I just moved to New Hampshire where the state requires an inspection for registration. Everything is "Good" with my car with the exception that my brake light stays on. The mechanic that checked out my car said he investigated and called honda to see what the issue was and they came to the conclusion that it's my reservoir float inside the master cylinder that needs to be changed. He also said that the Honda Dealer told him that floats cannot be bought individually and that the entire master cylinder would have to be changed... for approx $500... for a brake light that hasn't been working for the past 4 years! ( i never had an issue with this in California... no state inspection). Has anyone found a source for reservoir floats other than replacing the whole master cylinder?

 

The "BRAKE" light that shows up on the gauge cluster turns on when the emergency brake is activated...

 

Im pretty sure at being 6 years as a S2Ki member, his brake light isn't on because his ebrake is engaged.

OP, I had this problem after I flushed and fill my brake fluid, I took it to a shop and he was poking and moving the float around. And finally the light went off. You can give it a try yourself.

Or you can get a piece of electrical tape and tape over it for the inspection, its very hard to notice the tape there.

 

theres an issue with the float sticking, my car does it when its cold.

remove the cap, and jossle the float around, should fix it temporarily

 

Im sure you already have but make sure the brake fluid is full or try to add some. The light will come on when the brake fluid is low, or if the floater thinks it is.

 

sorry for bringing a topic back from the dead but i am having the same issue with my S, i put the ebrake completely down or disengage it and the BRAKE light just stays on. you guys were talking about checking the brake fluid, i'll check that out but am sure its not that. but you guys also mentioned it to be the "float sticking" and here is where you lost me.. the float i suppose is a mechanism that tells you how low you are on break fluid? any help with this would be awesome, thanks!!

 

Yeah, the float is similar to a float in your gas tank. BRAKE light comes on if it gets too low. I'd recommend doing a brake flush and maybe cleaning the float off with a paper towel if possible, to try to keep it from sticking. If I recall, a BRAKE light can mean either low fluid, ebrake, or hydraulic failure. I'm sure you'd notice if it were the last one. Also, I'm pretty sure we have an ABS light in our cars, but I cant remember. The BRAKE light can mean an ABS failure if there is no designated ABS light. May want to test your ABS just to be sure.

 

Had the same thing happened to me and it was because of low brake fluid. Topped it off and the light went away. Hence if you have a stuck float then yes it will cause your brake light to stay on.

 

Aha great this has been annoying me for a couple of weeks now gonna check fluid tomorrow thanks guys