01 Taurus brake light problem

I'm sure any car can have this problem, but I'm just not sure what to do and I know nothing about cars.

For a couple weeks now about 80% of the time I break, the red brake light goes on and then goes off after a few seconds. I'm assuming theres something wrong with the brakes obviously and when I opened up the hood today I saw that the brake fluid cap was missing. Do you think I could find a new cap at a local auto parts store and do you think I should take my car in to a mechanic as well?

If you definitely can't find it in your engine compartment or where you have your car a lot, then an auto parts store with a good HELP section may have it. Then I'd try Napa, Autocrafter, Carquest, ... online autoparts, online Ford parts dealers and lastly your dealer. Before driving your car anymore without the cap, I'd take a sandwich baggy and a rubber brand to tightly cover the reservoir opening, as it is very important to keep debris out. I'd wait and see if everything is related to the missing cap before persuing anything else. Be sure you have enough fluid in the brake fluid reservoir and there is nothing floating on top of the fluid as it is very important for it to be clean. Either fish it out or use something like a turkey baster to suck it out. Adding fluid may help to get the debris to come to the top and float out, but that's messy and may push debris down and you will have to remove excess fluid that will otherwise cause the brake system to overheat due to lack of thermal expansion space in the reservoir. Let us know how it goes! :)

Welcome to the forum!

In addition to tripledaddy's comments, you could also check your local salvage yard. The cap for your car will likely be very similar to many other Ford products, so you shouldn't have a problem finding one.

As for next step after you get a replacement master cylinder cap, I'd HIGHLY recommend you flush the entire brake system with fresh fluid. Brake fluid is hygroscopic, so being exposed to the elements pretty much guarantees that you'll have a lot of moisture contamination in the fluid. That moisture, in addition to reducing braking efficiency, will also potentially cause corrosion in the ABS pump and may render that ABS pump faulty. The ABS pump is not inexpensive to replace.

-Rod

Hello,

For sure bleed those brakes and get that contaminated fluid out of there or you will have bigger problems.

R

Some garages can flush an entire brake system for around $80.00 to $100.00 with a machine. As long as all the brake bleeders come loose.