Since last Labor Day weekend, the Altima has only enjoyed a few moments in the garage, and then only when it was being worked on. For a while it sat in the driveway, but now that the Eagle is de facto transitioning into a daily driver, the Altima has been relegated to the cold (hot), lonely world of street-parked cars. With no shelter from the sun, wind, dust, or bird poop, it decided to make another play for attention. Kind of a childish move. Just sayin'.
Last Monday night, me and the boy went to put gas in it, and when I got to the pump, I noticed that the brake lights were on even after I got out of the car. I fiddled with the pedal and when I couldn't hear the click of the brake light switch, it was pretty clear that the switch was stuck in the "on" position, and therefore had gone the way of all the earth.
Time of death: 8:07 p.m., 182,950 miles.
The car is effectively crippled until I put in a replacement switch - probably this weekend - since the lights will drain the battery when the car is parked, and cause a confusing safety hazard during driving.
The brake lights were on all the way back home from the gas station, where I unhooked the negative battery cable. This is the car equivalent of Time Out, and it's the kind of attention you get when you misbehave. You can drive again when you have a new switch, but this kind of behavior is unacceptable, young man.
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UPDATE: The brake light switch itself was fine. It was the little rubber button that pushes the switch's pin, that had broken into several pieces and fallen out onto the floor. Solution: swap in the other rubber button from the cruise control switch. Glue the broken pieces back together, and use that one for the cruise control switch. Return previously purchased part. Spend no money :)
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