My parking brake light just came on today all by itself. The damn parking brake handle is all the way down... what is going on?

 

Light is also turned on if you have a hydraulic brake imbalance between the front and rear. Most likey a leak someplace. How does the brake pedal feel? Mushy? Goto the floor when you stop? Difficult to stop the car?

OR

The switch is bad for your parking brake.

 

First, apply parking brake while watching red indicator light, if light does NOT get any brighter, then the problem IS with the parking brake warning system, BUT if the light DOES get brighter, then the problem is with the hydraulic warning system. Give this a check & post what you find.

 

alright the light stays at a constant intensity, meaning it doesn't get brighter nore dimmer when moving the parking brake handle

 

That means the problem is with the parking brake switch circiut. Is it possible that somthing metallic fell down into handle area? Usually the brake handle switch provides a ground to turn the light on, if the switch has become bent or shorted to ground, then the light will go on. I will check the schematic & get back to you. In the meantime, check the handle switch. I have seen coins cause problems down inside consoles.

 

Wire is tan/white, it gets grounded by switch to turn light on, this wire is grounded either by the switch or a wiring problem.

 

ok first thing tom I'll pull apart the console and check it, is the switch in the console? heh.... so I could check the wiring?

 

yes, its in console, attached to brake mechanism.

 

thanks quite a bit, hey my engine isn't fuel injection, it's a 305 v8 4bl, carb is that a TBI??

 

I jacked my car up a little, I noticed from under the car I saw wet spot like something had leaked from inside the drum, could this also cause my parking brake light to come on? I haven't replaced whatever is causing hte leak yet but I plan on it

 

What does the brake pedal feel like? Is it the same as always? Or does it do down to the floor?

 

I just noticed it started to go down to the floor and the rear brakes I usually hear, I no longer hear....

 

Well, it sounds like the wheel cylinder is bad. That is why the light is on, there is an imbalance of pressure between the front and rear brakes. This is contradictory to the light test we did earlier. In any case, you need to fix it. New wheel cylinders, probably shoes & hold down/return springs, bleed brakes, after that the light will go off.

 

I only need 2 wheel cylinders right (rear drums)? I bought 1 for the bad 1, also do I only need to buy the rear drum hardware? I don't need to get anything for the front right? just one more question. if I had very little to no parking brake is this one way to tell that the cylinder is on its way out the door, or is it just that it needs adjusting?

 

if one of my rear drum wheel cylinders are bad, do I lose all my brakes or just rear?

 

bump

 

wow I know it must sound like a stupid question but not 1 person would answer it for me? damn

 

Yes, you only will lose rear brakes. This is why the brake light came on, because there was an imbalance between the front and the rears. Replace the cylinder, bleed the brakes, and you should be good to go. Just like I said in my first post.


And I’d like to rebut the light brightness theory. That would only work if one the grounds in either of the switches is providing some type of resistance. It they are working properly, this will not be the case. Both switches do the same function, provide a path to ground. Adding another path to ground WILL NOT cause the light to be brighter if everything is functioning normally.

 

sounds like you blew a wheel cyl.

replace the one that blew and the one on the other side

its a standard brake job..


when you do that would be a good time to go over the entire brake system... if the fronts are worn, take care of them, replace the shoes in the rear if they're worn, possibly replace the flex brake hoses if there are any cracks in them, and adjust the parking brake.

 

alright I'm dumb, I'm still learning the techs of this car, I'm unsure, the hub is the axle shaft right or the hub is on the end? and the only way to remove is by first removing some clip in the axle where the differential gears are located? then all I have to do is pull the hub for this, do I lose some sort of oil/fluid and is it possible to just remove the axle shaft with your bare hands. also I think there was a newer wheel cylinder on the right drum nothing wrong with it, and it was also identical to the one autozone sold me, but the left side looked like the one from the haynes repair manual? that was the one that died, plus it was really bad on that side when I pulled off the hub, it was a mess I was disgusted, the rigth side looked alot better, I wish I had pics for you, but...man, the backing plate was so rusted that when I pulled the wheel cylinder...it pulled the fitting for the wheel cylinder in the backing plate.... going to junk yard for backing plate, not badly rusted at all for only 10 bucks... heh

 

Actually, in many domestic cars & trucks I have found that the proportioning valve provides a higher resistance to ground causing a dimmer light, therfore when a good ground is provided, the light illuminates brighter. Check the path of restistance through a 10 year old valve that has never moved, it will be higher than the switch on the parking brake. Its really not a theory if its test & proven.

 

A more reliable way to test it would be to just unplug the electrical connector on the combo valve.

 

Bingo.

The point is relying on the brightness test is not reliable. In this case it was wrong.

 

Why do I bother? Thanks for pointing that out goofyrox.

 

heh, it's ok guys, I was confused about the light thing, but since I know jack about them and now just learning I would give it a shot anyways, have you gusy seen my other post, could you tell me why anyone hasn't posted, like I said in it, I know jack **** about them and learning. I don't normally mess up anything, but I don't know how it all goes, by looking at the backing plate, to me it looks like I need to pull of the hub to get it, but I have no idea, it also looks like there is only 3 screws holding the backing plate in, but here is the tricky part, since I don't know, to me by looking at the hub, it look like I have to get a special tool or improvise and unscrew something... but by asking people they are telling me I have to pull a pin in the axel and pull the hub and the axel shaft to get the backing plate. This is why I ask a stupid question because I need to be precise before I atempt such a thing, scared to mess up but if I'm precise I will be more confident about it....

 

umm, you dont have to pull the backing plate to do a normal brake job... thats all you need to do.

now if you need to replace the backing plate, yes the axle has to slip out. but you probly dont have to replace the plate. i know i wouldnt.

just put a new wheel cyl on, possibly put new shoes on (and turn the drums if you get new shoes) and thats about it. normal brake job.

 

thanks for hte info. Well here it goes, damn I wen to a few junks around here too many backing plates about as bad as mine and the dealership told me that they were discontinued. Now I went to some place and picked up a universal plate... I thought hell why not give it a shot. Turned out good, sawed the old backign plate off, didn't damage any goods, new hardware/shoes/drums and all I need to do now is bleed... I don't know exactly how to do this, I hear it is a too man job, is it possible to do it yourself? ... although I doubt it. Now for all of those who didn't know, my original Backing Plate has actually rusted beyond beiliefe that actually to a point when I went to replace the wheel cynder and remove it from the plate, the plate was too bad that it acutally was.

 

well it has be fixed, deffinately was the wheel cylinder but the backing plate was rusted to crap, got that universal one from allied autoparts co. did all the work myself, and am proud, bought some 1 man bleeding kit to bleed the brakes, worked well. thanks for everyone's replys though

 

I went to get wheel cylinders for the drums, and the counter kid asked if i needed metric or standard threaded cylinders. Anyone know what I need? 05/1986 Camaro, VIN H