I am having a problem with the brake light indicator on the instrument display(the light that indicates when the parking brake is in use).

When coming to a stop or slowing down at all for that matter, the brake light indicater lights up while braking hard (but not hard enough for ABS to kick in), and then goes out when the brakes are released...

Also, the light appears while shifting hard from 1st to 2nd at the track...

The manual states that this could be from a low brake fluid condition. I have checked the fluid and it looks ok (being right in the middle of min and max)...

Now I realize that this could simply be the fluid being low enough that when shifting on the sides of the resovior(sp?) while braking hard and shifting which is causing the low fluid light---> That would make sense

But, the fluid is not low...So I don't know whats going on. I doubt it is a malfunction with the guage display...

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

It could also mean that one of your brake lamps is out. If that checks out, check your brake pads, then could be worn down.

 

That seems like a logical explanation other than your parking brake having a slight ground on it. Speaking of that, I can't remember whether pulling the hand brake lever grounds the switch out or creates an open/shrt. Either way, something could be going on there under hard shifting or braking conditions. I would try the simpler fix though. Add a small amount of B-Fluid. See if this rectifies your problem. If not, move to the harder solutions.

 

True...although my car has 18,000 miles on it so far, I feel the rotors pulsing slowing down from high speeds...could this mean the brakes are low?

Brake lamps are good though...

thanks

 

Thanks, I will try that and I'll let you guys know what happens...

 

Couple of good thoughts ^ 1. Is low pads front or rear that are throwing off your proportioning valve. 2. Is maybe a poorly adjusted/loose E-Brake switch

 

Thanks guys for your help. It turned out that adding brake fluid solved the problem, even though I did not condsider it to be low( being that it was right in the middle of min/max) I filled it up right to the top line.

Only thing is that ABS seems very sensitive now...but its cold and damp out and I'll atribute it to that...

Thanks again for your help.

 

Glad to see it worked out. A reminder though: when you go to replace your current pads with new ones, then level is going to rise beyond max. You'll have to remove some fluid. Just dip the corner of a paper towel in the reservoir and let it soak up some of the fluid. This works very well.

You can paypal me $19.95 for the info. Thanks.

 

You shouldn't have added more brake fluid...first thing would have been to replace the pads and check the rotors for wear.

When your brake warning light comes on again (it will eventually), are you going to add more brake fluid?

 

Thanks for the info...Are you serious? lol

 

The light only came on when experiencing heavy force form slowing down and powerdhifting 2nd...At 18,000 miles I doubt the brakes are worn...but I'll look into it....Thanks

 

Don't underestimate the wearing power of the stock rotors on the stock brakes. I replaced mine at about 18K and I've seen others post that they did it as soon as 12K. Some people are harder on brakes than others.

 

You should not be pushing fluid back up the lines to the master, it can have adverse effects on your ABS by sending debris that may have settled in low spots back up the pipes. With tubing attached to avoid a mess, open your bleed valve as you compress the piston and then add new fluid when you are done.

Chris

 

I've done it for years on several cars. Never had a problem. Using the good ol' C-clamp to push the piston has never caused a problems in the previous 3 cars I've owned.

If the system has no leaks, there should be no risk of contamination. And if there were leaks, I'd say pushing a couple molecules of debris back up to the master cylinder would be the least of his worries. -2 cents-