Parking Brake Light

[RajunCajun]

Good Morning Er'body,

So yesterday my parking brake light decided it wanted a full time job by staying light the entire day. I have checked the fluid, released the parking brake under human power and wiggled the parking brake cable. Nothing has changed, it still stays on. Is there something I'm missing? It tends to flicker when I give it gas driving down the road. Weird..........Thoughts?



-Cajun

 

[Lil-Pony]

Check your under dash wiring harness for lose grounds, and wires shorting out, or you can start pulling fuses till it goes out to identify which circuit is providing it power to stay on all the time. It could just be a bad switch.

 

[RonD]

Yes, the light switch is on the upper e-brake pedal, check there.

It should just be a plunger type setup, when brake pedal is pushed plunger comes out and Grounds the dashboard light, so if it is misaligned then it is always out and light is always on.
It's similar to the older door switch plunger setup that turned on the dome light.

 

[adsm08]

Then unplug the fluid level sensor and see if it goes out. Corrosion on the sensor can flip the light on too.

 

[Lil-Pony]

Then unplug the fluid level sensor and see if it goes out. Corrosion on the sensor can flip the light on too.

i thought you were joking at first, such a odd thing to cause an issue like this

 

[adsm08]

i thought you were joking at first, such a odd thing to cause an issue like this

Not really. Think about it, the sensor is just a float and two metal contacts. Brake fluid is hydrophillic. The fluid gets old, absorbs some water, even the stuff inside the system can start to corrode. I have seen, albeit only once or twice, where the sensor itself would read as closed even when the float was up because of all the conductive crap built up between the contacts.

Unplugging the sensor breaks the circuit and shuts the light off.

 

[Lil-Pony]

ohh, i thougth he was talking about his PARKING BREAK

 

[RajunCajun]

Then unplug the fluid level sensor and see if it goes out. Corrosion on the sensor can flip the light on too.

About two hrs prior to me getting back on here to check responses, I had my wife get inside the cab and look at the light when I unplugged the connection just to see. That was the problem. Going to clean it out tomrw.

 

[PetesPonies]

Here's some splitting hairs fun . . but is brake fluid hydrophillic or really hygroscopic?? or both by definition?

 

[richard booth]

I know you are supposed to change it every 4 years to keep the system in the best condition.