my emergency brake light and abs warning lights have been on forever and apparantly no one at Ford Service department or anywhere else knows what to do about this. The light has been on ever since I bought the truck back in 1997. Its a 1994 2.3L Splash Std Cab. Before I bought the truck I made sure the salesman said that they would fix this problem as I noticed it before buying it. Well I obviosly bought it but now its 2002 and as you can tell the Ford dealership never fixed it and I'm looking to see if any of you have had this similar problem. I took the truck to the Ford dealership where I bought probably 6 times. I'm convinced that they just pulled the warning codes to clear them out of memory and then returned the truck directly back to me when they called me to let me know it was ready and fixed, because everytime after i picked it up I didn't have to go a mile down the road and where there was no emergency lights and no abs warning lights after pumping the brakes or using the brakes with force the lights would come back on the dash panel. I couldn't mess with the Ford guys anymore as I actually work for a living and needed my truck to get to work. So I've been driving with both those annoying lights on my truck pretty much ever since i bought it, again that was in 1997. Well this year I go to get my truck inspected and they tell me that it wont pass because the emergency brake light is on. They told me that they didn't care about the abs light, but that if the emergency brake light is on then that means that there is a serious problem with your brakes. My inspection is out of date and I just got a ticket for expired inspection so i'm in a pickle. I don't know what to do, if the Ford guys were so stumped (and they are supposed to know a Ford better than anyone right???) who will be able to fix this little truck so that I can clear up this ticket???

 

i would take the truck to a independent garage and have a second look on it.......it seems ford build quality trucks but dont have the proper mechanics for their products to back up the customers in need like us. most times i work on my own truck and if i take it in its the regular garage.

 

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 26-Jan-02 AT 02:00 PM (EST)]I'm unclear which light is on. Is it the light that lets you know that the park brake is still engaged? This light will also remain on if your low on brake fluid. So, it may be the sensor on the master cylinder or the one attached to the park brake foot lever. Try that route and see what happens. These brake systems are simple so don't burn a brain cell.

 

Don't feel like the lone ranger ( no pun intended ) i have a 96 ranger & i had the same problems . do you use the emergency brake quite often ? I use my truck to deliver newspapers & i'm constantly stopping . Alot of time the brake cable would freeze up & would have to replace the rear cable . If you accidently drive with emergency brake on that will cause your light to stay on too . I actually had my truck at the dealer 20 times since 96 & after only 16000 miles i had tohave major brake work done .Try this disconnect the battery , & then re connect .It worked for me & it never came back on again. It could also be in RABS. Make sure there is a good connection

Good Luck!

 

Check the master cyclinder fluid level, look for a sticking float in the MC, make sure the back brakes are adjusted properly, make sure the electrical connections are clean and tight at the RABS valve and the vehicle speed sensor, the parking brake function properly. If all is OK then you need to pull the code from the RABS module, you will need to locate a black wire with an orange stripe, it should be above the parking brake. Make note if it has a red wire connected to it. Send me an email and I can give you the procedure to get the code and the pinpoint test to determine the exact cause.