Lumina'97 - dashboard "Brake" light is on, then getting dimmer

[Artem F]

the ABS on my Lumina died a couple of years ago
and I removed its fuse in order not to be disctracted
by its yellow flashing dashboard light. I recall that
since that time the Brake dashboard light started
demonstrating the following behavior:

- it goes on after one starts the engine
- it remains on for several minutes then becomes dimmer and dimmer and then goes off

I didn't find anything of a kind in the manual.
The brakes are not affected, the brake fluid level
is OK, the braking was and is good, the brake assistant works, the parking brake and its switch
are not activated .
However, I'd like to know what does all that mean?

I wish the OBD-II scanner was able to read the ABS codes. Without that I can only guess that this brake
light serves as an additional indicator for the ABS module.

Thanks

[jeffcoslacker]

Yeah if I remember right, the Brake warning light operates in a three-tier manner of intensity...Parking brake (brightest), hydraulic, then ABS...

So if it's on, you set the parking brake...if it gets no brighter, this indicates the highest intensity, telling you the parking brake is involved.

If it gets brighter, you know it's signalling a fault in the hydraulic or ABS systems...

Then I forget how to determine which of the other two it's talking about...unplug the proportioning valve sensor or something I think...

But my guess you are seeing the normal startup self-test, followed by the actual warning related to the ABS being disabled...