08 Uplander Parking Brake Warning Light and Bell

[quickcurrent]

My 2008 Uplander started showing the brake warning light in the dash with an exclamation mark through it some time ago when my wife was driving it. It never did that when I was driving it until today. The light comes on all the time now. When the vehicle is stopped (like at the traffic lights) it shows the annoying light without any noise. But when the vehicle is in motion the bell comes on continuously (same bell as when the seat belts are not bucked up). I suspect it may be some sensor that is dirty or malfunctioning because the feel of the van when driving it is normal.

I had a similar problem with a Ford van years ago, for which the dealer wanted to correct the problem for $100! Then I found out where the culprit sensor was for that and cleaned it - everything returned to normal. So this appears to be the same thing.

Can anyone comment on this issue, and if it is a sensor, where to find that sensor?

TIA,

quickcurrent

[gmtech1]

Have you checked the brake fluid level?

[quickcurrent]

Thanks gmtech1.

Had not, just did. It was about 1/8" low in the master cylinder, just topped it up, but I doubt that is the cause of the problem!

Any other thoughts?

There is an electrical connector going to the master cylinder on the passenger side of the master cylinder. Could that be the sensor I am looking for?

[gmtech1]

That is the fluid level sensor for the master cylinder. If the light stays on. unplug the sensor and see if the light goes out. If so, the sensor is bad, or the float in the resivoir is stuck.

[quickcurrent]

Pulled the sensor, no luck. The problem remains the same. Is there another sensor at the wheels?

[gmtech1]

Not that will turn on the red brake light. There is a switch for the park brake will turn on the light. You can check it by looking at it when you apply and release the park brake.

[quickcurrent]

Thanks again gmtech1, I solved the problem with the bell coming on and the red brake light coming on.

When I applied the parking brake, the light went off. When I released it it cane back on!

So I went down looking for the switch you mentioned and didn't find the switch but found a wire with a blue sheath and a copper colored terminal with an L end that was dangling loose. My wife must have moved that connector over to the left so it touched metal in the area of the parking brake cable and shorted something causing my problem!

The question now is what is that blue sheathed wire doing there? Should it be connected to something or is it one of those wires for future/other feature not included in my Uplander, meaning that I should just put some electrical tape on it and tuck it out of the way? If you need it, I took a photo of it.

[gmtech1]

A pic would be good. It sounds like that is the wire for the park brake switch, and maybe the switch broke, leaving the terminal in the connector. When the connector contacts the the park brake assy, its is grounded and turns the light on.

[quickcurrent]

OK, here is a photo of the wire

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?7g4uui7p6rz6uw3

Thanks again bud.

[gmtech1]

Looked at the pic, and that is what happened. You'll need to replace the switch on the park brake assy.

[quickcurrent]

Is this the part I need? (It's rather difficult to get in there to see what the switch looks like)

http://www.autopartsexpress.com/sear...lookfor=SLS336

I'm not sure how that goes on there, but will no doubt be able to figure it out once I get the correct part.

Thanks again, gmtech1. You have been of tremendous help.

quickcurrent

[gmtech1]

Does not look like the ones I have seen, GM part# is 1264464, about 18.00. Hope this helps.

[quickcurrent]

Thanks, I'll get one of those.

[quickcurrent]

I tried getting one of those switches from the dealer and they had none in stock so I let it go ensuring that the end of the wire did not come in contact with any metal surfaces and all was OK until a few days ago, when three warnings started coming on:

Service ABS system
Service T/C system
Service Stability system

I thought it was that darned switch wire that had shifted, so I got down on my knees and had a look at what was there with a flashlight. I looks like the switch wasn't broken at all, just a copper part that the connecting wire hooks up to had come out of the plastic housing. So I took the bolt off to remove the switch housing and pulled the copper piece off the connector (wire) to figure out how to reassemble the switch. With a picture from the net I was able to put it all together, then re-installed it.

Now in addition to the above warnings I also get:

Parking Brake is on

Not bad, I've gone from 3 to 4 warnings!!!

So now I am wondering if all these warnings are being caused by the way I installed the park brake switch? Is the copper part of the switch that sticks out supposed to make contact with the parking brake pedal either when the parking brake is on or off? How is this switch supposed to work?

Or could these warnings be caused by something else? I've tried my OBD II reader but it gives me nothing. I think I may need a different device to read the codes causing these warnings! :-(

[gmtech1]

The ABS, Traction control and Stability lights are probably a seperate issue from the red brake light. You are correct, you will need a different scanner to read the ABS codes, a basic code reader will only read PCM/ECM codes. Would go ahead and order the new park brake switch and just be done with that part of it.