emergency brake light

[carls 49]

all of a sudden the emergency brake warning light stays on, i turn off ign. and pull key and it still stays on. what the! for now, i disconnected the battery. any ideas? thanks for any help.

[BobT-47P15]

Does the light have some type of switch that could be sticking??

[Gary Manes]

My '48 Chrysler has a button which is depressed when the the brake lever is pulled. It causes the light in front of it on the lower dash to flash. I am sure the Plymouth has a smiliar set up.

[Tom Skinner]

If its the trigger emergency Brake Handle there is a switch up in there that activates the bulb. Take it apart and it has probably broken in two and stays lit. I used Gorrilla Glue to fix mine and put it back together again - no more problems.

[DonaldSmith]

The parking brake light should be wired through the ACC post of the ignition switch, so it doesn't stay on when the car is not in use.

This is aside from the switch being stuck, and the light being on when the brake is released.

With cars this old, with unknown previous modifications, sometimes there's more than one thing wrong at the same time.

[P-12 Tommy]

With switches probably as old as the car, it's a wonder it lasted this long!

Tom

[greg g]

First thing to determine is how the circuit works. What does the switch do??? Is it like some courtesy light swtiches where like the horn button, the switch connects to ground to complete the circuit when the handle is pulled away from its stop, or is it a power through switch that completes the path from power throught the closed switch to a grounded bulb?

Either way, the fault could be traced to the switch. But knowing how the switch works could help you determin the fault.

[carls 49]

thanks everyone. can i just remove the bulb til i'm able to fix it?

[P-12 Tommy]

sure

[greg g]

just remember to release the brake...