dolorvv

I am losing my marbles here please help I only have a few.

I put a lot of labor into putting this train wreck back together but for the life of me I can't figure out how to troubleshoot this thing and the chilton book is about great for toilet paper on this subject.

After scouring the forums, here is the story:

Light has been stuck on since i bought it while I am driving.Only time it goes out is when the vans shut off . I checked the e brake first, it works fine. Found what i hope is just one switch above the back of the brake lever, it has one wire on it. Pulled it out, light still on. Next I grounded the wire out to the body and the light still stayed on. Upon pushing the e brake pedal in the light does get slightly brighter, but you have to look pretty good to notice.

I check the resevoirs, I have 2 a smaller and a larger one. The larger one is full the smaller one is empty enough were I dont see any fluid in it. so I filled it up with dot 3 and it only drank about say a quarter of the can (the smaller size can) saw a tiny air bubble or 2 but that was the jist of it.. Light is still stuck on

I looked for sensors around the brake resevoirs I dont have any that i saw. I also looked for the one wire pressure differencial switch on the master cylinder? I dunno I found somthing with one wire on it that was under the resevoirs and under the steel bar the resevoirs were attached to (had steel lines going to it from the resevoir metal deal) Has a cap like thing on top with one wire on it but i couldnt pullt it out and was scared id break it off. I tried also pulling the ebsm and esm fuses.. still no luck..

Does anyone smarter then me have any input here? I have found answers relating maybe to my van but I m not for sure..

maxxman04

the parking brake pedal itself uses a ground out to light up the brake light when engaged. it almost sounds like its not ungrounding itself when e brake is released. pull the drivers side kick panel if necessary, but find the one wire that is going from e brake pedal right to the body. sometimes you can see it just underneath the dash, sometimes not. however, if you do not see a wire, look for a switch type deal attached to e brake pedal arm, run wire from this to body.

dolorvv

Thanks maxx.. But I figured it out today. Turns out the RWAL system on my van was doing its job. I just wasn't thourough enough. As I said the slight brighter when I pushed the e brake in told me the ebrake was fine, when I managed to pull off the pressure switch on the combonation valve, (under the master cylinder it has one wire on it and its in the center of 2 steel brake lines) The light finally went out. If it would have stayed on at that point it would have been a low bright and an abs problem in which case i wouldve need a diagnostic.. It turns out the pressure switch didnt reset from the low brake fluid. But if the pressure switch causes the light to on it can also mean the piston was engaged to stop a leak that had been detected in the front or back set of brakes.. thought I'd post all the info I gathered in case some poor sap like me comes looking. So on my van the code is Brightest the e brake is engaed or grounded, slightly less bright is a brake problem (low fluid, or brakes sealed off due to a leak and only half running 2 out of 4 The pressure switch on the combonation valve will tell that tale it could even be the switch itself is busted) low light is an abs issue and time for a computer.. you can check the light varience by setting the e brake, and releasing it while watching the dashboard closley. another way to check the pressure switch is to bleed the brakes and watch the light..

But thanks again for the hip shot this was certainly a new experience for me.