So I drove 15km with hand brakes on....

[ornithology]

So today after a nice dinner with my gf, we head in the xploder and go home. When I reach her place, I realise because of my music I couldn't hear my hand brakes were engaged. Furthermore, I also noticed my hand brake lights on the cluster does not work. As of now, there is a funky smell, but I think that is normal. So I have two questions for you guys:

1) Are there any known issues about running the truck with hand brakes on? What should I look for?

2) How do I fix the light in the cluster? Is it just a simple replacement of bulb or should I run diagnostics on sensors, wires, etc.?

 

[offroadjosh]

So today after a nice dinner with my gf, we head in the xploder and go home. When I reach her place, I realise because of my music I couldn't hear my hand brakes were engaged. Furthermore, I also noticed my hand brake lights on the cluster does not work. As of now, there is a funky smell, but I think that is normal. So I have two questions for you guys:

1) Are there any known issues about running the truck with hand brakes on? What should I look for?

2) How do I fix the light in the cluster? Is it just a simple replacement of bulb or should I run diagnostics on sensors, wires, etc.?

the light is easy to fix. its a simple wire that is grounded when the e brake is on.. look at your e-brake under the dash and you will see where the sensor is adjust it so it grounds when the brake is on...

Josh

 

[96eb96]

So today after a nice dinner with my gf, we head in the xploder and go home. When I reach her place, I realise because of my music I couldn't hear my hand brakes were engaged. Furthermore, I also noticed my hand brake lights on the cluster does not work. As of now, there is a funky smell, but I think that is normal. So I have two questions for you guys:

1) Are there any known issues about running the truck with hand brakes on? What should I look for?

2) How do I fix the light in the cluster? Is it just a simple replacement of bulb or should I run diagnostics on sensors, wires, etc.?

I hope your parking brakes aren't toast now. See if they hold the truck under moderate acceleration.

 

[ornithology]

the light is easy to fix. its a simple wire that is grounded when the e brake is on.. look at your e-brake under the dash and you will see where the sensor is adjust it so it grounds when the brake is on...

Josh

How would I go about doing this?

 

[ornithology]

I hope your parking brakes aren't toast now. See if they hold the truck under moderate acceleration.

Well...if I drove 15km with them on that means I was moderately accelerating through them right?

Is it possible to replace the pads for the parking brakes? Or are they the same as the 4 disc brakes?

 

[96eb96]

Well...if I drove 15km with them on that means I was moderately accelerating through them right?

Is it possible to replace the pads for the parking brakes? Or are they the same as the 4 disc brakes?

Yeah, true, but they could have been partially applied. They are most likely gone by now.

If you 03 sport is similar to second gen ex's you have a small drum and shoe setup in the rear rotor. There are many good topics on this, just search on parking brake.

 

[muhl5443]

could just be that the bulb in theinstrument cluster is dead and needs to be replaced.

 

[offroadjosh]

could just be that the bulb in theinstrument cluster is dead and needs to be replaced.

easier to just check the sensor under the dash... takes like 10sec to check



Josh

 

[ornithology]

easier to just check the sensor under the dash... takes like 10sec to check



Josh

How do I check the sensor?

 

[donlightbody]

just look under the dash at the upper area of the parking brake and you'll see the connector. There's only one wire connector on the parking brake. Make sure when the brake is pushed in it makes contact, mabe use a meter to make sure contact is good. it's spring loaded. The previous owner of my 95 replaced the pads but never adjusted them properly, so he never applied them since they didn't work. I adjusted them and saw no light when I started to use them. After not using them the open connector collected alot of crud. Now the light works again. The connector is plastic so it can also break and just be hanging there.
As for pads, if the parking brake doesnt hold the truck see if you can adjust them enough to do so. Otherwise, time for new ones.
I bet you got great mileage on that trip.

 

[ornithology]

That was the worst mileage I have ever had. Made my MPG drop to 13 when I was getting 16.8 avg in city.

I'll try looking for that connector. Thanks donlightbody.

 

[techieman33]

by moderate acceleration, he means ~1200ish rpm. So Just put it in drive, take your foot off the brake and see if it moves, if it does, your shoes are probably done for.