This is for my brothers 2001 Acura 3.2CL. I know about the causes of the shift-lock solenoid/ brake light issue, but my brother had this problem and I verified it when I went to our cousin's apt. to pick up the car (shift-lock release). I checked all fuses and none were bad, but the problem remained. The next day, the car worked as if nothing was ever wrong.

My question is, what can cause this problem, but not be a steady problem? All I can think of is the switch or the solenoid. The switch seems very unlikely. Any ideas?

 

Switch bracket loose? Moves in & out of proper position?

Switch closes when pedal pressed, so dirty/loose/corroded plug somewhere would intermittently open the circuit.

 

The plug is clean .... I removed it and replaced it when the fuses were ok ..... could have been a bad connection, but all of the sudden?

The bracket was tight too.

 

Well, you DID check it & ruled it out. Im just trying to think of new things for youto check.

 

LOL ... sorry I didn't list them. I just did it when checking that the switch button moved smoothly and couldn't stick.

Maybe a little dielectric grease in the plug would be a good idea.

 

I dont remember if there was a relay in the circuit (in my 98 anyway...). That would be another thing to get flaky.

If the lock-solenoid was flaky, I think the brake lights would still work OK.

I recently had a window switch that didnt close because of dirt & grease on the contacts inside the switch. Check it with a meter - operate the buttonfast & slow.

 

It works properly now, so I'm going to hold off on testing .... I never feel great about problems going away though, so I figured that I'd get an idea of what can cause this for when it happens again.

Good point about the solenoid. It seems that the most likely culprit was the switch plug connection and that I fixed it by disconnecting it and reconnecting.