Electrical: No brake lights on my 1963 GT Hawk

[Geohawk63]

Anyone know where I should start to look for the problem? (Tail lights work, turn signals work, just no brake lights).

[RadioRoy]

Look at the brake light switch. It's in/on the hydraulic brake line under the hood somewhere.

Disconnect the two wires going to it and jumper them together. If the brake lights come on, the switch is bad. If the brake lights do not come on with the two wires jumpered, something else is wrong, often the turn signal switch.

[3rdGenStude]

Possibly the inline switch on the hydraulic brake line. I got a new one at a Harley-Davidson dealer for my 62.
Paul
You beat me, Roy!

[Geohawk63]

Look at the brake light switch. It's in/on the hydraulic brake line under the hood somewhere.

Disconnect the two wires going to it and jumper them together. If the brake lights come on, the switch is bad. If the brake lights do not come on with the two wires jumpered, something else is wrong, often the turn signal switch.

BUT the turn signals work, and there's the rub.
Also, the interior light stopped working at the same time. Are the brake lights and the interior light on the same fuse?

[RadioRoy]

The brake light signal goes through the turn signal switch.

Sometimes people are reluctant to make simple tests to narrow down the problem, especially if they do not understand the reasons for the tests.

Am I misconstruing your questions? Are you unwilling to make the test?

[bensherb]

The brake light switch is in the hydraulic line right in front of the steering box. Yes, check the fuses, there should be two, one does control both the brake lights and dome light.

[StudeRich]

Yes definitely Test the Stop Light Switch, proceed if needed to:

Then if you find the Fuse blown, your next question should be WHAT caused that!

You MAY have to disconnect the screw holding the CLOTH Covered Red Wire going to the Dome Light from the Fuse Holder base to determine if the problem is in the Dome Light Circuit or the Stop light Circuit.

It is quite common for that high temp. cloth covered wire routed up from the Dash to the Dome Light, to have a bare spot somewhere.

[Jeffry Cassel]

Mine gave me absolute fits 'til I hooked up to the fusible link on the battery thinking I'd deal with it later. Later hasn't come yet and brake lights work fine. Car makers go to the greatest of extremes to save a few inches of copper wire. Yeah, the dome lights are a problem too 'cause they run the wire over sharp edges that eventually wear away the insulation and short out the circuit. And, unless you are replacing the headliner it is totally inaccessible.

[Geohawk63]

It was the fuse. Best place to look before anything else.

[StudeRich]

/Cut/ Yeah, the dome lights are a problem too 'cause they run the wire over sharp edges that eventually wear away the insulation and short out the circuit. And, unless you are replacing the headliner it is totally inaccessible.

Luckily for all of us, they were smart enough to only run the GROUND wire from the Headliner Dome Light to the Door Switches.
The Hot Wire to the Fuse Holder is protected by the Fuse.

If you replace a Headliner without replacing the Dome Light Wires, it's on you.

[Jeffry Cassel]

Amen! KISS