The break light stays on in the dash all the time. The breaks are good, and the master cylinder was recently replaced, light on all the time before and after replacement.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

 

reach down and pull the pedal up towards you while pulling out the brake release handle at the same time, just a little glitch in the switch on these trucks...should go away for you.

 

I will try this tomorrow and let you know. Thanks!!!!!

 

No problem...Hope it works for yah!

 

Didn't work

 

I guess next question should be, what truck do you have?

 

87 f250 w/ 302

 

you said that the mc was just replaced? check to see if a sencer wasnt re-connected

 

Yes...I suggest that you use the correct spelling of the word "brake" to describe the parts on your truck that are malfunctioning. Otherwise you may "break" my already-poor spelling habits--LOL. When I first read your subject title ("break light (in dash)" ) my dyslexia kicked in, and I thought you were talking about a "break in" light or something--

But seriously, my '88 F-150 does the same thing. On my truck, not only do you have to lift up on the pedal to extinguish the idiot light, but then you have to make sure the Emergency Brake release is pushed in all the way (toward the dash/windshield) before allowing the pedal to fall back down, slightly. Otherwise, the e-brake pedal will drop back down once again, turning the light back on.

If, however, your light isn't going out at all, even when you lift the pedal up all the way, then you have something else going on. Also as has been suggested, locate the switch which the e-brake pedal activates, to turn on the light. To do this, you may have to kind of lay on your back/shoulders, with a good flashlight, and look up under the dash, near the top of the pedal-arm, where it hinges under the dash. Look for wires and follow them to the switch, which is (or should be) being pushed by the e-brake pedal "arm". Not sure if the switch is grounded by a separate wire, or if it relies on the "chassis ground," by virtue of being attached to something metal.

I have seen a similar switch (the one on the "service" or "regular" brake pedal) fail. by literally falling apart or having pieces inside the switch itself crumble. Try to see if you can operate the e-brake switch manually (whether you've removed it from the pedal arm or not) by cycling the switch vigorusly, which having an assistant see whether the light goes out or not. It may slide off of the pedal (can't quite remember how it's rigged and am too lazy to go lay under my own dash at 5am, right now) and you might be able to get a better look at it, and/or operate it manually, even when it's in place, to see if it turns the light on and off properly.

Also try to inspect the switch for broken parts, broken mounting tabs, frayed wires, etc....

If it does work after all this, it may have just needed a cleaning (which is good to do, anyway). If you don't have an air compressor, you can probably blow the dust out of the switch with one of those aerosol cans of compressed air they sell to clean computers/parts. (Again, I can't remember if the switch body is closed or open enough to allow you to blow dirt out of it or not, but once you find it, you should be able to determine if it's broken, dirty, etc....).

Good luck and let us know.

 

close, but no cigar. you need to reach down and pull up on the PARKING BRAKE PEDAL while pulling out the park brake release.
the brake light on the dash is to tell you that the parking brake is on.

i just put a little spring on my 88 to hold the pedal up and the light off.

 

Im in the same boat i guess ill try these things.

 

I did that. I figured that's what he meant since the break light is for the parking break. Didn't work.

 

ok. then your problem lies in the service brake equalizer valve. the reason i did not mention this the first time is because 99% of the time it is a weak park brake spring.
when you have a broken brake line, or change wheel cylinders or calipers, sometimes if the brakes are not bled properly the equalizer valve will not center itself, cause the brake light to come on. this is usually noticed after you go to stop and realize you have no, or very little brakes.

 

I have had no work done on the brake lines, wheel cylinders or calipers. My breaks work just fine. I replaced the master cylinder, as i mentioned in the first post, and like I said there, the issue was happening both before and after.

One day the light came on and never went off. The light was on for a good year before the master cylinder went out and was replaced. Other then that happening, my breaks work just fine.

 

yes I was refering to the parking brake pedal...i kinda thought it just went without saying. I've read that the only things which will trip that brake light are; pedal being engaged, low fluid, or a vacuum leak( in diesels only). Next thing you might try to do is see if the sensor itself might have just stuck down. Did it come on to stay after using your PB one day, or did it just light up out of the blue. If you look under and its not stuck up in its housing, it may have just corroded inside and is grounding itself out giving a false impression of brake engagement...