Anybody notice?

Anybody notice that the dummy lights dont work very well?
Case in point, I had a power steering line burst a few weeks after I bought the car. *this was a while ago* Yet no warning light came on before, during or after for the Power Steering system.
I have run the tank dry once and no fuel light came on.
Yet the car will give me a brake! lamp on cold mornings.
Strange...

Anybody else have this problem?

sounds like you need to change your brake fluid or pads

Its a winter thing. Just remove then replace the cap to the fluid res. and it will stop the light.

[michael]

Da Cheat, is that from Strong Bad

Ummm, are you opening the brake fluid cap often? You're introducing unneeded and unwanted air into the system. I'd suggest if your pads are with a larg enough amoutn of material left in them to bleed the whole braking system.

[Beav]

When you're not absolutely certain, I'd suggest not making suggestions, you may cause someone to spend money unecessarily. Opening the cap has absolutely nothing to do with introducing air into the hydraulics. Bleeding is not required because of removing the cap.

The brake light (red, not the amber ABS) comes on as a result of the parking brake being on or the brake fluid being low. The brake fluid level drops as a result of the brake pads wearing (normal), a hydraulic leak (not normal or good), from temperature induced contraction or from centrifugal force induced displacement in the reservoir (normal when the fluid is at a low level.)

The steering light comes on when there is an electrical fault detected, not when there is a low fluid situation.

I'd suggest you follow your own advice.

michael: *chuckles* Your the first to notice the strong bad ref. Its sorta related to that. My last name is Cheatum. Before strong bad, to close friends, I was called simply Cheat. Wich soon evolved into The cheat *via strong bad*, then rolled into Da'cheat or D'cheat. And its stuck with me from there. And no, I dont look like him

As for the brakes, first thing I did was run a search, and found that removing and replacing the cap would fix the problem. And it did. This seems to be a rather common problem in the winter months with our cars. The fluid level was right on the money..
You cannot get air into the system simply by removing the cap. Leave the cap off for an extended amount of time, and the brake fluid will retain the moisture from the air, lowering its boiling point resulting in loss of brake pressure during extended braking.
Boiling fluid, a leak in a brake line or a near dry master cil. are the only ways to get air introduced into the system as far as I know.

As for the power steering, it is good *all be it disturbing* to know that the dummy light only operates off an electrical warning. So it cant be trusted

[Beav]

I do. I am certain of my suggestions and try to state my opinions as such when I am not certain.