Brake pedal removal - how to?

Mophim

Member
Hello

My wife just returned from work with the brake lights stuck on and a little broken, black plastic plunger in the footwell. Obviously from the brake light switch.
I found the switch, removed it & glued the plunger back in with superglue, just to tide me over until the new one arrives.

However, this didn't solve it. It's really difficult to get in a position in the foot-well to see what's going on but did finally see the problem.
I think the plunger seized which has bent the thin tab that it pushes against (and in turn broke the switch plunger off)

This has resulted in the tab on the brake pedal almost braking off with metal fatigue. I can't believe how thin & fragile it is.

I think my only option is to remove the pedal & weld the tab back on securely, as access in situ is awful.

Any ideas how to do this. It seems in the workshop manual it's simply a matter of depressing the pedal then using special tool (T10006) to push / pull a joint apart.
Has anyone any experience of doing this without this tool and if so how??

I'd really appreciate any advice.

Thanks very much in advance.

Cheers

Gary
 
I would suggest that you just get a new switch and I am sure that you will find that there is little or no pressure on that metal tab and so it should stay in place for a long time.

But if you want to remove the pedal you will definitely need some help with the "how to" (it is not something that many people remove) if someone provides the "how to" I will certainly add it to the "how to" index.

Steve B
 
Thanks very much for the reply.
As mentioned, a new switch is on it's way.
Unfortunately, the tab on the brake pedal has split and is hanging on by the last corner. If there was room to fix it in situ I would but unfortunately I don't think there is so I have to get the pedal off to fix.

If anyone has any DIY experience of this, I'd be grateful.
Alternatively, if anyone has the tool I can borrow??

Thanks in advance

gary
 
Hello again.

I had a chance to inspect this a little better over the weekend and the actual pedal didn't need to come out. It was the shaft the runs in front of it.

Firstly I removed the panel under the steering wheel & took the fuseblock out of the way.

So, to get the shaft off required the removal of two tiny allen head grub screws on the underside of this bar, at each end. This then allowed the two 20mm bolts to be removed from each end. (see the first image for what was where)

I actually just loosened these end bolts so I could also remove the bolt from the shaft to the actual pedal (16mm)

Once that was off I fully removed the two end bolts.

Then the only thing holding the shaft on was a plastic socket fitting which housed a ball joint to the brake servo (?)
This ball joint is held in place by two, plastic side pieces (You'd see what I mean when you saw it) I removed the metal ball by pushing one side of the plastic back with the blade of a screwdriver, then slightly twisting the brackets to hold it there whilst I then pushed the other side back.

a2_brake_pedal1.jpg

This is what the shaft looks like.

a2_brake_pedal2.jpg

This is why I needed to remove it. this is the bracket the brake light switch 'plunger' touches. After some of the worst welding I've ever done, it was solid once again & refitted.

a2_brake_pedal3.jpg

The re-fitting was pretty easy. The ball joint just pushed back in once everything else was connected. The only two things I would mention:
Make sure the bracket I've just fixed is behind the actual brake-light switch bracket. I didn't think about this, tried to push the ball joint back on & bent it straight away. D'oh!! So had to remove it & bend it back!!
Secondly, don't over tighten the two 20mm endbolts as this can stop the pedal springing back after being pushed.
If you contort yourself into the footwell & look up at the holes where the grub screws go, tighten the end bolts & you can see the indents where the grubscrews originally went.

I hope this might help someone else.

Cheers

Gary
 
Last edited:
No worries.
Not sure how many people will ever need to do this but it's here if they do.

... and if I can do it, anyone can : )

Just as a point of note, I looked for parts diagrams in advance of doing this but only found one with this cross-shaft setup. It seems that earlier A2s might be different?? Mines a 54 plate.

Cheers

Gary
 
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