A week of daily driving the 242 has produced a few new problems. Most are little things that I can take care of easily, but today as Deirdre is driving to pick-up the VW at the dealer the brake failure light goes on. I understand its function. If there is a pessure difference between the two circuits, the switch gets grounded. Is there any other reason aside from a short that this would happen? Brakes seem to work just fine. New junction block? Fluid level is fine by the way.

Add this to the shift knob pulling off and I'm sure Deirdre won't drive the car for a while.

Dying master cylinder or frozen calipers can cause it to flicker or come on.

I usually check everything and go to considerable effort not to change that PITA junction block.

Not only will she never drive it again, she'll likely never talk to me again...

Master cylinder was new a couple of years ago, btw...

Could it be moisture freezing in the lines? We got tossed in the deep freeze again today. Went from +10 to -18 in a day.

Sometimes it's hard to see the fluid in both circuits - one circuit is up and the other one can be right empty. Just checking...

I forget - In a 240, is the brake failure warning light the same as the parking brake light? Could it just be that the parking brake is partly on, or the wire has come off the P-brake switch, or the switch is frozen closed?

if you have moisture in the lines you'd have real problems?
does the light flicker?is it on bright or dim? level of the brake fluid?
i would check the e-brake system first and make sure it's not the switch.

oh yeah i have this beutiful 1982 Volvo with brakes that work...
a couple or a few bottles of wine for the party would be taken into account.

but if you need something let me know.

i do not recommend getting used brake parts especially the hydraulic side
from a wreckers unless the system is completely sealed.

The warning lights are on two separate circuits from what I can tell. The switch for the brake failure light is located on the distribution block and there is a balance shaft inside the block. If there is a difference in pressure the shaft moves to one side or the other it grounds = light.

The light is full on. I'll recheck the fluid level, but it looked pretty much full to me. I must have a leak somewhere and the switch is doing its job. Nice that this always happens when it is -22.

Roger that, our JY is so drifted that I'd pay regular prices for parts at this point and I do agree that brakes are no place to cheap-out. Gotta get this fixed or we'll have to drive something else up for the shindig next week .

you should move to Calgary we never have those problems here.
Hey what time you arriving Saturday? i'll give a tour of the Shop and all
the hidden treasures.
Paul

Yeah, I understand how the pressure light works, but I forget if it triggers the same light as the parking brake. If you pull the wire from the pressure block, does the light go out?

Sometimes the levels look full until you start pouring fluid in, at which point you can see it rise up from nothing. Though, as James said, if you've got a dead circuit in your MC, it'll trigger the failure light as well. No leaks nor fluid loss needed for that to happen. Ditto for a seized caliper or a pressure limiting valve that's seized up closed - less fluid to one circuit = more pressure more quickly = triggered light. Also you can have it happen if you've got a bent axle or badly warped rotor - the rotor knocks back the pads and that side requires a ton of fluid to get the pad to contact again, and triggers the light. Did Deirdre smack a curb that day?

Gonna come up in le Schtroumpf?

HAHAHAHAHAHA. But which one is it? Handy Schtroumpf? Homely Schtroumph? Or shall we simply refer to it as "Le Schtroumph Bleu" now?

Sneezy Schtroumpf....my cousin donated a figurine of Sneezy for my dash. Since it is a winter car, the scarf goes well, and the car will likely always be "sick" to some extent......

Given my familiarity with this car, I think that SICK is the right adjective - but the way the kids use it, not as in health. Greg will have it running right soon enough.

Yes, the light goes out.



When I first had the light switch on, I checked the fluid as I reported. No problems. The next morning I pulled the car into Greg's garage and checked again...almost no fluid in the rear of the reservoir. So the switch is working and detected a pressure drop before I could sense it in the fluid level.

What I found was the fittings at the distribution block for the passenger front caliper were leaking (both). And to drain the fluid, they were doing more than a little drip. I cranked them down and they seem to be holding.

Now, why would this happen? First up, they haven't caused any trouble until this point and I've put a couple thousand KM on the car since Nov. They may not have been up to spec and the rapid change in temp could have caused them to loosen combined with our very rough roads. Who knows?



No curb hits.