Parking Brake Light Staying On: HELP

[redSHO96]

Heyy guys, question for ya. I went to go park in a parking lot and my e-brake light came on for no apparent reason. I played with the e-brake pedal over and over and nothing would make the light go off. Any ideas? I think there may be a brake fluid leak all of a sudden as the fluid is now low and Im having stopping issues. Would this be linked to that light coming on?

Regards,

Dan

 

[me6894]

doesnt that light also come on if your brake fluids low? i know it does on some cars, not sure about these

 

[redSHO96]

i wasnt sure about that either. my father told me that might be the issue. Now my problem is that idk why there was little to no brake fluid in the master cylinder. The thing isnt leaking from anywhere, ive been all under the car with someone stepping on the brakes. Yesterday I was cleaning out the dirt and crap under the hood and I cleaned off the master cylinder filler so Im hoping that I bumped the cap loose and the fluid evaporated. Its been very hot the past two days. Can brake fluid evaporate if that cap wasnt tight?

~Dan~

 

[stephen newberg]

I doubt that much brake fluid would evaporate off even with the cap off in hot weather. Certainly something to keep a close eye on with daily checks after driving.

And cleaning everything around all the brake connections all the way to the wheels is the only way to find a leak. Otherwise the fluid just sogs into the surrounding dirt.

pax, smn

 

[redSHO96]

okay, so I broke the brake line running under the drivers side back to the rear wheel. Found the puddle this morning.

Does anyone know of a company that sells pre bent brake lines? Ford doesnt carry them and autozone/Royco and such places dont deal in pre bent.

 

[SHOZ123]

You will have to go to a local shop and have them made up. Usually in the $100 range for a line repair.

 

[me6894]

or you can buy a flaring tool for cheaper than that and bend it yourself

 

[naval-avi8or]

No need to do the entire line. Just cut a section out and replace it. YOu can get line with fitting already on them in different lengths from NAPA. Then all you need to do is install and flare the correct fiting on your car and install the section of line. Or you can get a small section of line with no fittings and purchase two compression fittings and install the new section of line.

 

[stephen newberg]

That is certainly the way I tend to fix brake line blow outs for the first few years after they start, but then you will start to find that fixing one section will make the failure of another near it start to happen more quickly. Eventually replacing it all becomes a good idea, rather than doing it by patches, but it can be put off for a long time by going sectionally.

Now that I think about it, my '81 Scirocco went on patches up to 465K, at which point I sold it, so make that a -very- long time.

pax, smn

 

[ArkanSHO]

Now that I think about it, my '81 Scirocco went on patches up to 465K, at which point I sold it, so make that a -very- long time.
pax, smn

Wow, thought I was the only one that got a lot of miles out of my water cooled VW. Did 524K on my '81 Scirocco, then the body started giving up after my ex wrecked it. The engine went on another 80,000 in a GTI Rabbit of my nephews until he rolled it end-over-end.

Sorry, I know it was a little of subject, but just rambling.

 

[subdermal]

*the search function works again*

My parking break light was staying on, so I decided to use the all powerful search, and voila, this thread. Low brake fluid was the problem, just topped it off, no more parking light.

 

[SHOZ123]

This also means that you will soon need new pads.

 

[me6894]

This also means that you will soon need new pads.

unless your leaking from somewhere

 

[SHOZ123]

Usually when they leak it is sudden and catastrophic because a rusty brake line just went KBOOM

 

[naval-avi8or]

Also if you topped it off, with out checking to see if your pads are in need of replacment, you will need to remove fluid prior to reseating the callipers or you will have break fluid overflow.

 

[subdermal]

I'm getting new pads and rotors within the next week or two. I'm going to see about having all the lines checked during replacement.

Thanks for all the added info.

edit: I'm also thinking about adding SS lines in the not too distant future, which will hopefully upgrade performance a little, if I can find them for a good price....

 

[me6894]

SS lines just replace the hoses if im not mistaken... you still have the long brake lines that run to the back that can blow

 

[SHOZ123]

Look around the gas tank they will be corroded badly there if they are.