Town Car Brake lights and shifting from Park problem

I have an intermittent problem with my 1998 Lincoln Town Car (Cartier).



Pressing the brake pedal often seems to do nothing but brake the car. No brake lights. Also, when it’s in the ‘fail’ mode, I cannot shift from Park. I have subsequently also correlated the ABS and Traction control indicators on the dash with this problem.



When I start the car, I have a 50-50 chance that it’ll work. Sometimes the ABS and Traction indicators come on, pressing the brake pedal gives no brake lights, and I cannot shift from Park.



Sometimes, the ABS and Traction are off, brake lights come on fine, and shifting is fine.



All related fuses are ok. Tried replacing the brake switch. Still intermittent. Any ideas? Thanks!

One thing to check on this vehicle is the fuse box and connections.

The fuse box is called a waffer fuse box. This means that there are layers of plastic molded plates with the copper layers for the different circuits sandwiched in between. And they stack these layers of plastic and copper until all the circuts are created, and then they solder in the sockets for the harnesses. I’ve seen these type of fuse boxes get hot enough to burn the wiring in the harnesses. So have the harnesses unplugged from the fuse box and inspected for heat damage. If you find this, not only will the fuse box require replacing, but also the harness end if it got too hot.

Tester