Brake Lights on a 98 Lumina

My brake lights have been working spartically. Sometimes the tail brake lights work, some times they don't. The top light in the rear window always works. The odd thing is that the turn signals always work. I've replaced bulbs and fuses until I went blue in the face. Any ideas?

The multi-switch in the column (the one with the signals, cruise, and wiper control) likes to cause problems like this. The center mount brake light is on a seperate circuit that doesn't run through the multi-switch.

It's very common for them fail randomly for some time before giving up completely...

So how do I go about fixing this? Do I need to replace the switch? I'm a bit of a novice at auto repair.

Yeah it's inside the steering column, requires airbag and steering wheel removal, and the switch is costly...

You might want a shop to tackle it if you aren't familar with taking a column apart...but there's only one way to learn too....

Make sure you have the proper safety procedures before messing with that airbag.

I had a run in with an airbag once. I would rather not do that again.