About 3 months ago the brake light on my 2001 Punto started to
intermittently light up, briefly (1-2 seconds), either when going round
lengthy corners, or when braking sharply. I had the car serviced, asked
for the brakes to be looked at - the mechanic found nothing wrong and
topped up the brake fluid. However the problem with the light did not go
away and may have been worsened by a journey down a three-mile 1-in-4
hill, riding my brakes for most of the way, which resulted in the light
appearing again although it went off shortly after resuming driving on the
flat. The problem with the light kept recurring, so took it to the garage
again, had the whole brake system checked again, and eventually the
mechanic found a leaky clutch slave, which he replaced. HOwever, the
brake light is still lighting up intermittently (- it appears to happen
more frequently in hot weather)- the brake fluid is not low, the brakes
have been checked several times, the one leak discovered has been fixed.
Has anyone any ideas what could be causing this -are there any other
possible leaks? is it possibly a falty sensor and if so how could i
identify any problems with the sensors which cause the light to flash on?
ato_zee@hotmail.com - 07 May 2007 21:35 GMT
Can't speak for the Punto, but aren't Fiat brake
lights operated by a mechanical switch, located
inside cabin above the brake pedal, with two
fixing nuts, one setting its operating position,
the other a lock nut: the nuts can work
loose, so the switch operates the brake
light when it shouldn't?
If that's how yours works, the switch being
hidden under the dash, above its mounting
bracket, can be hard to get at, plus you
can't easily get a spanner on its nuts.
On a different model of Fiat I ended up
taking the drivers seat out for more room
and needing to be less of a contortionist.
kompa - 20 May 2007 16:27 GMT
Are you talking about instrument (dashboard) light indicating brakes?
Problem may be in your brake pads wich have wear indicator (wire connected
to brake pad and usualy on left forward brake). Check your forward brake
pads.