emergency brake light

[thedeadcivic]

anyone know why my emergency brake light on my dash would turn on when i make sharp turns?
it usually stays on for a minute or so afterwards

[viper-blue]

thats a tough one dude...I would normally say your ebrake switch is in need of adjustment or replacement...other than checking that the switch is mounted properly, and is within spec...I'd almost say you have a short in the wiring from the switch, there may be a short in the printed circuit in the dash...does the light come on normally when your parked and apply the ebrake? if it does than the dash light is probably working fine and you have a short, or bad/out of adjustment switch. I'm pretty sure that circuit shares the fluid level warning for the MC to though..might wanna check the fluild level...maybe the warning gets tripped when you go around corners and the fluid moves at an odd angle

[FrodoGT]

Correct! the light is also a warning of low brake fluid. Check the resevoir.

[thedeadcivic]

gasp*
ill go check that now
thanks

[viper-blue]

Originally Posted by thedeadcivic

gasp*
ill go check that now
thanks

Was it the fluid level?

[thedeadcivic]

nope, not the brake fluid, its right to the top of the reservoir.
i could try loosening the cable attached to the acctual brake i suppose...
any other ideas?

[FrodoGT]

check the connection to both the ebrake switch, and the fluid resevoir, also, make sure the float on the cap is functioning properly.

[thedeadcivic]

lol... it did end up being the brake fluid resevoir...
anyways, its all good now. thanks

[FrodoGT]

Glad you figured it out, was the float stuck? or was it really lower than you though? Or was the switch just bad? Its still better than having to pull your interior apart.

[thedeadcivic]

the float was working fine. it was dark when i checked it and i couldnt see the maximum fluid level marking. i thought it could be the cable attached to my handbrake itself because i had tightened the cable the day before this happened. just a coincodence i guess

[viper-blue]

Originally Posted by thedeadcivic

the float was working fine. it was dark when i checked it and i couldnt see the maximum fluid level marking. i thought it could be the cable attached to my handbrake itself because i had tightened the cable the day before this happened. just a coincodence i guess

Its always good to think of the last job you did on the car when back-tracking to find a problem...you said the light came on just around corners though so that wouldn't have been the prob...am sure you woulda noticed the brakes dragging if you had of tightened the cables so much that the lever wouldn't return to the closed position

[skotman]

as stated above, your fluid is probably low. mine does this all the time. it's got a very slow leak and the resevoir needs to be topped off every few months.