92cb7sk8er

A few weeks ago my wife was driving my 93 civic when she told me that the bake light was on, well being late I decided to check it that morning and didn't see it. Well later that night I was driving the car and noticed that it was on. The light was just very faint to the point to where you can only see it at night. Well playing around with the e brake I noticed that if I pull it then release it the light will stay off for a few minutes only to come back on again faint to where you can only see it at night. Like I said all my breaks work fine pads rotors and calpiers are about a year old and all seem to be fine to me. Anyone else out there ever had this problem? Thanks for any help guys

EJ8mike

Your pads might be fine, but your brake fluid might still be low. Check that first.

92cb7sk8er

That was my first thought as well but its fine. Dirty but where it should be. Could it need a flush or something?

Eg5ir1

Hi. Your problem sounds really weird like if there is a short somewhere. I don't think my advice will help but I had a similar problem where my brake light stayed on without the brakes being pushed in and it ended up being the little rubber piece on top of the brake pedal that pushes the switch to turn the lights off when the brakes are off. On my car it completely broke off and didnt make the switch turn the brake lights off and eventually killed my battery, check to see if its worn down which might cause the switch to not get pushed far enough to cut off the lights completely. Takes 2 seconds to check literally.

jbpnoman

Eg5ir1, it sounds like you have your ideas on wiring backwards. The lights should turn ON when you press on the pedal switch, not off. The lights draining the battery because the little rubber nipple fell off makes no sense at all - that would make your lights NOT come on, not make your lights stay on all the time.

OP, it sounds like either your parking brake signal switch has fallen out of adjustment, or the wire leading to it is damaged. This doesn't sound like a pad or fluid problem at all. Remove your center console (a few phillips head screws) and inspect the switch and wire - it should be plainly visible.

EJ8mike

Ah, i thought he was talkin bout the idiot light in the cluster

angrysmileyface

Its not exactly the case, his brake lights would be on constantly and drain the battery if the little pressure pad in the brake pedal broke/disintegrated. His idiot light might be either due to low fluid, or a chafed wire in his e-brake (Sometimes the switch gets bent but thats rare)

92cb7sk8er

Alright I'll give it a look I was thinking that it may have had something to do with the e brake just because it goes out after you pull the e brake. Also right after I got the car I pulled the e brake once and it quite working well about a month or two ago I noticed it just started working again out of no where. Again that leads me to be live the e brake is the cause. But at the same time I do believe my car has a wire problem the lights have a surge to them but that's a different problem I hope. I'll start with the e brake and let you guys know where it gets me thanks for the help guys

92cb7sk8er

It looks like the metal brace that holds the two steel wires together is sitting at an angle and when the e brake is pulled it rest up against the brake, maybe the problem? The switch under the brake doesn't seem damaged but I'll have to wait until it gets dark out to see if it will mess with how the light functions. I also took pictures but will have to post them tonight after work. Thanks again for the help guys

Eg5ir1

I'm starting to believe you do have a wire shorting out somewhere because all the e brake switch does/should do is light up the ebrake signal on the cluster to inform you that your ebrake is on. It should have nothing to do with your actual brake lights.

92cb7sk8er

Its the light on the cluster that I am talking about not the actual bake lights.

92cb7sk8er

Heres the picture I was talking about.

delsolintegra

You're right. Same thing happened to my 98 Integra.

jbpnoman

Everything in that pic looks normal. See that little white bumper button under the parking brake handle? If you push it down with your finger, does the light go off? If it does, then you need to adjust the mounting height of the button so it sits a little higher. If it doesn't, you need to first check the connector on that green/brown wire. If the connection itself is good, you can use a box cutter to cut a small slit in your carpet, allowing you to inspect the length of the wire without causing any noticeable damage, since the carpet is hidden under the center console plastics. Before you do that, though, I would check your local junk yards for a replacement switch.

TripleLude

Loosen that ebrake out a bit and replace both rear calipers and discs and pads. That will square away everything.

I had an issue where one of the rear calipers was slightly sticking. It caused the ebrake to look un-equal like that too. Chances are, you have the same issue and also the ebrake lever is not collapsing properly (evenly). Hence the switch setting off the brake indicator light.

Ok, so we know when replacing calipers, it is best to do in pairs. Then, pads should always be replaced when doing calipers. Why replace the discs, though?... Because you will already have everything apart and chances are the uneven where from the past will cause the disc to prematurely warp.

The ghetto way to fix it is to loosen the ebrake tension and push the lever down all the way when you release it. However, I recommend you fix the issue because brakes are something you need to be reliable and consistent.

And don't buy Duralast pads, no matter what!

PatrickGSR94

iTrader: (1)

Same problem on my Integra with the brake light on the dash. Brake fluid is fine, E-brake switch is fine. Have run tests on both and they all check out.

Recently I noticed the Brake light intensity fluctuating in time with my turn signal. That tells me it's a problem with the ICU box attached to the back of the fuse panel under the dash. I know there's a dude selling refurbished ICU's for Integras on eBay for $50, or $40 if you send him your old one. Not sure about Civics.