My parking brake lights stay on in my 2001 CL - only in the morning. It's a recent phenomenon with the weather getting cold. This is not the actual brake light on the car picture but the 'BRAKE' sign by the fuel gauge. I saw a couple other threads on this but didn't get a clear answer.

Is this truly a matter of checking out my brakes for worn pads or is it just the flow of the brake fluid because it's cold.

BTW, this never happened in the past 5 years and it has snowed every single winter for the past 5 years. And this time I got my brake fluid changed at a local shop. Should I be worried?

 

Check the brake fluid level to make sure it's not low...

 

Mine's still doing this intermittently.

 

Add a little DOT4 Break fluid into the reservoir. Because it is cold, the fluid condenses and since you also have wear on the pads, it needs more fluid to apply the pad to the rotor. Be careful when adding the fluid to the reservoir because the Break Fluid is highly corrosive. Invest in a cheap funnel or use zip lock bag by cutting a small hole in one of the corners.

 

Dude,

I had the same problem. Sometimes fluid gets under the cap and sends warning to your dash. All you have to do is take the cap off, see if its dry underneath, then rotate the wires (jiggle the wires around) and the light goes away.

Sloojoe

 

Dude, stay in school. If you don't know what you're talking about, then don't say anything. I don't even know where to begin correcting you. 'Fluid condenses'? A gas can condense into a fluid....

 

Tosh- Did you ever think that a word might have more than one formal definition? For example:

condense 
–verb (used with object)
1. to make more dense or compact; reduce the volume or extent of; concentrate.
2. to reduce to a shorter form; abridge: Condense your answer into a few words.
3. to reduce to another and denser form, as a gas or vapor to a liquid or solid state.
–verb (used without object)
4. to become denser or more compact or concentrated.
5. to reduce a book, speech, statement, or the like, to a shorter form.
6. to become liquid or solid, as a gas or vapor: The steam condensed into droplets.

I was referring to the first definition, meaning to decrease in overall volume, not to change states. This happens because as the temperature decreases, so does the movement of the atoms, therefore decreasing the overall volume. For example, if you were to put hot water into a water bottle and then put it into the refrigerator, you will notice that once the water cools down, the volume of the water decreased causing low pressure. Once you take off the top, air rushes in to equalize the pressure caused by the decreased volume. This was the same fundamental concept I was referring to.

Thanks for trying to correct me, but it looks like you are the one that needs to go back to school.