The brake light radio, windshield wiper wont’t come on after starting. Wiggling the key used to work, now, not so much.
1. Can the switch be removed by a cautious home mechanic?
2. Can something in the switch be tighten or should it be replace?
Power to the brake light shouldn’t be run through the ignition switch. It is usually tied to power directly so if there is something wrong with it then either a fuse is bad, there is a bad connection in the line, or the brake switch is bad.
The radio and windshield wiper circuits do run through the ignition switch along with other things. I would think if there was a problem with the switch other things would be having trouble also.
You should be able to fix these things yourself without much trouble but it would really help to have a wiring diagram and a test light probe at least to check for power.
On most (but not all) cars the actual switch is located remotely from the steering column lock (key)…Usually it’s down near the firewall on top of the steering column…A rod runs down from the key to operate it…Access is intentionally made very difficult…A more likely culprit is the fuse block itself. If you can, remove it, turn it over and examine the back side for any little melt-downs that may have happened…