Hand Brake light is staying on!!!

robbie2003ie

Hi,

When i let the handbrake down the light stays on. The brakes seem to be working fine.Hand brake seems to be working fine.About 4 weeks about there was a sound coming from the wheels, like metal scrapping against the disc. Is the brakes going, or is the handbrake faulty.I checked the Brake fluid and it is just above minimum.

Its a 96 Almera 93,000 miles

Hope someone can help

thanks
rob

Eoin

Sometimes the handbrake light is also a warning light for the brake sensors. Check your manual to be sure. If you let the pads go down too far, you could be looking at new discs as well as pads.

blackbox

I can't speak for the Almera specifically, but on some cars the handbrake warning light also functions as a general brake warning light. i.e. it comes on if the fluid is low or if the pads are worn.

The first thing I would do is add a little brake fluid so that it is well above minimum. If this makes the light go out I would also check the pads for wear (worn pads make the fluid level drop as the pistons go out farther).

If brakes are OK it could be due to a faulty switch on the handbrake circuit.

Dirty_Diesel

If you heard a noise from the brakes previously I would assume the pads are worn.

Saruman

The scraping sound may have been a pebble... possibly it broke the sensor? Might cause it. I know i got a pebble in my pads and i had to take the wheel off the get the pebble out. Did not cause any damage thankfully.

mickdw

Well I would fill up with brake fluid first as if its just above minimum it may well have triggered the light. The red 'handbrake' light usually doubles as a fluid level warning and the odd time pad wear warning also. Top up the fluid and get your pads checked for wear even if light goes off. If light stays on, go to mechanic straight away although it might be worth checking that the float in the fluid reservoir is not stuck.

Eoin

By the way, a few tyre places will do a free brake inspection, and in my experience are quite honest if you don't need anything done.

robbie2003ie

eoin_s wrote: »

By the way, a few tyre places will do a free brake inspection, and in my experience are quite honest if you don't need anything done.

What places do this sort of free inspection?
Could i get brake fluid in Garage tonight, because i have to use car until Thursday, can't get time off work!!! Will get car check on friday


Thanks everyone for your help.

Eoin

Most the advance pitstop / kwikfit type places will do a free inspection. Just takes a torch really.

You may have to hit a few garages to get brake fluid, they really are just convenience shops with a petrol pump these days. I had to go to 4 or 5 before I found a place that had coolant.

cornbb

In an older car I had (96 Punto) the handbrake light was activated by a switch under the handbrake lever. Is it possible that there's a fault with this switch and the scraping sound is unrelated?

I could be completely wrong, but that's another theory anyway...

drusk

I had the EXACT same problem about three months ago. I drive a 2003 Peugeot 206. The light was on for a few weeks, but everything was fine, so I ignored it. Then there was a weird noise that happened every time I braked.

I assumed the brake pads were worn. I was going to call into an advance pitstop type place and just ask them to replace the pads, but I thought better of it. I called into the Peugeot dealer and asked him to take a look. He said it was just dust trapped under the sensors. He cleaned it out and I drove away with no problems. Then about two weeks later the same thing started happening again. I brought the car back in and he had to replace something to do with the brakes. Ended up costing me €450.

Haven't had any problems since.

robbie2003ie

Lads,

Thanks for all the replys

I just filled up on brake fluid and the light has gone off. Thank god

Thanks again

rob

the evil belly

get the brake pads checked as soon as you can too though. it's most likely down on fluid because the pads are badly worn. my old almera used to make noise when the pads were worn.