Ford: No Brake Lights, and hard to shift out of park...., 1999 mercury cougar, brake light switch

Question
I drive a 1999 Mercury Cougar, and my brake lights stopped working and at the same time, it became hard to shift out of park. I could do it but would have to pull relatively hard. I had it checkout at a shop and they pulled some wiring and told me it wans't working. They tried to find a replacement part, but Ford no longer makes anything like that. I don't know what part to look for at a junk yard or what else I could do.

Answer
I will look into this further tomorrow, but it sounds like you have a problem with the brake pedal linkage and or the brake switch.  take a look under the dash up the pedal as you operate the brake pedal and be sure that nothing is interfering with pedal operation.Most likely cause is the brake light switch which sends a signal to unlock the shifter.

Again, I will review this tomorrow morning before i condemn any parts.

OK... Check fuses # 24, 28 and 32 under instrument panel. A test light is best way to check. I suspect one of these fuses or the brake lamp switch located under instrument panel above brake pedal.