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reluctantartist Samba Member
Joined: August 13, 2006 Posts: 1927 Location: Bloomington, IN
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Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008 5:37 pm Post subject: Emergency brake light switch |
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Does anyone know where the emergency/parking brake light switch is located? I have been unable to find it's location in the Bentley Manuel.
Thanks _________________ 1982 Westy, 1974 412 Variant... Yes, Aircooled's are great! Oh and I do have modern computer controlled vehicles too, but I just don't care about them. |
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mightyart Samba Member
Joined: March 24, 2004 Posts: 6188 Location: Portland, Oregon
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Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008 5:54 pm Post subject: |
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Brake light switches.
For the foot brakes, there are two on the bottom of the master cylinder.
For the hand parking brake, there is one under the handle. |
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reluctantartist Samba Member
Joined: August 13, 2006 Posts: 1927 Location: Bloomington, IN
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Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008 7:02 pm Post subject: |
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Do I access it by removing the hand-brake lever boot? And what should I be looking for?
Thanks _________________ 1982 Westy, 1974 412 Variant... Yes, Aircooled's are great! Oh and I do have modern computer controlled vehicles too, but I just don't care about them. |
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mightyart Samba Member
Joined: March 24, 2004 Posts: 6188 Location: Portland, Oregon
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Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008 7:09 pm Post subject: |
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reluctantartist wrote: |
Do I access it by removing the hand-brake lever boot? And what should I be looking for?
Thanks |
Yes it's under the boot, it's the only thing with a wire going to it.
Mine is a black spring switch with a green wire, you pull up on the handle, the switch moves out and the light comes on, release the handle it pushes in the switch, the light goes out. |
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reluctantartist Samba Member
Joined: August 13, 2006 Posts: 1927 Location: Bloomington, IN
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Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008 7:12 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks Mightyart....I have been doing lots of work getting it ready for the summer trips and that is one last thing I want to fix....too man y times the wife and I have driven with the brake partially on. _________________ 1982 Westy, 1974 412 Variant... Yes, Aircooled's are great! Oh and I do have modern computer controlled vehicles too, but I just don't care about them. |
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PDXWesty Samba Member
Joined: April 11, 2006 Posts: 6234 Location: Portland OR
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Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008 7:15 pm Post subject: |
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There's supposed to be an emergency brake light??? |
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Huxmobile Samba Member
Joined: June 16, 2008 Posts: 141 Location: SF Bay area
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Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 9:32 am Post subject: |
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I smelled burning brakes when I arrived at work today, then found my brake lever wasn't fully down. Thanks to this reply I went and found the Green and White wire, detatched! Early morning fix.
Thank you! _________________ 87 Westy 2.1L, manual (sold) |
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90Doka_Guy Samba Member
Joined: April 08, 2007 Posts: 548 Location: South Jersey
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Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 10:37 am Post subject: |
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PDXWesty wrote: |
There's supposed to be an emergency brake light??? |
Just the one on the dash that lights up if the parking brake is on. _________________ -'87 Westy
-'90 Tintop
-'90 DOKA |
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tencentlife Samba Member
Joined: May 02, 2006 Posts: 10067 Location: Abiquiu, NM, USA
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Posted: Sat Jun 28, 2008 9:02 am Post subject: |
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Keane wrote: |
PDXWesty wrote: |
There's supposed to be an emergency brake light??? |
Just the one on the dash that lights up if the parking brake is on. |
Yeah, it's the one that is perfectly blocked from sight by the rim of the steering wheel. So even when it works (mine always has perfectly, one click up on the handle and it's on), you can still drive around with the brake on unless you crane your neck to see the warning light. Why this wasn't put in the vacant space under the LED cluster right front and center, I'll always wonder. _________________ Shop for unique Vanagon accessories at the Vanistan shop:
https://intrepidoverland.com/vanistan/
Please don't PM here, I will not reply.
Experience is kryptonite to doctrine. |
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goffoz Samba Member
Joined: May 09, 2007 Posts: 1486
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Posted: Sat Jun 28, 2008 11:32 pm Post subject: |
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Why the hell do they call it an "Emergency brake" ..its for parking
Just like the expression "firewall"..Is that supposed to inspire confidence |
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mightyart Samba Member
Joined: March 24, 2004 Posts: 6188 Location: Portland, Oregon
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Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 5:07 am Post subject: |
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goffoz wrote: |
Why the hell do they call it an "Emergency brake" ..its for parking
Just like the expression "firewall"..Is that supposed to inspire confidence |
It's called the emergency brake because you can use it to stop if your regular braking system is completely gone.
