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parking light that wont turn off


nscason

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I have been putting in some racing seats for the past while. real pain in the butt cuz i have to get the seats to fit perfect for all the clearances. ok enough rambling... i would put in the passenger seat and unhook the wire for the parking break. some time i was driving and the light went on. i didn't understand how that could happen. i took the seat out and plugged the wire back to the parking brake. the wire is even now plugged in and the light stays on. is there a bad connection anywhere? does anyone have any ideas before i start to tare apart the wiring? maybe someone had this problem before? i just figured i would ask you guys so i have some ideas to maybe save me some time and frustration. thanks for any help.

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Sounds like the switch on the parking brake is stuck.. (it's mounted somewhere on the handle, or in the 'pocket' in the tunnel iirc..) When you pull it up, the switch makes contact and turns on the light. It's suposed to break the circuit when you put the handle down, but sometimes they get sticky and it keeps the light on, even with the brake released. My 280z did this to me and it took a while to figure it out.. just a thought.

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i haven't had the leather brake cover on for a while and it isn't the switch. that's the first place that i looked. and it isn't a bad connection to that switch that's under the seat. i checked that too. any other ideas. i haven't had the time to tear everything apart. the light just stays on for some reason.

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Oh yeah.. depending what year your car is, it may be another circuit.. I remember when I blew the rear brake line last summer in my 75 280z, the light came on. This was weird, because it NEVER works anymore when the hand brake is pulled, cause the switch is broken. Took me a few seconds to figure out why: then the brake pedel hit the floor and the car didn't stop!!! I think there's a sensor that detects the brake fluid being too low, and makes the light come on.. maybe just a fluke that you are low on brake fluid? (or you need pads/shoes, and all the fluid is in the lines, not the reservoir where it should be..) Or there's a really weird wiring issue somewhere else and something is shorting out...

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that makes more sense. i didn't think of that. the thing is, i have ALL new brake parts. except the master cylinder and the rear wheel cylinders. the master is completely full and the brakes are well bled. i might be a short or something. i never would have looked at the rest of the brake system. it never would have crossed my mind. ill take a look at that some time. thanks for the insight and the thought from the outside.

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  • 2 months later...
Guest eddyonelv

i have the same problem on my 78 the fluid is full and the switchseems to be fine, a friend said that there was a sensor by the pedal or in the dash, but i haven't found it, anyone else have any ideas?

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well to give an update. i havent looked for the problem yet. it hasent presented any problems. everything works fine. the light just stays on. ALL THE TIME. i learned to ignore it. the master works good and is full, the system is full, new brake parts that work good, tale lights work correctly, and the parking brake works as it should. i think that it is some kind of wiring glitch somewhere. if it was the switch that is hooked to the peddle, wouldnt the tail lights not work correctly??? i dunno. i just glad that im not the only one with this problem.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have the same problem, however the switch is out, the light used to only come on when it was cold ( outside temp) then once the car would warm up it would go off, took the switch out when I was redoing the console area , now cant find the switch..the darned light is on and cant get it off.

 

Is there a way to reach the light ( bulb) without pulling the dash..have a good idea where it is connected however I dont want to "pull" on any wires and screw up the ignition switch , headlamps etc..

 

All I want to do is disconnect the bulb..

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Personally i would disconnect the wire going to the bulb. if you take out the bulb it could get broken, lost or stuff could end up in the area where the light goes. i disconnect the wire that is if it can be disconnected by itself. i have not looked under there but it might go right into one of those wiring harnesses. I dont know. Im the kind of person to find the problem than to get rid of the indication that there is one. Thats just me though. That light has been on for months if not a year or so.

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Know what you mean by finding the problem and taking care of it , deal is with thwe way the wires are going to the ignition as well as one other link , I just dont want to cut the wrong one..I could care less if the light never comes on again..I know with the maint of my Z when the brakes need any type of work..in fact the rotors , pads and calipers have all been changed..prior to the light problem..there has to be a way to locate the wire to the darned light.

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well i dont plan on cutting into any wiring harness. why dont you take out the light bulb and just put the bulb holder back into the tack housing. that will get rid of the light at least. I am going to let the light stay on until i have the time and am in one of those moods to rip everything apart and find the gremlin. Until that time i will just keep ignoring the light.

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And there is the question...how do I reach or locate the bulb..I can reach under the dash with the trim off and feel something that is in the general area of the wire that goes to this light..just dont want to pull the wrong wire..if I take out the screws that are in the tach and speedometer..will that at least get me to where I could disable the light..

