Chrysler Repair: Brake lights dont work on 2000 Neon, push button switch, dodge neon

Question
Hi Roland,
I have a 2000 Dodge Neon. The brake lights including the brake light in the trunk lid all stopped functioning at the same time. I checked the bulbs and they look fine. I checked the in dask fuses and they all look fine too. What do you recomend?

Thanks for your help Dan Pulford

Answer
Hi Dan,
I don't have wiring diagrams for the Neon but I can give you a couple of suggestions. There may be two locations of fuses in the car: one under the dash and one in the engine compartment in a box near the battery. Besides looking for frankly blown fuses, if the fuses are labelled for purpose (lighting, brake, etc.) I would look more carefully at any such fuse to see if there might be a subtle break in the inner wire that is a failure as much as full blow out. Then if you had a voltmeter of a simple 12V neon (no pun intended) test bulb you could ground one end to a shiney metal body surface nearby to the fuse box and verify with the other lead that when one side of a fuse shows 12v that the other side does also which is the functional way to verify that a fuse is good.
Finally I would go to the lever arm of the brake pedal where you will find a spring loaded push button switch which closes the circuit from the fuse to the brake lights. Check to see if there is 12V on at least one (and if there are more than two wires than at least two of four) of the wires has 12v on it when the ignition is in the run position. If so then push on the brake pedal and verify that 12v then appears on all other wires that previously showed no voltage. That would prove that the switch is doing its job. If no voltage is at the switch, then there is a problem with the supply of current from the brake system fuse.
Roland