[TheOtherLeft]

Hiya guru's,

I have a GV and experienced a weird thing whilst driving today. The handbrake warning light came on whilst actually driving. I made sure the handbrake was off but the light stayed on. Stopped at the lights I pulled the handbrake and the light got brighter.

I know one of the uses of the handbrake light is to signal there's low brake fluid. Once I pulled over I checked the fluid and it was fine.

Once I turned the engine back on the light operated as normal.

Looking through the FSM I can't find if the light warns of anything else? Does it?

Am I missing something??? Could it just be a random bad earth? Where could it be?

Thanks.

[89_tintop]

Sounds like it may just be low brake fluid level.

[atari4x4]

search noob, it's been covered thousands of times before. 2 can play your game....




















could be the handbrake switch under the centre console is getting lazy/gummed up.

[TheOtherLeft]

89_tintop wrote:

Sounds like it may just be low brake fluid level.

I checked the fluid level on the side of the road and it was fine.

[TheOtherLeft]

atari4x4 wrote:

search noob, it's been covered thousands of times before. 2 can play your game....

Smartarse

[atari4x4]

TheOtherLeft wrote:

atari4x4 wrote:

search noob, it's been covered thousands of times before. 2 can play your game....

Smartarse

so did you search before posting?

what were your keywords when searching?

did you refine that search by selecting suzuki talk?

[TheOtherLeft]

Yep, searched. Only issues that came up are low brake fluid and bad handbrake switch.

I did test the handbrake switch and I can only make the light turn on when I pull the handbrake up to the first click, which is about pulling it 30-40mm.

[jimny_timmy]

A coin hasn't slipped in and shorted the circuit? I've had that happen before

[justin.w]

Mines been doing this crap for a long time, even too the switch out and it works, then you put the casing back, go for a drive and bam, back again.

[steak_knife]

justin.w wrote:

Mines been doing this crap for a long time, even too the switch out and it works, then you put the casing back, go for a drive and bam, back again.

The switch earths, so the console could be pushing the wire to earth some place..

[steak_knife]

89_tintop wrote:

Sounds like it may just be low brake fluid level.

Or the floats gummed up with shit.

[justin.w]

The light goes off but comes back on when you start the motor, im guessing it must be gummed up with shit then. How do you tackle this problemo.

[Myles]

My handbreak light (!) Comes on every time my car leans heavily around a corner... Its almost like a warning light telling me that I shouldn't be cornering so hard in a sierra

[fordem]

Myles wrote:

My handbreak light (!) Comes on every time my car leans heavily around a corner... Its almost like a warning light telling me that I shouldn't be cornering so hard in a sierra

THAT is an indication of low fluid level - you turn, the car leans, the fluid sloshes to one side, the light comes on - give it a little more time and the level will drop enough for the light to come on & stay on.

[TheOtherLeft]

Is this the low brake fluid sensor cable?


The handbrake light came on again when driving and only turning the engine off/on turned the light off. Working the handbrake didn't do anything.

As an experiment I disconnected the sensor wire (well I think it's low brake fluid sensor wire) but the handbrake light didn't come on. I thought it would've though, or am I missing something? (the engine was running)

[justin.w]

If that fixes it, i'm just gonna disconnect the sensor wire.

[TheOtherLeft]

Just a little update on my situation.

I have diconnected the brake fluid switch for a couple of weeks. Result is the brake warning light comes on intermittantly. So that rules the brake fluid switch out. I reconnected the switch.

I disconnected the handbrake switch for a week or so. Result is the brake warning light comes on intermittantly. So that rules the handbrake switch out as well.

However the light comes on only on startup. When I turn the engine OFF and restart the light turns off.

As far as I can tell only these 2 switches trigger the brake warning light. I don't have ABS.

Any other ideas? The FSM said if neither of these 2 cause the fault then replace the Combination Meter (ie the instrument cluster), WTF???

I'm not sure where there could possibly be a bad earth...???

[fordem]

The wire from the handbrake switch runs along the trsnsmission tunnel, right alongside the #2 shifter boot on the 5 speed (the one that screws to the transmission tunnel) - if you remove the boot for any reason (to drop the transmission whilst replacing the clutch, etc.) it's fairly easy to pinch the wire when replacing the boot - and fairly difficult to find because it's under the carpet, under the console.

[nate]

not sure if you're still chasing the fault. i has a similar problem in my jimny, handbrake light would come on when it was started.
tracked it down to the key switch. wriggling the key after starting made the light go out. One of the contacts was worn enough that it wasn't returning to the on position.

[TheOtherLeft]

nate wrote:

not sure if you're still chasing the fault. i has a similar problem in my jimny, handbrake light would come on when it was started.
tracked it down to the key switch. wriggling the key after starting made the light go out. One of the contacts was worn enough that it wasn't returning to the on position.

Yeah I still have the problem, just not as frequent. I'll try wriggling the key. Cheers.

[TheOtherLeft]

Follow up.

My problem seems to be with the key switch. Thanks for the tip Nate.

I guess the switch is getting a bit worn with my other keys hanging off it.