It appears that the brake pedal switch my wife and I replaced in her 2006 XK8 back in September 2012 is beginning to fail. "Cruise not available" and "Check rear lights" are alternating on the dashboard message center and the amber warning light is on. I sure don't look forward to us having to perform the contortionist antics required for this switch replacement again, nor do I want to spend another $130 (or whatever they sell for nowadays) on yet another new one....

Is anyone who has successfully re-soldered and repaired their faulty brake pedal switch willing to do that for us? I'll ship you the original switch I removed from her car in September 2012, pay you for your trouble, and pay for the return shipping. I hate to keep buying these fragile switches new when some of you have the skills to fix them....

PM me with your details and I'll get in touch with you. Thanks to anyone willing to help....

 

I presume you've done a walk around confirming ALL the rear lights work? Even the red side markers. Before I'd spend $150 for a switch, I'd replace all the rear bulbs and apply dielectric grease to every socket. I've seen different brand or different wattage bulbs left vs right cause this on my 88 Mercedes. It wouldn't affect cruise operation but it would turn on the bulb failure light on the dash cluster even though all lights were working.

 

Yep, I checked her car this past weekend and all bulbs are working properly. This has been ongoing for about a month now. Initially she reported the "cruise not available / check rear lights" messages a time or two, then sporadically, and now almost every time she drives her car including this morning when the messages came on and stayed on. Exact same symptoms and timeline as when her original brake pedal switch gradually failed a little over four years and 54,000 miles ago. These switches are flimsy and weakly built. Hold one in your hand and you'll see. 98% of the time when these two dashboard messages appear together it's due to a failing brake pedal switch. No wonder they are such a common failure with these cars....

 

I believe the better fix consists of replacing the switches themselves with new ones. Someone on this forum had bought a bunch of each of them (one NO, one NC), subsequent to a minimum quantity order. From memory that person was offering a repair service where you could buy a repaired switch, then later mail in your broken unit to be fixed for the next guy.

On a related note, there has been talk recently about the switch trigger. It seems to have some form of ratcheting mechanism, where the part that contacts the switches can "slide" with respect to the part that contacts the pedal arm. I assume this is considered an adjustment and would deserve to be checked as well before a replacement.

Were you by any chance able to confirm the diagnostic with a scanner? I believe the brake switch failure has a dedicated OBD error code...

Best of luck, keep us posted.

 

That's good information. If you can identify the forum member offering the switch repair service, let me know. He would be worth a try....

I will hook up my i930 scanner to see if it picks up a code. If it does, I'll report it here so those of you who can still access JTIS can look it up. When I replaced my old Windows 7 PC with a Windows 10 one back in May, I lost my ability to load and read my JTIS CD....

 

In the ABS module, my iCarsoft i930 scanner shows a code C1446. I presume that indicates a faulty brake switch. Can anyone confirm?

I went ahead and cleared the code so we'll see if it comes back when I take the car out for a spin in a few minutes....

 

Stop lamp circuit fault (CAN message)

Possible Causes:
Brake ON / OFF switch circuit fault
Brake ON / OFF switch failure
Brake ON / OFF switch CAN message fault

 

Thanks. Most likely another brake pedal switch failure....

I hope the forum member whom you said replaces these microswitches happens to read this thread. Or, someone knows who he his and can direct me to him. Otherwise, it looks like I'll be purchasing what will be the third brake pedal switch for my wife's car. The original switch did just over 51,000 miles before it failed. The current switch has done just over 54,000 miles. Looks like a pattern to me....

 

I read this: check-rear-lights-cruise-control-not-available-107741/

 

Thanks for the tip. I sent a PM to forum member "jsulliva". I'll update this thread if he responds and tells me he's still repairing these brake switches for us....

 

I received a reply from forum member "jsulliva". While he is still doing these brake switch assembly repairs, he is currently out of new microswitches and doesn't know when he will get new ones. I asked him to let me know when he resumes repairs. Maybe my wife's XK8's brake switch will hold up awhile longer before it finally gives up the ghost. I cleared the C1446 OBDII code earlier today and thus far it has not failed again. But as we know these switches are flaky and once they start acting up, their days are numbered....

 

Update:

I am attempting to source a local electronics repair shop that can do these brake pedal microswitch replacements using better-than-OEM components at a fair price within a reasonable turnaround time. If I find one, I'll serve as the guinea pig with my wife's 2006 XK8's flaky brake pedal switch assembly. If it works out, I'll ask them if they would like to repair other forum members' brake pedal switches on a mail-in basis. Those of you who are interested in such a service, please let me know....

 

Update:

A friend put me in touch with a local EE who has been designing circuit boards for years. We met up yesterday morning, I showed him the failed switch assembly, he told me it would be a simple fix, so I gave him the assembly to take home with him. He recently had to replace a failed microswitch on a circuit board in his wife's Audi A6 so he's dealt with these types of issues before. I should get my repaired switch assembly back by the end of next week after he has sourced the new microswitches and had a chance to do the solder work....

 

I'm in the same boat. Usual messages - check rear lights / cruise not available. It happens on and off. All the lights work, fortunately. I have been dreading crawling around under the dash. Let us know how you make out.

 

Our 2006 did this as well. First I just resolder the microswitches and that lasted about a year. But once again the error message came back, so I removed the switch assembly, tested the mircoswitches and although tested good, I was able to order new switches from DigiKey for couple of dollars and just replaced them; took about 30 minutes to replace both microswitches.
I even got pretty good at getting the assembly back into the car by myself on the first try.


Anyways I have one extra microswitch so I should be able to get the part number off of it in case your EE friend is not able to find them or you can send the assembly to me and I will replace them, you just pay for the new switches and shipping costs.


Later,

 

Lanny,

Thanks for your kind offer to repair my brake pedal switch assembly. I have full confidence in my EE friend's ability to replace these microswitches so we'll see how his effort turns out. I'll keep this thread updated once the repaired switch assembly is back in the car....

 

My 05 was showing the same messages. It has 94500 miles on the original switch. We have a Jaguar specific wrecking yard here in Stockton (Jaguar Heaven on Navy Dr. 1 800 969 4524 FAX 209 942 3670) I got a switch this morning for $45. Donor car had 54000 miles. I removed the panel under the steering column, located the switch and removed the switch from the bracket. I bent the bracket to one side to gain better
access and with my legs up over the headrest and my head under the steering column on my back! (top down) I installed the replacement switch. 2 hours to replace and bend the bracket back in alignment. I had the car running to easily depress the pedal. I used a box end wrench to tighten the two nuts. So far, so good. I saw no reason to remove the bracket/ switch assembly. Seemed like I made good time being 69 years old! I'm sure someone younger could do it quicker.

 

Glad it worked for you but I wouldn't take a chance on a non-refurbished used switch in this particular application. They are just too weak and risky and as you know, this is a miserable job with even the most flexible of circus acrobats on their backs stuffed up underneath the dashboard....

I'm hoping to get my refurbished switch back (with the two new microswitches expertly soldered into place) this weekend. Once my wife and I have a chance to install it (she's already complaining about having to help me do this job again even though it is her car), I'll report back on whether or not it solved the problem....

 

When mine went bad it was the ratcheting part that was worn and wouldn't return, I am trying to find someone who has a broken one that I could swap out the ratchet.

 

Yep, these switches are just too flimsy for long-term use. Good luck finding another ratchet....