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02 Brake Light Switch

BigFellor

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Joined
January 11, 2009
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City, State
****tsburgh, PA
Year, Model & Trim Level
2002 Explorer XLS
My brake light switch decided to suddenly go out on me tonight. Looking around on Oreilly, AutoZone, Advance, and even RockAuto.com, they all showed the wrong switch. Found it at the dealer possibly (not a real good pic online, hard to really tell) for $93. :fire: My question is, has anyone tried one from an 02 Windstar?

All the websites are showing this ...
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Mine looks like this ...
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And the Windstar switch is this one ...
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Thoughts? Going to run up to AZ tomorrow to check it out, and see how it matches up, maybe try to cross reference the part number on the OE one. $11.99 is a hell of a lot better than $93.
 



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i got mine from napa for like 15 bucks. it was the correct part. also i know that autozone and oreillys carry the part, as i was shopping for the best deal. they carry it, make sure you tell them its the switch on the brake pedal. its the brake light switch/shift engage switch. its an easy 5 minute install. as you can tell the one from the windstar has different connectors, so that would cause problems.
 






Got it fixed. Went to O'reilly's and AutoZone. Both of them were calling for the switch with 5 pins for an 02 Explorer. I went ahead and got the one they listed for the Windstar since it matched up to the one that came out of the truck, and it works fine.
 






Hey Big Fellor, can you supply a part number for the piece you bought?
 






The switch I bought from AutoZone is listed as a Duralast part number F4862.
 






About a month ago I was on a trip and lost my brake lights. The switch seemed wierd with no mechanical sound. I stopped at a dealer to see if they had a replacement and hopefully to coax the brake fuse number out of them. They had a replacement switch for $47. It was mechanical and it was a replacement for the electronic one in my vehicle. They said they had a lot of problems with the solid state electronic switch. I actually wired the switch directly to the battery till I could get home and look up the correct fuse. After replacing the fuse, I noticed that the brake lights often stayed on. Some lubricating spray on the switch seems to have fixed that. I wonder how many other people have brake lights on a lot of the time?
 






This brakelight issue is obviously a common problem for the Ford Explorer. This should be a recall fix, in my opinion. I'm going to give this Windstar switch a shot. My factory-installed stoplight switch looks exactly like yours, and the websites are showing me 2 different switches - neither or which looks like the one that is currently installed. I purchased the F4862 last night for $11.99 at Autozone just like you recommended. I'll install it this weekend and let you know the result.
 






Well, BigFellor was correct. Thank you, BigFellor. Now, can you tell me how to fix my CD player...??
 






Also, you do not need any special tools to replace this part. A pair of pliers to remove the cotter pin is all I needed.
 






Well, BigFellor was correct. Thank you, BigFellor. Now, can you tell me how to fix my CD player...??

lol, thanks! What's wrong with the CD player?
 






The CD player...I hate it. It played for the first time in over 8 months, but that lasted only 2 days. Now it's back to not working again. I get the usual "CD Error." However, the door to the CD player is stuck open. Whenever I try to load a CD, eject a CD, or listen to a CD I get the "CD Error" message. I fear it could be another 8+ months til it works again.
 












Hey, before anyone goes out and gets a new brake light switch, you can pop off the cover, remove the 2 contacts and sand them down. My cruise control wouldn't shut off due to corrosion on the brake light switch contacts. I sanded them down and made sure there was a very small gap when it was in the open position, put a drop of oil on the plunger and reinstalled. Now CC shuts off without fail every time I ever so lightly tap the brake pedal. Works like a champ and saved me a few bucks. Now I'm happy as a pig in poop ! LOL
 






they were updated to the metal tauris style switches, ford used to sell a kit with new connector and switch, i think it even was a tsb...
 






I can confirm that F4862 works on my 2002 explorer xlt V6. Thanks to many on this forum who suggested to use the windstar part, 11.99 plus tax is what i paid and all is well with the car again. Also replaced the DPFE sensor to fix the CEL and remove P0401 and P0402 codes (haven't returned in a few days so fingers still crossed). Getting more brave and dangerous, I can do this!

As for the switch, I should have paid attention to how it came out, the bushing fell out so caused some stress. There was a video I found on youtube for an older explorer so that helped but one thing to keep in mind is that once the switch is installed, it will be parallel to the floor (the best way I can describe it) with the harness connector closest to you versus pointing up or down toward the floor. Works like a charm. Haven't tested the cruise control but hoping that works too. Haynes manual was useless for this function, just text and no pics. Hope this helps someone.
 






Hey thanks for the tip about the windstar Brake switch, my break lights stopped working after an off road trip and after reading this thread I went to pick the part to AZ and everything looks good now...

Thanks everyone, this forum is great!!
:salute:
 






i wonder if this would fix my problem.

sometimes they work, sometimes they do not.

What I have discovered…
-the front brakes are worn and in need of replacement
-the lights seem to not come on when there isn’t any pressure built up in the lines
-when the car is parked, I can push the brake pedal and feel the brakes push in pretty far.
Looking at the brake lights as I do this they do not come on.
- when I proceed to pump the pedal, the first few times the lights do not come on. THEN, after I’ve pumped them a few times and built up some pressure, the lights will start coming on with every pump after that.

Also
If we go back to the situation where the lights are not working via the brake pedal,
I can get under the dash and push up on the relay and it will make the brake lights come on…so I don’t think it is the wiring or relay that is the issue.

Would it be bad front brakes (no pressure) that would make the lights not work? or would this switch fix the problem?
 






The brake lights work off the switch, no pressure needed :)
 






The brake lights work off the switch, no pressure needed :)

yeah, i know...lol...just the coincendence of it all had me baffled.

so i did replace the stoplight switch and everything is perfect.
thanks to this thread i also knew to get the '02 Windstar part
 



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Hey, before anyone goes out and gets a new brake light switch, you can pop off the cover, remove the 2 contacts and sand them down. My cruise control wouldn't shut off due to corrosion on the brake light switch contacts. I sanded them down and made sure there was a very small gap when it was in the open position, put a drop of oil on the plunger and reinstalled. Now CC shuts off without fail every time I ever so lightly tap the brake pedal. Works like a champ and saved me a few bucks. Now I'm happy as a pig in poop ! LOL

Thanks for the tip! :biggthump

That's exactly what I did and it's working like a charm. :thumbsup:

My problem was the brake lights staying on. Thanks to your ingenuity, I'm rolling again.
 






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