96 Lumina APV - no brake lights - turn signal switch?

Hello all, I'm new here and I'm not sure if there's somewhere I'm supposed to introduce myself but here it is, the name's Adam, I'm from Ontario Canada and I drive a 96 Lumina APV which can be seen at www.cardomain.com/id/lulumina. If this introduction is in the wrong location, please let me know.

My problem is, I have no brake lights on my van. Well, more specifically, no LOWER brake lights, but the center high-mount light is operational. After research this all points to the turn signal switch inside the steering column. This would make sense, somewhat, because the turn signal lever has been functioning SOMEWHAT incorrectly lately. I've found various scattered bits of information about this, and it looks like a semi-daunting repair. However, most of the information I have retrieved is for W-body GM vehicles and not for my van...even though they use a near-identical steering column.

Does anyone have any useful information pertaining to this problem occurring with my van? I would be most grateful for any info that anyone could provide, i.e. the repair itself, if this is the cause of the problem with this van, etc.

Any and all help will be very much appreciated.

Thanks,

Adam

I had the same problem with my car, a new switch fixed the problem. I don't know how comparable the van column is to my car, but it should be close enough. I changed the switch myself and it took about 90 minutes. Pick up a Haynes manual, it will walk you right through it step by step. You'll need to pick up a few tools too by the way, steering wheel puller and couple other small tools, I don't remember. You can get it done with the puller and screw drivers but its much easier with the right tools. Total cost of tools is probably $30 USD + $40 for the switch. You can probably just borrow the tools too from the parts store Good luck!