ok, so on my 74 swinger, I've got the round gauge on the dash that houses the oil pressure light, and the 'brakes' light.

The oil light works fine, but the brakes light doesn't. I thought the bulb was burned out, but took it out, only to discover the bulb is fine.

what else could it be? I'll futz with the plastic housing for the bulb - maybe something's not making contact, but nothing's broken; the ears of the socket cup are fine.

According to the manual, this light should go on when the ignition is in the "on" position. But so far, I haven't been able to get it to light. I've tried putting the emergency brake on - but I thought the "brakes" dashlight was something to do with the disc brake system, not the e-brake.

I have only known that light to go "on" when my foot goes to the floor and the brakes aren't working.

The "Brake" light is a combination parking brake and brake system failure warning light. It should be on if the ignition's on and the parking brake is applied, OR if the ignition's on and there's a fault in the brake hydraulic system (as for instance if one half of the master cylinder dies).

How did you check the bulb? Those mini glass wedge bulbs are notorious for looking fine on visual inspection, but actually being dead. Did you apply 12v to it and verify it lights up?

Next thing to check, as you guessed, is the bulb socket and the copper tracks on the circuit board where the socket gets its power and ground. Use a pencil eraser to clean up the contact tangs on the socket, and gently bend them upward to make firmer contact with the copper tracks on the board. Clean the copper tracks and make sure they're not scratched/gouged out by the bulb socket.

Beyond that, check the parking brake lamp switch located at the top rear of the parking brake mechanism, and the connection to the brake hydraulic splitter/proportioning valve.

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Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

Hm. I know the oil light is supposed to come on, but I don't knwo about the brake light. I would check to make sure the brake light switch on te e-brake is clean and functioning. I do know hat my 84 Ford van does the same thing as your Swinger, but it is due to the e-brake switch.

Thanks guys. I'll give everything a try. cleaning the copper tracks on the back of the board would necessitate taking the dashboard unit out - something I've thus far been able to avoid. Actually, I've impressed myself that I've been able to remove the bulbs from the back of the board, considering the hand room is still rather cramped, compared to my 60 valiant which is nigh to impossible.

Regarding taking out the whole unit - how do I remove the speedo cable easily? I can feel something like a plastic connector surrounding the cable as it enters the back of the unit, but beyond that, rgh.

Dan - i took the bulb I removed from the board to a light bulb store to get a replacement. The owner took my bulb, used an ohmmeter (or whatever the gizmo he used is called) and tested that there was continuity between the two contacts on the small glass bulb. He seemed to know exactly what he was doing. But no, we did not actually light the bulb. He also tested the small bulb that lights the "fasten seat belt" light on my dash and also verified it was good, meaning that something's up with the wiring and that socket as well - or the interlock feature has been disabled and it's not working.

I have checked the switch on the e-brake. Seems to be clean and functioning correctly, but obviously since the light is not working, who knows.

replaced the bulb. that wasn't it. did what you said about bending the ears on the cup slightly, but didn't seem to help. the original bulb was actually ok. I thought it might be a fuse, but couldn't see any of them blown - plus it doesn't sound right for the oil light to work, but the one right next to it, not to work. So figured that wasn't it.

before I go to the trouble of removing the dash unit completely, where's the connection to the brake hydraulic splitter/proportioning valve located? in the engine compartment? or behind the dash?

Also - something weird. There is a red wire, with a label called Turn On ACC+ which is strung kind of sloppily over the steering shaft and wrapped around the end of fuse #3, pushed into it's socket. What could this be? I can't see where it's running. I'm going to look in my manual to get a diagnostic of what fuse controls what part.

Does it have an aftermarket stereo? Sounds like the previous owner got a little lazy with the wiring...

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actually it has something to do with the ac clutch/compressor. read about it in the manual. i don't know why the wire is like it is though.

The proportioning valve is located on the drivers side frame rail, just below the firewall. At least thats where it is for my 71 - follow the lines coming out the master cylinder that should lead you right to it. The wire is like a press fit over the stud coming out of the sensor.

Thing is though you should be able to get that bulb to fire pulling the ebrake handle - if this doesn't work then the connection from the circuit board to the harness may be flaky. There are bullet pins that come out of the circuit board, may of snapped off the board.

If you can reach the brake llight you can reach the oil light - swap the sockets with the oil light since that is working to test.

The speedo cable has a plastic housing where it fits into the dash, this has a clip you have to press in then pull the cable out. Can be a little bugger to get out, esp seeing as the cable is relatively stiff.