NewDirection Posted December 31, 2023 Report Share Posted December 31, 2023 Hello everyone, I changed the rear shocks on my car and now whenever the car decelarates the brake light in the dash comes on. When I pull away from a stop it turns off but as soon as I hit the brakes moderately or even downshift into a lower gear at high-ish RPMs the dash brake light will come on. Because this happened right after I changed the rear shocks I assume I must have dislodged some sort of sensor somewhere at the rear brakes. Any thoughts on how I could troubleshoot this? Quote Link to comment
datzenmike Posted December 31, 2023 Report Share Posted December 31, 2023 There is no sensor back there to dislodge. Make sure the hand brake is all the way off. There is a switch on it to warn that it's in operation. If this wire should be bare or rubbing against a ground it will trigger the warning light, Look also at the emergency brake cables. I've run over a tree branch that got lodged in the cable and this turned the warning light on. Check that both reservoirs are full to the line. If one is near empty the differential switch may trigger the warning light. The differential switch is triggered if there is an imbalance in line pressure between the two hydraulic circuits. Again a bare or damaged wire touching ground will turn the light on. The differential switch is mounted on the engine side of the firewall forward of the passenger seat. Quote Link to comment
NewDirection Posted January 1 Author Report Share Posted January 1 Mike to the rescue once again. Turns out one of the reservoirs just needed a little topping up and the problem disappeared. Not sure why this was necessary as I don't see an obvious leak. Quote Link to comment
Crashtd420 Posted January 1 Report Share Posted January 1 5 hours ago, NewDirection said: Mike to the rescue once again. Turns out one of the reservoirs just needed a little topping up and the problem disappeared. Not sure why this was necessary as I don't see an obvious leak. Probably just enough from pad wear.... Quote Link to comment
datzenmike Posted January 1 Report Share Posted January 1 Easy fix. Early '80s vehicles had sensors in the reservoirs to turn the warning light on when low. This was because people were getting away from maintaining their own vehicles. In the past ownership included checking things like tire pressures, oil levels, brake fluid radiator every few weeks. Quote Link to comment
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