howdy, got a 71 duster i just completed the disc brake swap on. i installed a new master cylinder along with all new lines. the car stops awesome, but my brake lights remain on even when the car is turned off. the pedal itself is high up, but there seems to be a little "slop" and the pedal is engaging the brake light switch when its not supposed to. ive read/heard about adjusting the length of the pushrod that goes into the master or adjusting the level of the brake switch itself. which one of these is better/more effective at solving my problem?

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"I don't like these seatbelts, they're too complicated." - my lovely girlfriend in reference to my 71 duster seatbelts

I'm pretty sure you can adjust the brake light switch some; if it's so far out of wack you can't adjust it you probably have a wrong part somewhere.

Depends on how much adjustment you need... if its only a hair or two you can probably bend the bracket back a bit. Or if your switch has a lengh of thread on it, you can undo the nut and pull it out of the bracket, put some washers underneath to space it furhter back, then reinstall.

Did you install the little rubber gromet that holds the rod in the master cylinder? The rod may of not fully went forward and engaged in the gromet - apply firm, increasing pressure to the pedal and see if it snaps into place.

Bending the bracket isn't the correct fix and isn't wise. If the brake arm reaches the top of its travel without contacting the brake lamp switch, then either the pedal arm isn't coming up high enough, or the switch is not adjusted correctly. There is a fair amount of adjustment built into the early and late switch brackets. You loosen the attaching bolt, move the switch and bracket assembly towards the brake pedal arm so that the switch is activated but not bottomed-out by the arm, then tighten the bolt. The heavy-duty switch has a threaded shank; this can be adjusted as described above, by means of the retainer nuts.

The usual reason for this kind of problem is that the switch got mashed by the brake pedal arm while you were in the process of changing the master cylinder...such as for instance when you yanked the pedal upward to disengage the pushrod from the old master cylinder. Sometimes this pushes the brake lamp switch out of position, causing it to remain on all the time. Sometimes it breaks the brake lamp switch, causing it to remain on all the time. Remember, the brake pedal arm doesn't "engage the switch" to turn the brake lamps on when you depress the brake. Rather, the brake pedal arm moves away from the switch, which is spring-loaded into the "on" position just like the light switch on your refrigerator's door frame. The brake pedal arm turns the brake lamps off by coming in contact with the switch at the top of the arm's travel.

When you say the pedal is "high up", is it noticeably higher than before?

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yes, the pedal seems better then it was before. that can be attributed to the condition of the old brakes though i think... i did notice that my switch does have threads left for adjustment. ill give it a try and see how she goes... when i installed the master i did not have to pull the pushrod out at all, it fell out easily by itself. when i installed the new master the pushrod was lined up in the hole where it goes and it seated fine because i loosened up the master to double check it and the pushrod was right where it should be and would not easily pop out. other then this slight problem, everything works great. ill try adjusting the switch and let you guys know. thanks for the help!

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"I don't like these seatbelts, they're too complicated." - my lovely girlfriend in reference to my 71 duster seatbelts