I have a 1992 Accord LX with 196,000 miles. I was driving with the dash brake light came on. I pulled over to stop and the transmission grinds in park and Neutral. The car seemed to drive ok while in gear. Any ideas? Thanks.

 

Brake light can be a few things, like low brake fluid or a burnt out brake light bulb.

As to the transmission, when was the last time you had the fluid changed out in it?

 

It's the parking brake light but the brake is not engaged. I don't know on fluid change, I recently bought (for next to nothing) the car. The brake fluid level is fine. The tranny fluid does need to be changed. The brake light and the transmission problem seem to be related but I haven't a clue how. How much might a rebuild run? Just a ball park estimate. Thanks.

 

Well start by CHECKING the fluid level by using the yellow dipstick on the transmission. It may be close to empty which I suppose could make some grinding noises. If it's an actual hardware issue you're probably better off buying a used transmission that works well.

Check the float on the brake reservoir cap and see if it moves freely.

 

The tranny fuild level is ok. The brake fluid is ok. I CHECKED that straight away.

 

The floater IN the brake reservoir though

If it's stuck then it could report the fluid being low. It (the cap/floater) has nothing to do with the actual fluid level.

*edit* And for clarification, it has nothing to do with the fluid level other than measuring the fluid level. If it's stuck then it could be falsely reporting that the car has low brake fluid regardless of the actual level of fluid.

And it could also be the e-brake switch

 

Which is something you never stated in your first post.

What else have you done?