Brake light on dash

so this happened twice today . This morning at 5am driving to work soon as I pulled out of driveway the red brake light bulb in dash lit up . Stayed on for couple min shut off come back on again .. then vehicle was parked all day .. driving home tonight 9pm and came back on for only 5-10 seconds . Suggestions ??? Thanks

 

Fluid level okay?

 

Brake fluid is low....?

 

E-Brake fully disengaged?

 

Right or left-hand drive?

 

I think that only matters in cases of blinker fluid or muffler bearings

 

Oh, thanks. I was thinking that maybe the air in the tires needed to be swapped left/right for driving on the other side of the lane.

 

OP, what year is your truck? If it's got some miles on it, check the fluid level. If your brake pads are getting near the point of needing to be replaced the pistons will have moved far enough in to lower the fluid level in the reservoir, which would be enough to 'trip' the sensor that monitors the brake system.

 

Huh, that never crossed my mind. But that reminds me that it's time to drain the winter air and put in the summer air LOL

 

I did the spring time blend because we may still get a few more snowfalls. It smells kinda like a mix of plastic tire storage bag and FreBreze

 

That made a little beer come out of my nose LOL

 

Did you catch it with your glass? Don't want to waste it.

And if others see you do it, they won't be stealing sips from your beer when you're not looking. More for you!

 

Caught it with the screen on my phone! Nothin' like a good IPA

 

As long as it's not TOO hoppy, kids these days.

 

Nope, nice and light. Founders All Day IPA, 4.8 abv....which makes it real easy to sit by the fire and drink waayyy too many!

 

Been long weekend working haven't had chance to check this .. it's a 2016 u think brake fluid could be low ? There's 30k on the truck

 

Depends upon how hard you are on brakes. It's very easy to check.

 

Checking the fluid is simple and the easiest place to start to figure out what's causing the warning light to come on. If you're unsure look in your owners manual under the DIY Maintenance section, it will give you detailed instructions on how to check the level.

 

I like hoppy....

 

Another theory on how we got bunnies on Easter?

 

So what was ever found here?

Driving to work this morning the same thing happened to me.

Fluid level is ok.

 

The other simple thing mentioned above was incomplete release of the parking brake.

In the rust belt, I would check the parking brake cables and pivot mechanisms at the rear backing plates. Inspect and lubricate (carefully) all friction and pivot points to insure the cables are moving free, and are allowing the pedal up front to move completely to disengaged position.

After checking the simple things like fluid level and parking brake release, brake light problems are going to get complicated fast. The only other "simple" thing is try the regular maintenance of flushing/replacing your old brake fluid and bleeding the system. Even that will be problematic unless you are extremely careful to keep the reservoir filled while bleeding. I don't know how it happens (I can guess), but owners frequently have a "soft pedal" problem that can't be fixed after DIY brake repairs.

 

So quoting my own post...

My truck has 97k miles on it. I just rotated the tires this past weekend, while there I checked the pads & rotors and ended up ordering pads because they were getting low.

Anyway... I checked the fluid level as well which was just a bit low as expected with the worn pads, but not low enough to be concerned. Well apparently it is low enough to go below the sensor in the reservoir when parked in the inclined driveway.

I added just enough fluid to bring the level up and to see if the light stays off until I replace the pads this weekend.

 

I would think if the parking brake didn't completely release the parking brake warning light would come on? Not the red brake light.

 

Yah, you're right. Did you check your fluid level?