I have had this problem for months now. I have to push in solenoid manually every time. I put in new break switch but no luck. I have lights. The associated fuse blows every time I replace, although it will work for a few times first. Shop claimed they fixed by finding a "short" but fuse blew after I got it home. I guess on bright side no one can steal it

 

Did you ever fix it???? My brake lights work so its not the switch ... Im going to try testing the fuses .... Its frickin bull**** cuz all did was take apart my center console to check the cdl/lube it ... And frickin solenoid stops workin ... Whats the chances!!

 

Nope, mine is still hosed. I am not good with electric stuff and will eventually have to pay for fix I imagine. My gas mileage just went really bad so I've got bigger stuff to deal with at the moment. It's always something

 

why would you go checking fuses until you find out if there is power at the soleniod first?

 

Yah I checked power ...... So its not the fuse. So its the solenoid?

 

Check the power at the solenoid, there should be power when the brake pedal is pushed and no power when it isn't pushed. If both those conditions are met, then I would say the solenoid is dead. Make sure you didn't accidentally unhook the ground wire to the solenoid. I have seen coincidences like this but not often. Most of the time when I put something back together and it doesn't work, it's my fault. You can check for a ground with an ohmmeter between the ground terminal on the solenoid connector (black wire) and the chassis.

 

whats the ohm's it should be reading?and do you have pics of the ground wire where its plugs in and connects to on the body itself ?

 

The power and ground for the solenoid are in the 2 wire plug that connects to the solenoid. I don't know where exactly the header connection for the ground is (it's in the RAVE manual, somewhere). If you've got power switching with the brake pedal (key on). All you are looking for on the ground side is continuity, which is effectively no resistance, if you're getting a resistance measurement it would appear that you have a loose or bad connection on the ground wire.