As Larry said, you can change it without losing much fluid, and you won't
get an air bubble in the system because they are on top of the cylinder,

On my '84 years ago both switches failed at the same time, leaving me with
no brake lights.  Your brake warning light will come on when you press the
pedal if only one fails.

It sounds like you have a short in the wiring though.

Good luck!

Stuart

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Fuzzy :philippe
Sent: Monday, April 07, 2014 9:39 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: What is the wire that screws on to the master cylinder and
fluid behind the instrument cluster?

Yep, figured it out. It's indeed the brake switch.

If I remove it, will the brake fluid start coming out? Can I change it
quickly?

Philippe

> Wires for the brake lights go to the switches that screw into the MC
itself.
> The fluid level sensor is in the cap on the fluid reservoir.
>
>
>
>
> On Mon, Apr 7, 2014 at 10:23 PM, Fuzzy :philippe <fuzzmeister@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>>
>> That wire just shorted with a bunch of smoke...
>>
>> VW vanagon '87 2.1l
>
>