96 RT 10...Well the nice weather is here in Va so I pulled the car out today for a ride. I have a brake indicator light on . Any ideas what it could be? yes the emergency brake was off and the brakes stop fine and there seems to be a a fairly hard brake pedal. I noticed in the fall it would come on for a bit intermittently , but today it stayed on for the entire 20 mile ride. The car hs 22000 miles on it and I have not replaced the brakes since I bought it 6 years ago with 10,000 miles on it.Thanks
Brake light on after winter storage
- Thread starter checkers
- Start date
01sapphirebob
Enthusiast
When was the last time the fluid was changed? I know there's no sensor for such a thing but just courious.
My wild guess of the day: You are a little low on brake fluid and tripping the level sensor. Top it up with brake fluid to see...THEN, consider changing fluid. Your car came with Mopar DOT 3 brake fluid...but they switched to DOT 4 in 1999. Either will do for your car. I use DOT 4 in all Gen's of Vipers.
Mopar Steve
Enthusiast
A couple things to check, If the parking brake was set, the switch might be stuck. The fluid may not be the issue but the propotioning valve may also be stuck. Often a very firm pressure on the pedal will free this up.
Thanks for your comments People. I have never changed the brake fluid and I will go check the level in the reservoir. I hardly ever use the ebrake ususally just enough to keep it freed up. I did jam the brakes pretty hard when driving to try and free something up but that did not help...
Ok so I checked the fluid and it seems to be at the full line. With the car running in nuetral and sitting still, if I pump the brake pedal two or three times the light goes out. If I wait about two seconds and step on the brake again the light comes on...any moore thoughts?
Sounds like you need to consider some fluid changes !! 
latamud
Enthusiast
Could the brake light switch be going bad? Or, maybe the pedal at rest is sagging a little and not completely turning the switch off?
Last edited:
Solid Red 98
Enthusiast
- Joined
- Oct 25, 2007
- Posts
- 427
- Reaction score
- 2
It sounds to me like you have a small amount of air somewhere in the system. By bleeding the brakes, you will also do a fluid change, so either way you can't go wrong. If you get the indicator after bleeding, then you need to start looking at the mechanicals like your master cylinder and prop.valve.
