brake lights staying on when parked

[thepuzzlemaster]

I don't drive my van ('96 HiAce) too frequently. Once a week or so. And every few weeks the battery will be dead when I go to start it. I'm pretty sure I narrowed it down to the brake lights staying on sometimes when the van is parked. It seems the switch in the brake pedal is very temperamental. Like the brake pedal must be FULLY depressed in order for the brake lights to turn off. It feels like it is too sensitive. I get that you want your brake lights to turn on as soon as you press the pedal, but it feels a little too sensitive.

Is there some sort of adjustment that can be done to allow the pedal to depress a fraction of an inch higher? Kind of like the H/L set screws on a bike derailleur? Or anyone have other ideas of what I can do here? I even made sure to use my toe to pull up the brake pedal as high as it would go yesterday when arriving at a trailhead, and noticed when I got back to the car after my hike, the brake lights were still on.

Thanks.

[originalkwyjibo]

I've never actually looked at mine but usually they are a threaded stem. This makes it so you can thread it in or out to adjust the moment of switch contact. You should be able to just thread it in a little more so that it opens the switch sooner. Either that or something inside is broken.

[thepuzzlemaster]

Ahhh thanks. You were absolutely correct. There were two nuts on a threaded bolt which moved the switch towards/away from the brake pedal arm. I moved it about 1/8" closer to the pedal arm so it wasn't quite so touchy. Hopefully that was the cause of the battery drain, but at the very least, the brake lights feel the appropriate amount of responsive now.

Thanks!