IHA 97 Chevy Malibu. The e-brake light came on today with the brake off. I engaged it and released it several times. The brake releases but the light stays on accompanied by that really annoying "Bing! Bing! Bing!" when I drive off.

Is there a switch or something I can check?[/align]

 

check the brake fluid

 

Good idea. I did not think about that.....OK, I just checked the reservoir. It's full. The brakes are new(er). This is the first time this has happened. I know the e-brake is disengaging because there is no "lag" or sluggish feeling when driving. Nor does it have that aromatic burnt dog hair smell. Is it possible it is not fully releasing the shoes? Enough so that it drives fine but not enough that the system thinks it is still engaged?

 

The switch does not know if the actual brakes are on, it only knows if the lever has been pressed\pulled.
Check for a one wire electrical connector at the ebrake and pull it off. If the switch was at fault, the light should go out

 

The parking brake foot peddle on this car has to be pressed down to engage and then pressed down again to release. When it comes back up, the lights is supposed to go out. The cable is moving up and down when the foot peddle is moved. The only wire harness I found was direclty under the brake. However when disconnected the ABS and brake lights came on. When connected againthe ABSwent off but that infernal brake light remained on. So I'm wondering if there is a fauly switch the lever makes contact with? Anyone know about that?

 

There should be a one wire connector with a light blue wire in it attached to the pedal. It is usually on the side or top of the pedal assembly and may need to have the hush panel removed to access it. Disconect it, and if the light goes out, then the switch is bad. I have never seen a switch go bad and cause the light to be on all the time, usually its the other way around. If the light doesn't go out when the connector is off, test the wire for a short to ground