Brake warning light.

[Joseph James]

Any ideas? I have been unable to find anything leaking. Do the switches themselves ever fail?

 

[BLUPORT]

Is your emergency brake pedal engaged at all? The switch could have failed, and causing the false alarm.

 

[Davea Lux]

Before doing anything, is the brake system properly bled? Is the light on all the time or only when the brakes are applied? Assuming the light is on all the time, the parking brake is either applied or the park brake switch has failed. If the light comes on as the brakes are applied, there is a pressure differential between the front and rear brakes. Usually this is caused by either a leak or a serious mis-adjustment issue. After eliminating the park brake as a potential source of the brake light, Put the car in park and apply the brakes, does the brake pedal sink as the brakes are held on? This can be an indicator of an internal leak in the master cylinder which could be causing the pressure differential. Pull the top off the master, are both chambers filled equally? If both chambers are not the same, you have a hidden leak someplace. Pull all four wheels and drums, check for a broken or disengaged brake adjuster or cable. A leaking wheel cylinder will have fluid residue inside of the end caps and if the leak is bad enough to trip the pressure switch, usually at least one wheel will have wet brake linings. If this car has disc brakes, check the seal around the caliper piston for brake fluid, if one is leaking, rebuild both calipers. Finally check all hoses and brake lines for wet spots, brake hoses crack and steel lines rust out. Check these things and report back.

Dave

 

[Joseph James]

Parking brake is inoperative. No cable. I moved the pedal now that you mention it . I didn't pull the release because the cable isn't on the car. The light is on all the time.

I found one rear wheel cylinder with a wet boot and replaced it. The other one was replaced a month ago.

 

[BLUPORT]

Parking brake is inoperative. No cable. I moved the pedal now that you mention it . I didn't pull the release because the cable isn't on the car. The light is on all the time.

I found one rear wheel cylinder with a wet boot and replaced it. The other one was replaced a month ago.

Check the switch.

 

[Joseph James]

I did change one of my out of round drums today. It took a long time. The adjuster was stuck. I had the spring loaded piece out of the way and it wouldn't move. Shoes were cracked. Old drum had chunks missing where I guess someone took a hammer to it. I ran out of daylight to do the other side.

The old drum had a spring around it. Does it serve a purpose?

 

[Ross Wooldridge]

The spring is an anti-howl feature. Stops the drums from moaning.

 

[CBODY67]

The parking brake switch is a simple ground situation. IF the wire going to it has chaffed or otherwise shorted to ground, the light would be on, possibly.

 

[Joseph James]

It was the parking brake. D'oh! It was pushed down. I usually pay it no attention since it doesn't work.

 

[potshot]

Is your emergency brake pedal engaged at all? The switch could have failed, and causing the false alarm.

I'm going to commit the faux pas of necro posting if only to say, "thanks", this solved my problem 5 years later lol