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that is the only area of the car that i havent taken apart yet. i have been through everything else. thats the big question. there is the one screw that is at the top of the inside of where the tach is. you can see it from the drivers seat. its right there. you might try that. i know i havent. i do know that most lights have a plastic peace that they fit into and that pushes in and twists into the tach. what i would do is wait until it is dark and turn the dash lights on and just start taking out the lights until i found the only red one. trial and error kinda thing. i dunno there might be something that fits over the whole tach and speedo. while i have been down there i never have looked in that area. ill get around to it some time. now that i keep thinking about it, it is starting to bug me. not in the sense of the annoying light either. i know there is an electrical glitch. damn electrical!

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nscason..thats the next move..that particular screw..now if that will somehow allow the faceplate in front of the tach to come out or raise up an inch..the light will be out..gone , broken or whatever..right now to just not hack me off today..I put a piece of electrical tape over the area to block out the "red glow"..and you really hit the nail on the head with DAMN ELECTRICAL for sure.

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EVERYONE STOP!!

 

dont cut harnesses, dont yank bulbs, easy easy here!!!! that big red BRAKE light is a VERY multi-function device!!!

 

It comes on when you hit the brakes and you have a bulb out;

it comes on when you pull the hand brake up;

and it comes on when activated by a presssure differential switch built into the proportioning valve

 

This switch comes on when for some reason, there is much higher pressure in the front brake circuit than the rear, or vice versa. The brake pedal goes almost to the floor, and then the light comes on, the "low pressure" circuit gets cut off by the proportioning valve, and what little bit of force generated by the last 1/16 of the travel of the pedal goes to the "good" brake circuit.

 

I know this because i drove with ZERO rear brakes for about a year; every time I hit the pedal it was a delayed reaction, and once braking pressure actually WAS being applied, the brake light came on.

 

The reason alot of you are having mysterious "always on" brake lights is likely a problem with the wiring for THIS switch; you have ruled out all the other possibilities.

 

Sorry to yell there at the beginning, I just started reading all these posts saying "cut" "remove" "yank" "tape over" and other destructive words.... when no one was mentioning anything about the proportioning valve and it's associated switch.

 

If anyone has a FSM, you can look it up in there; I don't have mine handy.

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I have a totally new braking system from top to bottom..there are no bulbs that are burned out..there is nothing that would cause this light to come on outside of my disconnecting the switch that has the pop up on it for when the parking brake handle is released..however the light came on prior to that when we had some cold outside temps..i.e 25 degrees..thats when it came on and now it will not go off..I have no idea what the proportioning valve and associated switch is or what it does..all I want to do is DISCONNECT THE DAMNED LIGHT..excuse me..but thats all I want to do..again , nothing wrong with the brakes, brake lights or anything outside of this stupid light not going off..

 

So ..how do you get to it..I mean what if it burned out ..how would you replace it..there has to be a way to disconnect this thing...

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oh man this stuff is funny. ok... thanks for the concern. i did for get about the proportioning valve switch. that might be it for me. if the ign is on so is the brake light. like carolinaz my brake work incredibly well. i have also driven with no rear brakes at one point in time. there was air in the lines. oh man that was horrible. talk about spongy. i fixed that the next day. i never planned on cutting anything. the light dosent bother me any more anyways. i will mess with the proportioning valve switch though. always helps to get an outside opinion. i do work up to 80hrs a week and go to school full time. i probably wont get to it for another few months.

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okay, suit yourself. I was trying to get attention, that was all... CarolinaZ, it sounds to me like your problem is likely in your proportioning valve switch as well, or its associated wiring.

 

dont cut harnesses, dont yank bulbs, easy easy here!!!! that big red BRAKE light is a VERY multi-function device!!!

 

The reason alot of you are having mysterious "always on" brake lights is likely a problem with the wiring for THIS switch; you have ruled out all the other possibilities.

 

Sorry to yell there at the beginning, I just started reading all these posts saying "cut" "remove" "yank" "tape over" and other destructive words.... when no one was mentioning anything about the proportioning valve and it's associated switch.

 

If anyone has a FSM, you can look it up in there; I don't have mine handy.

 

There is my original post, sans a couple of unneeded side comments... Note first the yell to get your attention, the explanation that this circuit is almost definitely your problem (unless you re wired your car when you installed the all new braking system) and even an apology for yelling!

 

I was just trying to let you know that there IS another link between battery positive voltage, and that light bulb, beyond just the handbrake switch. It seemed to ME that was the point of this thread.. "what else would cause it to stay on?"

 

I never would have posted anything like this in a thread started by you, stating that you had re engineered and built your own fully custom braking system, and wanted to bypass the light. I was posting answering nscason's question.. why won't the light go off? If I was a touch too adamant for your tastes, my apologies... but unless you have an aftermarket proportioning valve, I bet your light is on for the same reason nscason's is: a switch or wiring fault in the P-valve circuit that everyone always forgets.

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OK..so , now how do I turn the light off..forever. On top of my brakes and all related parts being replaced , a new wiring harness has been installed..however the light was on prior to that replacement of the brakes and the wiring harness..

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