom on the nearside boot hinge. Due to the constant opening and closing of the boot the odd wire tends to break and this flings up some strange problems. Peel back the outer tape and inspect each wire for damage. It's sods law but the break is usually near the join with the main loom and the most difficult place to repair - just splice a new piece of wire in. Also leave the bottom clip that hold the loom to the boot lid off and this will give the wires more room to move about.
David Clelland

If none of the brake lights are working then the switch on the pedal mechanism may have failed. It twists & releases fairly easily, and a continuity check across the terminals while operating the plunger will confirm whether it's working.
bandit

When there's a problem with the pedal switch the brake lights tend to stay on.
David Clelland

Agreed that's the most common failure, but the wiring to the rear light clusters isn't in the flexing section so if none are working I'd suspect the fault is further back in the circuit, which leaves only the switch or its power supply.
bandit

Not sure about the F but as well as the under bonnet fuse box the TF has an internal fuse box on the driver's side accessed via a drop down lid containing about 26 fuses - the brake light fuse also covers the reversing lights. Maybe worth checking.
John Hebb

look up the circuts at
http://www.mgfcar.de/schedules/sb28.jpg
15Amp

btw, the trouble almost is caused by broken wires at the harness curve on the left boot hinge.
Dieter

This thread was discussed between 14/02/2009 and 21/02/2009

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