Brake indicator light (sometimes) on
 

Some time back, on days when it was "cold" (can't say for sure what temperature this is), in the morning, the brake light warning light would come on. Everything felt fine and as it warmed up, the car, that is, the light would go off. If I went to lunch, the drive home, driving in the evening, the light was never on.

The next morning, presuming it was warmer, the light would NOT be on. During the summer, let's say 60º F and higher, I NEVER saw the light.

The fluid level is fine. Brake pads and rotors are ~6-8 months old, on all (4) corners. At no time has braking performance felt the least bit "wrong".

What ideas does anyone have ? I found other similar threads pointing to the low-level fluid sensor going bad and I can replace just the cap. This sensor can fail or often acts up like this in cold weather. Before doing that, are there simple troubleshooting steps I could do first ?

If it always does this below a certain temperature, you can unplug the wires from the brake-reservoir cap. See if the warning goes away. That's not a FIX, but a diagnosis.

Instead of the brake-fluid cap, check the mesh screen cup inside the reservoir. Sometimes what happens is that thing gets warped & drags the float or pushes it or something like that.

If the warning still happens with the reservoir float sensor unplugged, then you have to look at the little switch at the handbrake lever.

It's pretty consistent (in the morning), so unplugging it will be my first "diagnosis" step.

If the mesh cup or float is the problem, the solution is still the same, yes ? :-) A new cap ?

Probably the mesh cup is a separate part not included in the "cap"??? Depending on how it's warped, it might cost you 4 minutes with an exacto knife.

Now I re-read your first post. There's 2 different warning lamps. My post (#2) applies to the "brake" warning lamp that comes on if you leave the handbrake set.

Is this the warning lamp that tells you about burned-out bulbs for brake lights? That's different.

I didn't know there was a warning light for burned-out bulbs.... This is the same light that lights when the parking brake is on.

Your problem is with the e-brake light.

The brake lamp light turns on when a brake light or tail light (same bulb) is out. This information should be in your owners manual.

I believe Honda had a TSB out for your exact issue. I have a 2000 Accord and also have the same problem. I think it's TSB #03078. Something either with the filter cup in the brake reservoir or the float.

TSBs just tell you how to fix it, right ? A replacement cap includes, what looks like the float. Not sure about a "filter cup" or what that is...

http://images.cmsnl.com/img/products...03-02_b683.jpg

Yup that's the float sensor. And yes, the TSB's just tell you in detail what the problem is, why the problem happens, which parts you need to fix it, how long it takes to fix and how to fix it.

The filter cup is basically a little cup with filter screens on the side of it. When you take the cap off the reservoir it's just sitting in there and you can pull it out. To fix my problem with the brake light coming on, I just removed the cup altogether. If you pour your brake fluid in from a sealed container and the cap seals well to the reservoir then I don't see a need to really have the filter cup in there.

Also I think 98 models didn't even come with those filter cups, they started adding them in 99.

They've had those filter cups for years before. I had a 1998 and it had one.