hey there folks.

tonight i've been having some problems with the light. i dump the handbrake but the "brake" light wont go off. i tried turning off the car and back on a few times and it didnt help. all this happend at school. i drove 35 miles back to home and as soon as i turned into the garage, the light went off. i turned off the car and back on and everything was fine again. i pulled the brake and release it many times to check and it was workin perfectly fine.

what do u guys think the problem is? fuse? frozen calipers (i doubt it)

during the 35 miles drive to home i was thinkin about posting a thread here and asking but then as soon as i got home, everything went back to normal, u guys think maxima was just trying to remind me of the .org since i been away from it for a few days?

 

Check your brake fluid level...

 

^^ pretty shure thats it

 

what could make it go low?

thanks guyz

 

Hmmm... you need to read the owners manual... it will point you to the brake fluid reservoir - it is in the back of the engine bay - drivers side.. you'll see a white canister.

As your pads get worn, more fluid is needed to fill the piston - thus lowering the fluid in the reservoir.

 

god i love the org so much. explains everything and makes life 100x better.

instead of going to mechanics and hearing bs, i come hear and everything makes sence. my rotors and pads are GONE. machine gun feeling @ 60 mph when i brake. this all makes sence. im going to fix it all tomorrow. u guys think ill be ok driving a coupla hundred miles till then??

 

Can't really tell you if you'll be fine or not since we can't tell how bad the brakes are - but if chances are it will be ok.. just brake slowly rather than stomping on the pedal... you may still need to top off the brake fluid after replacing the pads/rotors.

 

One thing I tell everyone is when the brake fluid is low dont go crazy and just fill it up.. its low for a reason. Usually its your pads that are low. Do a quick visual check of your pads through your wheel. When the pads go low the fluid does as well. When you put in your new pads its going to raise up the fluid level. and if you filled it all the way up before hand your going to make a mess. The light and fluid go down for a reason.

 

Ant - true true.

 

man i love the .org

so the brake light is not there to show that ur handbrake is not released, its there for other reasons too !

 

Yes - it will also light up with the battery light to indicate a bad alternator (charging system fault).

So to summarize, the brake light could be on for any of the following:

1. Parking brake engaged
2. Low fluid
3. If battery light also on, then bad alternator (most likely)

I feel like I'm missing one other reason, but can't think of it.

 

if its too low you might need to bleed the air out of them also

 

ok thanks guys.

i just checked the level of the fluid and im not sure if i checked it correctly or not but it seemed to be half way full (up to the line on the bottle which is the half way mark i think) because the bottom half was black while the top was white. i didnt open the lid, i just looked from engine bay and thats what i saw. is that considered low?

 

Look carefully at the side of the reservoir - you will see the MAX/FULL mark and the LOW mark. From your description, it sounds like it is low. Again, if the fluid is low, it means you have a leak (less likely) or it means your pads are worn and its time for new pads (and maybe rotors).

 

yup pads and rotors are 90% gone.

i have new pads and rotors here, just need to install them

 

There you go...
Make sure you install them correctly so you dont get the monkeys squeeling everytime you brake.