black betty

I have a 64 oldsmobile dynamic 88 and cannot get the brake lights to function.

The upper and lower tail lights on both sides work and the bulbs (dual filament) checked good; there is voltage at the brake light switch but not back at either brake light socket. Still no brake lights.

I am assuming it's some type of wiring problem but before i go rewiring everything, I thought i would check here. I found the following on another forum online... does this sound like a possible problem/solution?

Thank you in advance for you help...

"The problem is in the turn signal wiring on the steering column just prior to the harmonica connector. The wiring from the turn signal takes a sharp turn just prior to the harmonica connector, and the white wire on the inside of the turn frequently gets pulled from the harmonica connector. That wire completes the circuit to the brake lights."

Olds64

That could be it; however, did you check your fuse? I just tracked down some brake light problems on my 64 98 and it turned out that the bulbs in the tail lamps weren't getting a good ground. I had to replace the bulb sockets and everything worked fine. You can test this by putting 12 V directly to the rear tail lights. If they illuminate then you know you have a good ground.

Modern Motoring

does your turn signals work in the rear of the car ? If so then there is a problem at the turn signal switch. Looking at the back of the connector the white wire is the bottom slot. It feeds the voltage from the brake light switch to the turn signal switch. You should get voltage here when depressing the brake pedal. While depressing the brake pedal, use a test light and see if you get voltage at the red and the green wires. These are the brake light feed wires to the rear of the car. If you do get voltage here then you will have to trace the wires back until you find the short in the wires. If you do not get voltage here, but you do have voltage from the white wire, you will either need to replace the turn signal switch or take the switch apart and locate the problem. It is usually corrosion that can be easily cleaned up. There are three little brass triangle connectors that slide back and forth ( the slider part with the tit that makes the switch function) . They ride on very small springs and have three round detents on the face to make contact with the brass bars on the base part of the switch. Take it apart over a sheet of paper so you don't loose anything!
The switches are somewhat hard to come by, I found one on eBay for my 63. The basic switch was used on several GM cars in the 60's with the bracket being the difference.

black betty

wow! this is very informative... I'll try these out this weekend and we'll see what happens.

again, thank you so much for your help!