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In dash brake light

J

jeepinxj05

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Starkville, Mississippi
Yesterday, on my way home, i had to push the brakes a little harder than normal and i noticed that my dashlight came on (the one that comes on when you have your ebrake on, only mine wasn't). Does this mean anything serious? It bothers me so is there a way to make it shut off.
 
The brake lite came on because there is a problem with your brakes! Could be master cylindar, could be fluid, could be something else. If your oil pressure lite came on, would you just disconnect the lite? Probably not. Check out the problem before you or someone else gets hurt or worse.
 
Yep... the light means there's an abnormal pressure imbalance from the front side of the proportioning valve to the rear. In my case, it was a rear wheel cylinder that was leaking ever so slightly.

You need to start by inspecting the front and rear brakes. When you're in the drums in the rear, look for wear on the shoes, check the adjusters and make sure they aren't siezed up. If the shoes are good, look for signs of leakage from the wheel cylinder (shouldn't be wet and greasy inside the drum... if it is, you've probably found your culprit). After everything's back together, turn the adjusters out and fit the drum... if it doesn't have just a little drag, pull the drum back off and adjust out a little more, until you get it just right.
 
Normally I would say no. If they're warped, it causes a pulsation. You could have a bad rubber brake line, even if it's not leaking. The nylon re-inforcment
in the line can break with age. When you step on the brake that section of the line will swell, causing extra effort to stop and the "abnormal pressure imbalance from the front side of the proportioning valve to the rear." causing the lite to go on. If the fluid is filthy it shouldn't cause a problem unless there's water contaminating the fluid. The water in the fluid can boil, turn to steam etc. But that usually causes one of the brakes to lock-up, due to fluid expansion.

Since you do have a problem somewhere, you're going to want to check the complete system.....then bleed the brakes and that will rid you of the filthy fluid problem.
 
Ok. This light has been on for a couple of weeks and it has finally caused a problem. When I'm goin under ten mph and push real firmly on the brakes, a loud popping noise comes from the front driverside brake and my jeep kind of jumps. It feels as though the brakes catch. I tightened the caliper but that didn't help. This is where I ask if the warped rotors effect this. Well, do they?
 
As previously posted, a warped rotor might cause a pulsation in the peddle feel, but it would not cause a popping sound nor would it cause the vehicle to jump. It sounds like you have more serious problems than a warped rotor. And you should not have driven a vehicle with a brake system malfunction warning for two weeks without finding out what the problem is and getting it fixed.

Lastly, the light does not "cause" any problems. The light tells you that you have a problem. Did you check the fluid level in the master cylinder? More than likely one chamber or the other will be either low or empty, and that will tell you if the problem is with the front wheels or the rear wheels.
 
One has to wonder just how long you're going to drive around with brake problems before you get it diagnosed by a professional?!?!?! :scared:



jeepinxj05 said:
Ok. This light has been on for a couple of weeks and it has finally caused a problem. When I'm goin under ten mph and push real firmly on the brakes, a loud popping noise comes from the front driverside brake and my jeep kind of jumps. It feels as though the brakes catch. I tightened the caliper but that didn't help. This is where I ask if the warped rotors effect this. Well, do they?
Click to expand...
 
I checked the fluid and it was good. I'll probly get Goodyear, the one's that originally did my brakes, to look at the system but until then, I'm still rollin with it. My Jeep's my only vehicle. It still stops, it just doesn't feel right to slam on the brakes.
 
You seriously need to get this fixed ASAP. I can personally attest that losing all braking power in the middle of slowing for a stop light REALLY sucks. I'm lucky that I didn't kill anyone (or myself), and didn't cause anyone any damage (swerved to the shoulder, left it in gear and shut the ignition off).

I know I sound kind of rude about this, don't take it that way, but seriously, brakes aren't something to put off. Especially if it's acting like you say it has been, you shouldn't have waited this long.

Let us know what it turns out to be when you have it looked at, I'm trying to think over what would possibly cause that noise. I had some issues with one of the bolts that hold the caliper bracket to the knuckle that caused some wierd clunking noises when I braked (one of the bolts was loose). This could be something similar.
 
It still stops ... until it doesn't.

A number of years ago I had bought a well-used 1878 [EDIT: Make that 1978 /EDIT] full-size Cherokee. Got it home, did a bunch of work on it, got it registered. At that time, anything more than 10 years old in Connecticut required a safety inspection by the state, and it passed that.

Less than two weeks later, in heavy stop-and-go traffic, a woman in front of me stopped suddenly. I slammed on the brakes, the peddle went to the floor, and I stopped with the snow plow rig firmly embedded in the trunk of the woman's Honda Accord. Fortunately, I wasn't moving more than about 5 or 10 MPH before I hit the brakes so there were no injuries, but it could have been ugly if the brakes had decided to fail under other conditions.

Doesn't matter if you only have one vehicle. You also only have one life. Risk it all you want, but the person you're going to hit only has one life, too, and you have NO right to risk the lives of other people by driving around in a vehicle that you KNOW has a problem with the brakes.
 
Last edited:
Eagle said:
It still stops ... until it doesn't.

A number of years ago I had bought a well-used 1878 full-size Cherokee.
Click to expand...
Gee, Eagle. I knew you were about the same age as me, but I guess I was wrong. You have owned vehicles almost 100 years older than my oldest :D

In all seriousness, I agree with Eagle 100%. Dilly-dallying with getting brake issues fixed borders on criminally negligent. DON'T delay addressing this, if not for your sake, but for the sake of the person you will hit when the system fails abruptly.
 
AZ Jeff said:
Gee, Eagle. I knew you were about the same age as me, but I guess I was wrong. You have owned vehicles almost 100 years older than my oldest :D
Click to expand...

Yeah, and lemme tell ya, trying to balance those wooden wheels is a bear.
:anon:
 
jeepinxj05 said:
Yesterday, on my way home, i had to push the brakes a little harder than normal and i noticed that my dashlight came on (the one that comes on when you have your ebrake on, only mine wasn't). Does this mean anything serious? It bothers me so is there a way to make it shut off.
Click to expand...


Yes I read the whole thing. Glad that your in Ole Miss and I'm in WA.
My brakes don't work, lets keep rollin' . You should have spent this weekend fixing them... DAMN !

Ask Billy Joel What happens when brakes fail...
 
I think the popping is the centering of the proportioning valve.

You said the fluid was dirty, has anyone added any within the last month?

If the rubber gasket on the top of the reservoir is swelling, someone added something besides brake fluid.

All in all, if you really don't have any fluid leaking anywhere, it's probably the master cylinder.. But those don't tend to go out all of a sudden?..
Good luck
-Nick
 
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