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e brake light goes on under hard acceleration

T

thatguy

CEG'er
Joined
Feb 16, 2007
Messages
162
Location
South Central PA
hi, just wondering if this has happened to anyone and if there is a solution to this problem. its a 99, 2.0 auto. If i floor it the emergency brake light comes on, for a few seconds. It turns off after that but it just doesnt make sense. I dont know if there is a short or what but i would appreciate if someone could help me here. thanks
 
Brake fluid level is low. If you have rear drums I'd wager your most likely culprit is a blown rear cylinder. Look for brake fluid splattered along the inside of the rear wheels.
 
I brought this up to someone and they said the brake light shouldn't have anything to do with fluid.

But anyways, I'm also having the problem, but mine has been on and off, steady, flickering, for basically, the whole drive. Sometimes it'll go off. That's where someone said about the whole brake fluid thing, and that it was just the connection.
 
I asked my one instructor in school about this today and he also said its probably brake fluid. But i thought its cable and not hydraulic. Idk, i will deff check my brake fluid though. Thanks guys
 
The e-brake itself is cable actuated, but all four wheels are hydraulic. You'll see this if you pull the rear wheels off. The confusion seems to be that setting the e-brake and having a low fluid level both trigger the same light.
 
hetfield said:
That is incorrect. There is a sensor at the top of the reservoir specifically for monitoring fluid level, and if it detects it being low it triggers the brake light.
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This is good to know. I just wasn't sure since everyone else started saying that it shouldn't have anything to do with it. So if it's super low, then the light should be going crazy like it is right now, correct?
 
Yes, and another thing to be very careful of is that if your brake fluid is "super low" you run the risk of putting air in the clutch line. The feeder for the clutch is slightly higher than the bottom of the reservoir.
 
Which means you might as well bleed the brakes and put completely new brake fluid to eliminate that risk, which I've heard you should do either way if you have to "top off" brake fluid.
 
problem is solved. my fluid level was between maximum and minimum, but i added a little more to it, and now everything is ok. thanks for the help
 
thatguy said:
problem is solved. my fluid level was between maximum and minimum, but i added a little more to it, and now everything is ok. thanks for the help
Click to expand...

Problem isn't solved. You are leaking from somewhere. Brake fluid doesn't just disappear. It will continue leaking and you will have to refill it. Check all your brake lines, calipers, and drums.
 
That doesn't mean it is leaking, the pads probably have worn down and the brake fluid level dropped.
 
blu_fuz said:
That doesn't mean it is leaking, the pads probably have worn down and the brake fluid level dropped.
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This is true. However, being that he has rear drums (I'm 99% sure of this), I don't think it'd be possible to consume that much fluid over the course of the pad/shoe/rotor/drum life...Four discs I can maybe see that happening...
 
thatguy said:
problem is solved. my fluid level was between maximum and minimum, but i added a little more to it, and now everything is ok. thanks for the help
Click to expand...

its alwasy better to be closer to maximum then the minimum. the light will still go on even when its between the two. dont overfill, but keep it close to the max
 
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