"brake" light coming and off on the dash..

Hey guys,

the brake light on the dash of my 02 xterra SE. the emergency brake is off there seems to be nothing else causing it....could this be a short? and how could i fix it?

Thanks,

Big A

sorry for the bad headline....i meant that it was going off and on..it doesn't do it all the time, but from time to time when we start the truck up, it will come one and stay on for a good while...but when we stop and turn the truck off and turn it back on, it goes off.

check your brake fluid level, sometimes if its low it will trigger the light

Is it the Emergency Brake light, or, the ABS Brake Light?

The Emergency Brake Light should be the one that lights when you pull on the emergency brake, if you need to light it again to look.



Typically, the Emergency Brake Light does NOT flash when low on fluid...but, the ABS Brake light DOES.

So - It would help to be sure we have the correct symptom before prescribing a cure.

TJ, you should know better than that, this has come up scores of times.

The RED brake light is triggered by the e-brake switch and the fluid sensor in the master cylinder. It doesn't flash, but will come on and go off somewhat randomly when the fluid level is just at the threshold that will trip it. When things warm up the fluid expands enough to raise the level and turn it off.

The YELLOW ABS light comes on when there is a fault in the ABS system and has nothing at all to do with the fluid level unless the level gets so low that the system can't even function properly (in which case the red light would have been on long beforehand).

Brent

The short version is this:

IT'S TIME FOR A FRONT BRAKE JOB.

The light comes on because the fluid is low. The fluid is low because your front brake pads are worn.

Just for variety...my ABS light came on when low on fluid, and the brake light didn't...and the ABS light went out when I added fluid.

:p