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"Break" dashboard light is ON in freezing wheather

It started intermittently last winter. Cold weather has downed on us now and it seems to have become nearly permanent:

Subaru Impreza 1993 - every time the car is left for an extended period of time in the freezing temperatures, the "break" warning lights up on dashboard permanently and never seems to go away (the same as the one that comes on and goes off every time the car is started).

I would start from heated home garage with no light, then half way to work the light comes on and would stay for the rest of the day. The, overnight in the garage, it disappears. And so on.

Breaks work just fine - same as in warmer months when the problem never shows up. Parking break is fully disengaged and works OK, too.

All in all, there seems to be no ill effect besides annoying red light on the dashboard. Is this something to be concerned with? What can

DK

Reply to
DK
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Very common. (2 of my daughters have Nissans that do this regularly) Likely the car is nearing a point of needing brake pads and the fluid is low in the reservoir. There is a float that warns of this. At night, the brake fluid contracts just enough with the cold to trigger the light. The light is dual/triple purpose and low fluid is one cause of its illumination. It MAY also indicate a brake fluid flush is due to too much water in the fluid. You can top up the reservoir, but I'd recommend having the brakes inspected soon or at least be aware the noise indicators may begin squealing soon.

Carl

1 Lucky texan
Reply to
Carl 1 Lucky Texan

Break, brake, breaks, brakes.

Reply to
DG

For a couple of years, I had this very same problem with my 1995 Mitsubishi Montero. It meant I needed to add brake fluid. This also meant I had some kind of leak or problem. I should have gotten it looked at but... I sold it instead.

Reply to
jMon54

As Carl said it is normal for the fluid level to drop as the pads wear. This is because the pistons move out further in the calipers and fluid from the reservoir fills the space. Assuming this is the case here and there aren't any leaks (which is likely considering that this seems to be a stable situation from your description), the proper way to proceed is to check the pads and replace them, BEFORE adding any more brake fluid. If you just add fluid to bring the reservoir up to full, and then replace the pads later, the reservoir will then overflow when the pistons are retracted to install the new pads and you'll have a mess with corrosive brake fluid all over the place. As long as no fluid has actually leaked out, the level should come back up to the proper point on its own when the new pads go in.

Reply to
mulder

Don't break your brakes!

If you should have the unlucky break of having your brakes break on you, you may need to break the bank fixing the damage your brakes failed to prevent.

Reply to
Hugo Schmeisser

Breaks broke, lots of smoke. Can't brake when brakes break. Give me a break, brake pads fake. Broke brake takes the cake.

--scott

Reply to
Scott Dorsey

You sure Dr. Seuss didnt write that first?

Reply to
mst

Thanks! I looked at the brake fluid reservoir today and it's right in the middle bewteen low and max, so it's unlikely it's the level per se. Oh well, I guess it's time to pay for brakes work.

DK

P.S. Sorry for the misspelling if the "brake" in the original message.

Reply to
DK

Could also be some slippage/maladjustnent of the emergency brake switch

- or possibly an ABS 'warm-up' or other indicator. Might be worth checking your manual for items related the that light. ABS is one of them I believe. dunno for certain

Carl

Reply to
Carl 1 Lucky Texan

-Why not? I saw someone trying to sell bails of hay the other day.

Reply to
<HLS

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