annoying red light

[72 Ford power]

hey yall....i got a question and i dont know if any one know the answer too-and i cant fugure it out..... the little RED "break" light on the lower left hand corner if my dash or whatever...yall know what i mean. but it WONT go off. i took out the dang bulb but i want to get it to work again...come ON when my E-braak is actuailly ON, and go off when its off. it has a red wire W/ yellow stripe. and a solid pink one. PLEASE help.....thank ya.

[ForingaMex]

That red light is not for the Emergency brake. If the light won't go out and the wiring is correct than it means the the pressure differenciating switch is tripped. Someone will come on and give you the propper steps to correct that.

[Thunderfoot]

Read here: http://www.fordification.com/forum/view ... 0&#p426840

[heviarti]

You know, that light had never come on, ever... and I noticed a piece of harness detatched while my engine was out. when I put everything back together The light was on. Not knowing what it was I ignored it. I guess the previous owner unhooked it because it was an annoying red light on the dash.

It went out recently, and I haven't checked to see if the bulb burnt out or what. I've worked on the brakes, so it may even be right. I think that because I had a friend run the pedal while I ran the wrench- He'd never felt a non-boosted brake system before, so he thought it was supposed to have a little give. Needless to say, I had to bleed it again. I figure the switch may have righted itself then.

Soon I'll have to fight with the rear axle, which I don't understand at all. I'll probably do the rear brakes then.

I took a look at the other thread linked from here. What those instructions do not tell you is how you're supposed to know which side is the one you want to open. If you have to open the lines on one side of the valve with it in a given position, I don't see a way to determine the valve's position. I may look to see if I can get new O rings for it.

[Thunderfoot]

The way to tell which way it has tripped is to look for the leaking fluid on a wheel cylinder (or the master cylinder side that is low) that will be the way the valve has tripped, as it shuts off the flow to the leaking half of the system because it doesn't have the same pressure resistance to keep it centered. Once you fix the leak you bleed the brakes as in that procedure to get the switch/valve back to center.

[OldGuy]

"it shuts off the flow to the leaking half of the system "

Whoa...my light has been on since I bought the truck 2 years ago.

I have changed all wheel cylinders, put on new master cyl and bled brakes 3-4 times but could not reset the switch. Are you telling me that I only have partial/no braking when switch is triggered and not just an annoying light??

If so I shouldn't have been able to bleed the side that triggered the switch in the past, but I was able to bleed all four corners.

[Thunderfoot]

You could have a defective switch as well or stuck on... The switch is a plunger that gets pushed up when tripped, with some corrosion it could stick in the position even after you get everything back like it should... (I think Flatbedford had this on his ) The valve will not always shut off the flow completely but it restricts it (it still has to have a way to get pressure on the back (failing) side or there is no way you could recenter it without some pressure moving it... In your case I would consider pulling it apart and checking it out, with brakes it is better to know for sure what you got going on...

FLATBEDFORD had something similar, good reading here http://www.fordification.com/forum/view ... =5&t=35882&
More good reading here. http://www.fordification.com/forum/view ... &sk=t&sd=a

[fordman]

and you can take the valve apart clean it up and replace the o rings in it.