Handbrake light not coming on

[Alan Paterson]

On my 88MY X180 Turbo, the handbrake works fine but the light on the dash isn't coming on.

I'd hate to take the binnacle off and find that it's not the bulb that's gone, so is there anything else I can check before assuming the Lotus position.

There must be some connection on the rear wheels that triggers the dash light.

Alan

[Sparky]

The switch sits below and behind the handbrake lever. Get at it and short the 2 wires together to test the circuit/bulb.

[rogerch]

I'll bet you find a cable hanging off the connector, I reckon the crimper was on holiday in 1988.

[red vtec]

yep as the others have said check the wires. when I got my car they had been cut, I had to solder in some new lengths.

[Alan Paterson]

Cheers chaps,

I reversed the car out of the garage to take a look at what you've suggested and guess what? - It started raining.

Honestly, me getting the Esprit out is better than doing a rain dance.

Thanks for the advice, I'll get to it soon.

Thanks

Alan

[martynv]

It's just a microswitch on the handbrake mounting plate which does the on/off. I found on mine I had to adjust the lever a bit by bending it so it went on and off correctly, don't try loosening the two securing bolts as the nuts are not captive !. One other thing thats confuses things somewhat at least on 1989 models is that the warning light also doubles as a low vacuum warning, so if you haven't got the car running when you release the hand brake the light will stay on even though the switch has switched off. There's three contacts on the micro switch, so if the wires have pulled off you'll need to experiment a bit to get the right contacts.

Martyn