Hey guys, the search function is down so I apologise if this is a common question. I don't normally work on cars made after computers were put in them so some common stuff is new to me.

The wife has an 01 4dr 4cyl Accord with 4 wheel discs. About 2 weeks ago she complained about a squeel in the back of the car, it was easily repaired with 2 new rear brake pads. The fronts had a few mm left on them so i didn't change them yet (they're close, but not quite yet and money was tight that week).

After I fixed the squeel she started complaining that the brake light in the dash (the red one, not the ABS light) stays on for about 1/2 mile after she starts the car. She swears this never happened before, the brake light went off when the rest of the lights went off. She never uses the parking brake so that's not it.

I did 2 things that might cause this:

1. I only replaced the rear pads which might have pissed off some switch in the brake system since the rear pads are now significantly bigger than the fronts.

2. I forgot to crack the bleeder when I pushed the piston back in to make room for the new pads. I obviously pushed some old fluid back into the rest of the system. I've got no idea how this ABS stuff works but I'm guessing old fluid from the caliper would make it mad.

So which of these, or maybe a third option, is probably causing the brake light to stay on? If this is problem 2, can I fix it by bleeding the rear calipers or do I need to do something special to flush the ABS stuff?

By the way, the brakes work fine, but the light must be telling me something isn't good.

 

Did you bleed the brakes after you changed the pads? Did you turn the piston while you were pushing it back in the caliper. The rear caliper pistons are threaded for the emergency brakes. Just some ideas. Shortly after I had changed my pads my master cylinder went out. Maybe because I did'nt turn the piston, maybe because of old brake fluid. If the brake fluid looks dirty you need to change it. Pour some new fluid in and bleed the brakes until clean fluid comes out.

 

Which brake light? The parking brake handle and the master cylinder fluid level will set one brake light; A bad rear brake light bulb will turn on another brake light.

 

It's the same light as the parking brake. The MC level looks ok.

I did turn the piston back in, it was necessary to get new pads on. I didn't have one of those caliper sockets so I put a C-Clamp on the caliper and as I turned the screw on the clamp the piston turned and back in. I put the clamp on backwards at first and the piston didn't move, could this have damaged the caliper?

I have not bled the brakes, I might try that today if I can find my Mityvac.

Is there anything special I need to do when bleeding an ABS system or do I just crack the bleeder and suck fluid until it looks clean like any other system?

Any other ideas for why the light stays on for about 1/2 mile but then turns off?