Brake warning light inside tachometer

[mharris]

Hi,

I've owned my car for about a week now, its a 2008 superlight 150 (sigma engine). Up until now, I've never paid any attention to the brake warning light that is located inside the tachometer next to the ignition warning light. It has never lit up and I've never had any reason to expect that it should.

However today, while driving I noticed a couple of times that it illuminated faintly, stayed on for a minute or so then went off again. This suggests to me that there is a faulty cable somewhere.

What exactly is the purpose of this light? There is no mention of it in the owners manual but I suspect it may be to indicate that the handbrake is applied?

Just to add.. I am aware that the actual brake failure light is located over on the left of the dashboard. This post is nothing to do with that one.

Thanks for your help.

[downsman]

On my car both those lights come on together when the handbrake is on.
I assume they also both light with low fluid too.

[mharris]

Thanks, that's interesting.
Neither of my lights come on when the handbrake is applied. I guess this points to a faulty handbrake switch/sensor.
How do I get to it? Is it an under the car job, or can I access it by removing the tunnel cover?

[framerateuk]

I can't say I've ever noticed the light come on with my handbrake, but I don't have sensors in my fluid reservoir either (I use the race cap instead).

Have you checked your brake fluid level?

[DCL]

This is a low fluid warning. Not necessarily a leak but, as the pads wear, the fluid level drops and the warning light comes on when you corner, accelerate, or brake.

[framerateuk]

DCL said:

This is a low fluid warning. Not necessarily a leak but, as the pads wear, the fluid level drops and the warning light comes on when you corner, accelerate, or brake.

On my Megane, instead of giving you a nice little light to tell you the fluid has gotten low, it instead flashes "BRAKE SYSTEM FAILURE" in red. You can imagine my panic as it came on while I was overtaking on the motorway!

[mharris]

DCL said:

This is a low fluid warning. Not necessarily a leak but, as the pads wear, the fluid level drops and the warning light comes on when you corner, accelerate, or brake.

Thanks, but the fluid level is pretty much full. This is the first thing I checked when the light came on. I have also tested the circuit, both from the switch in the car and the button on the top of the reservoir cap. This seems to work ok with no indication of a fault.

So some people say there is a handbrake warning light and some say there isn't. Guess I'll need to get the tunnel cover off and have a look for myself.

[ghibbett]

Perhaps related, but my (hand)brake warning light comes on under acceleration. It's on the job list to look at this winter, so not really much help to you at present. Be interested to hear what you find out however

[downsman]

There is a handbrake light switch under the tunnel on metric cars at least.

[foggy]

For IVA vehicles approved for road use must have a warning lamp that indicates a brake system fault (in this case controlled by the fluid level sensor - the assumption being that a braking system tends to work to a greater or lesser extent except for if there's lack if fluid) and also a means of testing the function of said warning lamp. Virtually all manufacturers use the application of the parking brake as the lamp test mechanism & it doubles up as a handy indication to the driver that the parking brake is applied. Fairly standard setup is there is power to the warning lamp & two wires going off in parallel - one to the fluid level sensor & one to the parking brake switch. Either one can complete the circuit to ground & the warning lamp illuminates - simples!