legacycentral bbs

I have noticed that in the past few days that my brake light will come on. It doesn't do it all the time, I have noticed that it mostly does it when I drive to work in the morning. Sometimes it won't be on when I start the car, then will come one, and then turn off after a few miles. Sometimes it will stay on my commute to work. From what I understand, these cars don't have brake wear indicators, so I am trying to figure out what would make it come on like this...

Oh yeah, the car is a 1993 Legacy Turbo...

My guess

You brake pads have worn down. The piston "rests" at a farther extended postion. More brake fluid is in the caliper so the level is lower in the resoivoir.

Check the fluid level, but if its low dont add any. Look at the thickness of your pads.

The fluid level isn't that low, but it isn't full either, and I don't hear the brake wear indicators either. It seems that it also does this in the morning, when it is fairly cool...

The brakes dont have to be worn to the point that it causes the wear indicators. The brake light only indicates low fluid or parking brake. Im guessing your parking brake isnt the problem.

Did you remove the cap when you checked the fluid? You shouldnt do it often (to reduce moisture from entering) but sometimes the rubber inside the lid makes the level hard to read.

Ok, I will check the fluid with the cap off tomorrow. I need to check the brakes sometime anyways. I have owned the car for 2 weeks now, and driven it 1,000 miles, and I havn't checked the brakes yet. I have been planning on flushing the fluid soon anyways.

as ciper mentioned.....it's brake fluid level. You can add more fluid, but be aware when you change your pads, you will most likely need to remove some fluid from the resevoir if you don't bleed the brakes.

Brake fluid was still fine, even with the cap off. It was below the full mark, so I topped it off. Probally tonight or tomorrow I will flush the brake system, since the fluid looks like it's past due for a changing. I will also try and inspect the brake pads. From what I can see through the wheels, they look like they should be fine though...

some times that float gets stuck. It's happened before on mine.

Check the emergency brake too, because that can turn on the light. Is there a switch somewhere in the emergency brake mechanism to turn on that light whenever you pull the handle? Could that switch be gunked up?

The light stopped coming on after I removed the brake fluid from the reservoir and refilled it. I am going to do this a few times then bleed my brakes when I get around to replace the pads.

Yes there is a switch behind the e-brake handle, and yes mine has a bunch of junk around it, and that reminds me that I need to clean it up...