Brake Light Switch (near pedal) Failure

[MagneticMan]

Went to Home Depot and got these, same 1/8" thickness, wider diameter , 3 vs 6 to package, about $6. While I was at the Depot picked up a pair of inspection mirrors as mine was busted.

My local Ace Hardware has these same magnets as well, same brand.

I reconnected the negative battery cable and forgot about that gap in the hood that goes to the inner front fender well

After tightening the neg battery terminal nut I put the nut driver where my finger was and *plonk*, down the hole it went. Tried to fish it out with magnetic pickup tool, no luck, had it twice but fell off twice, now it's unreachable from above.

I guess to get this tool back I'll need to remove the front wheel and inner fender liner? Anyone done this?

After spotting it with an endosope I was able to grab the tool from the little gap between the inside of the wheel wheel shield and the tip of the passenger side running board, didn't even have to pop any of those plastic fasteners. Only used my fingers ​

Moment of truth. I powered the seat all the way back, did some funky yoga positions and my first attempt was a failure as the magnet was being blocked by the sensor plunger.

Needed to depress the brake pedal for more room, got lucky and pushed on the brake pedal to remove the free play, all I could do without engine running and transmission in neutral, and was able to get it stick to the side of the bracket, then I was able to push the magnet in to proper position with my fingers, no fancy tools needed.

Car ran great Expected it to run like crap since the computer's been reset, but ran fine.

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Now I know what to look out for, temp workarounds, I'm going to have the dealer redo the recall. I don't trust the pad on the clutch pedal, keep the magnets handy, or have the dealer do the recall again, remove and save the pads, and use magnets.

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Great thread, saved my butt !

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[MagneticMan]

Update...

Drove early morning, topless to Ford Dealership with recall letter and broken stopper pieces in hand.

I did search for the receipt on the recall being done and there wasn't one, nor any for other recalls like for the door latch. It was done, the NHTSA and Ford Owner's website will list recalls that have *not* been done on your vehicle, so if done they won't appear in the list, the brake light bumper one didn't appear in the list.

Anyway, yeah, they'll redo the recall, no appt necessary, but wanted to check parts dept to see if had parts in hand before showing up, they did, "more than 50 of them" the parts guy said.

"How much?" I asked.

"$3.14".

I bought two and drove home (topless ) and went to inspect the clutch pedal bumper. Technically this wasn't part of the recall, here's what I found.

It was original, shown on the right, all yellow and orangey.

The new one is shown on top of the magnet to show how close the magnet and new stopper are in size.

The part number is shown on the bag as well.

The clutch plug was intact but when I pushed on the nib to push it out, it crumbled, it was just a matter of time for it to fail.

Popping the new one in was easy once you find the proper position which is:
1. on driver's side get down like you're proposing to the brake pedal.
2. put weight on right knee and lean forward
3. with left hand push down the clutch pedal
4. with right hand pop on the new stopper

I'm going to roll with the magnet on the brake pedal and then when I bleed the brakes it'll be super easy to depress the brake pedal, no sticks, running in neutral, etc., then pop the official pad on.

I didn't actually trust the magnet hack until I confirmed it is the exact same height as the Ford stopper. It is.

Only downside with magnet I see is metal magnet to plastic plunger contact vs plastic pad to plastic plunger contact.