sleeton

I recently purchased a 71 cutlass convertible and ever since I brought the car home the "BRAKE" light on the gauge or dash stays illuminated. I installed new front hose, pads and calipers and filled the master cylinder up and bled the brakes and filled the master cylinder back up. Need help, any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

toymobile

One of 2 things, the equalizer valve is not centered or the E brake peddle is down SOME, Try the E break first if that is not it take the rear brake line loose at the master cyl and mash the brake peddle down, you should hear the valve swap may need to mash really hard, after the valve swaps reattach the line and mash the peddle again, that should center the valve.

Good luck

Johnny

Allan R

I'd bet it was a sticking switch on the e-brake inside the car. Try disconnecting the wire from that switch and see if the light goes out. If it does, there's your culprit - the switch. They're almost identical to the ones for the door jambs.

joe_padavano

So first question: Was there a problem with the brakes BEFORE you did all that work?

sleeton

Joe

yes ever since i bought the car a few weeks ago the brake light on the dash has been on

jcdynamic88

joe,that answers your question

TripDeuces

Pull the emergency brake release handle and hold it. Then reach down and pull up on the emergency brake pedal.

joe_padavano

No, actually it doesn't. My (ambiguously worded) question was "how did the brakes FUNCTION before all that work". Was the pedal firm and did the car stop despite the light? Were there any signs of leaks?

The OP has replaced a lot of parts. Was that even necessary? Was the only problem prior to the work the light staying on, or was there a brake functionality issue?

jcdynamic88

[QUOTE=joe_padavano;1043014]No, actually it doesn't.

should have put sarcasm in parenthesis.

joe_padavano

Yeah, those HTML codes still aren't working...

sleeton

Joe

the reason I replaced the front brakes was because the calipers were locked up. So, since I was already there replacing the calipers I went ahead and replaced the pads and the hoses. Once all of this was installed I bled the brakes and upon completion of all of this I now want to tackle the issue of the BRAKE light illuminating. The work on the front brakes was just to allow the front wheels to rotate. Hope that clears things up.

Where is the switch you eluded to in a previous post that you advised to disconnect the wire on, is it on the brake pedal or the emergency brake pedal itself?

Thank you

joe_padavano

So to clarify, the BRAKE light was on before you changed the calipers?

The BRAKE light gets switched 12V on one side of the bulb from the instrument feed. The other side is grounded one of three ways. There is a ground terminal in the ignition switch that closes that circuit in the START position, as a lamp test. There is the switch on the top of the e-brake pedal that closes the circuit if the e-brake is not fully released. There is the differential pressure switch in the distribution block or combo valve (depending on which you have) that closes the circuit if you loose pressure in half the brake system.

If any of these wires is inadvertently pinched and shorted to ground, the light will stay on.

By the way, is this a factory disc brake car or a conversion? If a conversion, is it possible that the wire to the differential pressure switch was not connected, and possibly shorted out?

sleeton

I believe the car is a factory disc but do not know that for sure. One thing I have noticed since I bought the car is that the ignition switch(where the key goes) was replaced and when I turn the key off it is a struggle to get the ignition all the way back to the off position and the ignition switch is hard to depress in to get the key out

sleeton

ALLAN R

where is that switch located? Can you send me a pic so I know what I am looking for.

sleeton

I also depressed the emergency brake as far down as I could and then released it and as I released it I also pulled the emergency brake up towards me by hand as far as I could and the light remained on.

Can someone send me a pic as to where the switch is so I can check that out.

Thanks

Koda

It's on the e brake assembly.

joe_padavano

It will be the only wire going to the e-brake assembly. Pretty easy to spot once you get your head under the dash.

Allan R

similar to this

sleeton

Johnny, I disconnected the rear brake line from the master cylinder with the motor NOT running and mashed the peddle. I did not hear the valve swap and I attached the line back onto the master cylinder and mashed the brake peddle and the light still remains on.

THOUGHTS??

sleeton

Allan

I disconnected the wire from the E-brake and the BRAKE light still remained on.

rcorrigan5

I don't know if this applies or not. If the gauge pod on 7-72 is similar to that of the 68-69, the wire harness plugs into a series of pins in a row. The pin for the brake light in the gauge pod in my '68 is loose and the brake light goes from on to off and back on again. The brakes all work fine but I do have that intermittent brake light glowing in the gauge pod from time to time. Could it be you have the same situation and the pin for the brake light in your gauge pod is sloppy or loose? Just guessing.

Randy C.

oldcutlass

Disconnect the wire from the valve under the hood.