2000 mercury cougar - NO BRAKE LIGHTS, WON'T SHIFT into gear

Hi,

My girlfriend has a 2000 Mercury cougar (about 50K miles on it). The car has been working fine and tonight when she went to go to the store, the car wouldn't go into gear (it's an automatic). The shift lever was locked. The car starts fine (and you can bypass the shift level lock with the manual bypass switch on the side of the center console). However, there are no brake lights either. If you press the brake pedal, the car stops fine, but no brake lights are coming on.

I checked the fuse which controls the rear brake lights and it's not blown. I also disconnected the battery and reconnected it in an effort to perhaps clear some ECU or something along those lines. No dice. As far as I can see - without taking out each fuse - none of the fuses are blown.

Does anyone know off hand what could be the problem? I'm planning on checking to see if a brake light bulb is blown, but that seems like a long shot - and I don't see where this would result in the car going into this shift lock mode, or why both brake lights would be out.

If you have any ideas, please let me know. Or feel free to e-mail me directly at ray5961@hotmail.com with ideas. Any suggestions or ideas - or anyone with a shop manual that could look something related up - would be very helpful.

Thank you very much.

Ray

there's a trigger that senses when you press on the brake, and it'll release the shift lock, and apply your brake lights. not sure where exactly it's located, though.

there's a trigger that senses when you press on the brake, and it'll release the shift lock, and apply your brake lights. not sure where exactly it's located, though.

Okay, thanks. I am going to go down here in a minute and check the brake light switch and wiring to make sure it's okay. I checked it real quick last night, but couldn't really get up under there. The wiring looked okay, but now that I think about it, it could just be that the brake light switch is stuck in the closed position. I forgot the car had bit sitting all week - so it may just be a stuck button on the switch. That would explain why no brake lights also :-)

The more I think about this problem, the more it seems mechanical as opposed to something going haywire in the electrical or with a fuse. Seems more like something stuck on the switch now that I think about it. I'll keep the board posted. Thanks again.

Ray

there's a trigger that senses when you press on the brake, and it'll release the shift lock, and apply your brake lights. not sure where exactly it's located, though.

Okay, found the problem. I moved the car out where I could work on it and got up under the dash on the driver's side. There are in fact two switches that control the brake lights and shifter lock. If you look under there, there are two switches that are operated when you depress the brake pedal. They are wired together into one harness, so I'm guessing one is for the brake lights and the other is for the little shift lock system.

Anyway, first I removed the switches (just twist them about 45 or 90 degrees and they come right out) and tested them with a volt/ohm meter. They worked fine and it was clear by their design that it would be rather difficult for them to "stick" in the "brake not depressed" position - the spring that works both plungers on the little switches is quite strong. So it wasn't either of the switches per se.

After confirming the switches were not sticking and nothing was wrong electrically or mechanically with them, I removed the wiring harness lead that ran to them - it's about 12 inches in length and runs between the two switches and the rest of the main wiring harness under there. There's a press in anchor point you have to remove which is a little tricky, but nothing too bad. With a little tugging, it came out no problem.

So I took the wiring harness and switches inside to look them over. At first, the wiring looked a little funny - there was some tape around it that looked like someone might have monkeyed around with it in the past - but after a closer look I could see this was just how the factory did things. They taped up some of the extra wire slack so it would not get caught on something under the dash. Anyway, after checking the wiring, it was clear there were no internal shorts in the wiring.

However, upon closer inspection, I was able to locate the source of the problem: inside the connector that attached to the lower switch there are two metal contact points. These are "springy" and allow the blades of the switch to slide into them and make a contact, thus continuing the electrical circuit. As it turned out, the contact part of the harness (where the little blade slips in) was stuck [sort of sprung] open so it wasn't making a good contact all the time. After taking a very small screw driver and bending those leads back, I was able to get it to where it made a much better contact. This fixed the problem and after replacing everything, the brake lights and shift lock system are now both working like they should again.

Nonetheless, since this is my girlfriend's car, I will probably replace that leg of the wiring harness just to make sure it's okay longer term. Even though I shined up the connectors and put some spring back into the contact leads, I think for whatever that little bit of wiring costs, it will be worth knowing she won't suddenly have a repeat of this problem miles away from home.

