Brake Light On?

LaureltheQueen · Post by **LaureltheQueen** » Thu May 13, 2004 3:29 pm

So... I go out to my car this morning to go to school, and my brake light on the dash stays on when i turn on the car. I've never had this problem before. I check the e-brake(from the inside) and it seems to be working fine, but the light stays on. I dont think i've set the ebrake in the car for the last 2 weeks because I never park on hills. I need info quick, I dont want to drive the car and F up the diff or anything, and I gotta get to school.

legacy92ej22t · Post by **legacy92ej22t** » Thu May 13, 2004 3:40 pm

Reset the ECU. See if it goes away.

QuickDrive · Post by **QuickDrive** » Thu May 13, 2004 3:41 pm

Fill your brake fluid resevoir, if it goes too low then the light will come on.

petridish38 · Post by **petridish38** » Thu May 13, 2004 4:04 pm

As long as the reservoir is full and the brakes still work, it should be fine.

My car has done that occasionally, and it only happened in the mornings.

Since you're at school now, the light should be off when you leave.

One theory is that moisture in the system condenses overnight and triggers the sensor that turns the brake light on.

Now might be a good time to bleed your brakes! I bled mine and it hasn't happened since.

Andrew

123c · Post by **123c** » Thu May 13, 2004 4:16 pm

What everone else said.

I had this problem when I fiirst got my car, so I did what everyone else did, and the problem went away...

mikec · Post by **mikec** » Thu May 13, 2004 4:23 pm

I had this problem too with my old wagon. Even though the reservoir was full, the light would still come on. I flushed all the old fluid out, and the problem went away.

The ECU won't have any effect on that light. Its directly tied to the low fluid switch in the reservoir.

Post by **Legacy777** » Thu May 13, 2004 5:49 pm

Other note is that sometimes the little float gets stuck. But yeah...if fluid is full, float isn't stuck....suck all the fluid out of MC, put fresh stuff in, and bleed the brakes.

entirelyturbo · Post by **entirelyturbo** » Thu May 13, 2004 8:27 pm

petridish38 wrote:One theory is that moisture in the system condenses overnight and triggers the sensor that turns the brake light on.

I'm positive that's what the problem is. My car does this every morning now, because of how I did my brakes. Since I had just gotten my XT, I figured I'll drive that, and work on the Legacy whenever I felt like it. I let the brake system gravity-drain from the hoses at each caliper for a couple days, with the MC cap off. Not once did it cross my mind that moisture just could possibly collect in an open brake system...

So I'm gonna hafta put new brake fluid in soon before I vapor-lock the whole thing...

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Thu May 13, 2004 8:46 pm

Or rust your brake system from the inside out...

You definitely don't want to leave moisture in the brake fluid. The fluid is supposed to be almost gin clear; if it's dark that indicates that it's contaminated.

My car always turns on that light when it's really cold for some reason. I don't have moisture in the system, I have plenty of fluid, and my handbrake is off.

LaureltheQueen · Post by **LaureltheQueen** » Thu May 13, 2004 11:20 pm

thank you very much! the brake fluid did the trick. I also realized just how much my brakes need to be bled.

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Fri May 14, 2004 3:35 am

Make a DIY vacuum brake bleeder and the job's easy!

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Brake Light On?

Brake Light On?