It's connected to the rear brakes by a cable totaly independent from the regular system.
Way back when I took drivers ed they actually showed us how to use it to stop if the brakes failed. |
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markz2004 Samba Member
Joined: November 13, 2007 Posts: 944 Location: Portland, OR
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Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 9:06 am Post subject: |
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Oh - I just thought it was for getting a car (never a westy) to slide sideways in snowy parking lots. _________________ 87 Westy, 250k GW 2.4 - 2.0 , 16" wheels |
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Timwhy Samba Member
Joined: January 01, 2009 Posts: 3990 Location: Maine
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novice Samba Member
Joined: September 21, 2009 Posts: 23 Location: West Coast
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Posted: Sun Aug 07, 2011 11:25 am Post subject: |
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Jumped in my 84 westy today, parking brake won't disengage. Looked underneath van cables looked fine. Looked under the e brake boot and the little lever that moves when pressing the button works fine.
Question, is that little lever supposed to clear the metal piece it sits on to make the e brake disengage. Thanks. If I can't figure it out, going to be a flatbed tow. |
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Ahwahnee Samba Member
Joined: June 05, 2010 Posts: 9770 Location: Mt Lemmon, AZ
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Posted: Sun Aug 07, 2011 12:22 pm Post subject: |
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novice wrote: |
...If I can't figure it out, going to be a flatbed tow. |
Seems like it would be pretty easy to back-off or even undo the handbrake. There should be a couple of ways but perhaps the easiest would be that small nut on the threaded adjustment rod that operates the metal crosspiece that pulls the left & right cable. About amidship under the van.
That nut could be loosened to the point where the brakes release or, failingg that, to the point where the ball fitting on the cables could be unhooked from the metal crosspiece. |
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novice Samba Member
Joined: September 21, 2009 Posts: 23 Location: West Coast
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Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2011 6:00 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks dude, loosened cable, in fact unscrewed e brake off the floor, rear wheels still locked so eliminated e brake... |
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novice Samba Member
Joined: September 21, 2009 Posts: 23 Location: West Coast
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Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 8:32 pm Post subject: |
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To end my little tale, went back to the search feature and found techniques to diagnose, and fix what turned out to be the actual problem. After washing my van, I used the e brake and a wet brake shoe had stuck to the drum.
I jacked it up to hammer the drum, and heard the shoe break loose. All better. Damn I was happy.
All hail the mighty search option. |
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MootPoint Samba Member
Joined: September 16, 2006 Posts: 862 Location: ABQ, NM
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Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2011 8:58 am Post subject: |
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tencentlife wrote: |
Keane wrote: |
PDXWesty wrote: |
There's supposed to be an emergency brake light??? |
Just the one on the dash that lights up if the parking brake is on. |
Yeah, it's the one that is perfectly blocked from sight by the rim of the steering wheel. So even when it works (mine always has perfectly, one click up on the handle and it's on), you can still drive around with the brake on unless you crane your neck to see the warning light. Why this wasn't put in the vacant space under the LED cluster right front and center, I'll always wonder. |
I posted this really simple mod a couple months ago but this looks like a good place to repost it.
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=5367836&highlight=#5367836
Having now used it since I wonder how I lived without it. Like 10¢ I'm no NBA player (Sorry, Chris) so the eBrake light was invisible to me with occasional dire consequences. This works really well, IMHO. I always see it when I glance at the gauges as I'm about to put it in gear. _________________ 1984 Westy with tencentlife power! |
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psych-illogical Samba Member
Joined: October 14, 2004 Posts: 1181 Location: AZ
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Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2011 7:29 am Post subject: |
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Wow. A 4 yr old thread still surfacing. I saw this yesterday when I was at work and it got me to thinkin, 'One of the very few things that doesn't work on my van now is that stupid light.' So, I went home, rolled back the boot on the lever and there's absolutely no switch anywhere to be seen. Musta been removed by some PO. So, the search is on for a switch to install and then I'm gonna do the Moot-mod to the light and relocated it somewhere visible (brilliant, really). _________________ 83 1/2 Westy waterboxer
'57 Beetle-sold
Coupla '81 BMW motorcycles (R80G/S; R100RS)
'96 BMW R1100GS |
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spitsnrovers Samba Member
Joined: December 17, 2005 Posts: 924 Location: Calgary, Canada
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Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2011 7:33 am Post subject: |
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A door courtesy light switch from most any older vehicle will do the trick for that emergency brake lever. _________________ '88 VW Westfalia
'75 Triumph Spitfire 1500 |
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