Anyway, if anyone else runs into this same situation, perhaps this run down will help. Additionally, the wiring harness section (that connects to the switches) mentioned here had the following part #'s printed on it:

8A21-67-S17-B
XS81-13A612-KAC
E-10929450-000
000048751

I'm not sure which is the exact part # for the harness lead, but I assume the dealer will be able to figure it out :-)

Thanks for the help - the car is back on the road again! :-)

Ray

I was just searching around and found this.. I had the exact problem with my '99 and this is what fixed it!! Thanks!!!!!!!!! This little female connector prong on the brake on/off switch would have taken me hours to find and I fixed it in 5 minutes thank to your post.


Path to solution...
Guy pulled up and told me my brakes were out.. (I had gotten used to pulling the shifter into "Drive")

Procrastinated for 2 months while it sat in the garage

Got into it and did a search on Google for my problem..

Found THIS post.. (only one on Google that I could find!) and read it

Checked the plug.. repositioned the prong (damn thing was "sprung" just like you said)

Brake lights came on and the shifter switch worked!! Gotta Love Forums!!!

You da MAN!!!
-Chris

this post has helped alot, (so I could actually find these blasted swtiches) but I'm not sure what is being refered to in this "the connector that attached to the lower switch there are two metal contact points. These are "springy" and allow the blades of the switch to slide into them and make a contact, thus continuing the electrical circuit."

where are these contact points? i don't see ANYTHING metal on the outside of these switches. I see a plastic arm that springs in and out that the switch gets mounted with but nothing that looks like a "blade" please help me with this biology, I've got it working for now but if it acts up again i'd really like to be able to fix this when it breaks, and not have to take it to the bloody dealer.

where do i get me a boyfriend like that...lol... my car goes on me so often, i almost need to date a mechanic so i don't go broke...lol

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, RAY596. You probably just saved me a ton of time and cussing. :banghead: My daughter has a 99 Cougar that had NO BRAKE LIGHTS and sure enough, exact same problem. Bent the prongs back together for a better contact and they work fine. Gotta love the INTERNET!!!! Thanks again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:)

An alternate solution !!!

My case was somewhat more complicated & I tried the solution. Unfortunately even a new pigtail harness and switches did not work.

I even took it to the dealer and after 2 days of troubleshooting was told the bill would be $4200 to replace the harness and a bulb monitoring module - and there was no guarantee that it would actually work.

I got curious about the module & located it. When I pulled it there was evidence of SEVERE overheating on pin #3 - brake lights. Closer inspection indicated a loose connector, corrosion as the solution above. I made the appropriate adjustment on the female connectors for the module plug, re-assembled, and I now have brake lights. Cost = $0 (less the $90 diagnostic from the dealer).

hello guys, i would like to know where abouts is the bulb monitoring module, guess what i have the same problem with my brake lights, the switch looks ok, so i am goanna take a look at module, but i ha =ve to find first!

sebialx, your Haynes manual should direct you to it, or you could follow some of the wiring from the brake light switch on your brake pedal.

Been a while, so I forget exactly how I found mine. I think I just traced wires.

I wanna thank you for posting the fix for the brake lights not working. It had me stumped. I almost took it to a garage to have the problem looked at and decided to check the internet first.
I have had a problem with the turn signals and the hazards not working. I was told that I had to replace the whole switch. I tried the flasher didnt work. I figured it out without replacing the switch. pretty much the same deal as the brake switch. I took the flasher out and bent the prongs on the flasher to get a better contact and used dielectric grease. It worked!!!! I wouldnt have even tried that if I wouldnt have read your post about the brake switch. Again I thank you for posting the fix I feel so much better now.

I have a standard 2000 Mercury Cougar. My rear driving lights come on when I crank the car and stay on as long as the car is running but my break lights don't work at all. What could be causing this? I NEED HELP!!!!! No man around to help me out. Gotta do this myself.

Get a factory manual here.

http://www.tradebit.com/filedetail.php/127563982-mercury-cougar-1999-2002-service-repair-manual