Front End Work/Brake Light Staying On

I just did a complete suspension refresh, steering rack, along with pads and rotors on the B5.5 Wagon. Brake light was staying on, so checking under the dash revealed that the brake pedal pushrod is not coming all the way out and therefore not pushing the pedal far enough out to open the switch.

It looks like the pushrod is about 1/2" too short. I believe the rod is adjustable, but why would installing new pads necessitate adjusting the rod? I have the Bentley manual for the A4's but unfortunately not for the Passat.

The pads were pretty worn so pushing in the caliper pistons required removing a bit of brake fluid (not surprisingly) from the MC reservoir but no air entered the system and I did not need to bleed the brakes.

Is there something else going on here?

Definitely not normal. I would double check the brake work twice before adjusting the rod to the booster.

I would even consider trying a new/different brake light switch just in case.

Volk14 said:

Definitely not normal. I would double check the brake work twice before adjusting the rod to the booster.
I would even consider trying a new/different brake light switch just in case.

Click to expand...

It's not the switch. If I grab the pedal, and pull it back to where it stops, the light goes out. Then there is a gap between the pedal and the rod. I did look over the brake work and see nothing out of the ordinary. I may have to take it all apart and reassemble.

Pulled wheels, brakes, calipers, carriers, and rotors and I see nothing out of the ordinary. Pads installed correctly. Brake grease applied sparingly but in the correct places. I don't think the pistons are binding but I'm not sure how exactly be sure. No brake fluid leaks and no missing fluid. Looking for ideas...

do you have vcds? may need to check the wheel speed sensors.

I've got VCDS and there are no fault codes stored. Yesterday I adjusted the rod just a couple turns so that now the brake pedal returns far enough to allow the brake lights to turn off. All seems good.

ahh yes brake lights staying on would cause an issue thank you for getting back to us.

There were several versions of the switch as they had habit of staying on.