Hi All-

Weird issue that doesn't seem to be hurting anything, it's really more of an annoyance. When I take a dirt road with diff locked (not sure that matters), my '97 will sometimes light up the red "brake" light. This is different than the yellow "Anti Lock Brakes" which is lit up all the time The light that comes on is the one that lights with the e-brake. If I try to jiggle and jam the e-brake down, it will sometimes go out. So I assume it's a sticky switch somewhere on the e-brake mechanism.

Anyone know where I can find that switch? The e-brake itself is probably due for adjustment as well as it fully engages at the high end of the pull. Thanks in advance for any input.

 

Check your brake fluid level. It could be that tilting the car offroad tips the reservoir enough that the sensor reads low.

The ABS is not likely to work. For one thing, when driving offroad, the sensors tend to get knocked far enough out of their socket that they won't work. There are many other problems I won't go into. ABS is the last thing I would want to have working offroad. I drive on baby heads and I like to be able to apply the brakes. I pulled both ABS fuses. It worked great like that for years, and then I also cut the sensor lines, leaving the sensors in the sockets. The lines had the potential to get snagged. I also pulled the hall-effect rings off the discs or I swapped in D110 discs (and calipers) and they didn't accept them.

I also wouldn't expect the parking brake to work well. X-eng made a replacement that actually works. I would consider it essential for a manual transmission. I depend on my parking pawl on the automatic transmission. I still use the parking brake because it does slow the Rover, but I would never trust it to hold the Rover. I get nervous whenever I park on a hill, like at 9000 feet with a 2000 foot descent in front of the car. Wheel chocks are a good backup in case the pawl breaks or the transfer case slips out of gear. The parking brake won't do anything except make the disaster a little less spectacular. Mostly, I try to find a level spot or an obstacle to park against.

 

thanks for your input. The ABS light has been on since I got the truck 3-4 years ago. I've tried to tap in the sensors and I ran the blink procedure some time ago and it came back with a controller code so I'm letting sleeping digs lie. It does not work, so I guess the good news is that the light is correct.

Good call on the fluid though, I haven't checked it in a while. This happens when I'm running level so I doubt that's it but it should be step one anyway. Thanks again.

 

The switch for the e-brake is located in the center console. It contacts the lever and is not too difficult to access.

 

Thanks. I tore into it yesterday and played around with it. The switch seems to moving well and making good contact. I adjusted the e-brake to 3-4 clicks just for yuks and checked the fluid level and function of the switch in the brake reservoir cap. Everything seems fine. The brake fluid is wayyyyy overdue but I've read some horror stories about people having issues when bleeding these. Plus I don't think that's affecting this particular issue.

I'll try to get it out on a dirt road and test it again.

 

I took a drive on the same road that triggered the light before and no light now. yay. The e-brake wasn't so far out of adjustment that it didn't engage fully so not really sure why that fixed it or if it was a speck of something lodged in the switch itself. Either way, happy it seems to have cleared.

Thanks for the input.

 

Good news!