Hand brake dash light issue

[Charlie1975]

Hi everyone.

My names Charlie, this is my first post since joining this forum. I've recently took on my late fathers Hilux Surf 2.4 Turbo diesel on a K registered Jap import. It's a lovely vehicle and only got 95,000 on the clock. It was his pride and joy. However, it's old and i've started getting an issue with the Hand Brake red light on the dash.

Normally this would illuminate when i've pulled the hand brake on. However, these last couple of days it's started to glow (I say glow as it doesn't come on fully as if I've applied the brake) and comes on and off intermittently.

I'm worried that it's warning me of some other brake issue but I've checked the brake fluid and thats fine. So any of you have any ideas please? Or could it just be an electrical fault with the switch and nothing really much to worry about?

Many thanks for your time. I hope you can help. Cheers.

Charlie.

[Sylux]

If you look under the dash, where the handbrake lever goes, you'll see a switch. It's the only electrical part of the handbrake, IIRC.

Check to see if it's worn, has bad connections or is just goosed. They're not much to replace.

If it's fine then it'll be the bulb in the cluster.

[Growler]

It is also used to warn you of low fluid level in the reservoir. Check that you have enough fluid in and the float isn't sticking

[NiftyNev]

Unplug the level sensor on top of the reservoir and see if that solves the problem.

Nev.

[Charlie1975]

Thank you everyone.

I did check the reservoir and the fluid is at maximum, but didn't think about checking the float. I'll have a look at that in a bit.