2007 GEM Emergency Brake light won't go away

We are at our wits end. We have a 2007 GEM elxd that we use as a food truck. We have had many battery/charging problems lately. The batteries would charge but we only got a couple miles before the turtle light would come on. The batteries were 2.5 years old so I thought it was a wiring, connection, or charging problem. I trailered it to the closest GEM dealer to get it looked at. They said everything checked out and that Polaris recommend getting new batteries. We got it home and decided to use it with the limited charge until we could replace the batteries again since it is an expensive repair. We plugged it in and the next morning it hadn’t charged at all. A new issue that hadn’t happened before we took it in to get looked at. They said that if the batteries were very low the charger wouldn’t​ work so we needed to charge them individually until they had enough juice to charge from the car. So we did that and it still wouldn’t charge. We set an appointment to get the batteries replaced locally and when we turned it on to pull it out of the carport for the tow truck the emergency brake light indicator was on the display and the car wouldn’t move. The parking brake was not on and the wires to the switch had been bipassed last year so it is definitely not the brake. We have checked/cleaned connections, fuses, connected and disonnected wires and the computers hoping it would reset but it is still on. We can’t​ move it to get the batteries fixed. We called GEM TECH number they directed us to the dealer who couldn’t​ fix the problem we took it in to fix in the first place. I did call them though and they had no help to offer. Does anyone have any ideas on how to resolve this issue and get my business running again.

Hmmm

You modifiedSuggest you put every thing the brake switch wiring. Why? Suggest you put everything back to stock then follow trouble shooting guid for youe model controller.

Rodney

Don’t forget to check the brake fluid reservoir! I spent a lot of time working on things when it was the easiest fix. It was just for the light anyway.

Yes from 2005-2010.5 Gems had a brake failure switch, the very top electrical connection on the left side wall of brake reservoir tank. The gems after until 2015 had the connector in the harness but no switch on reservoir.

Hi!
Did you find the problem?
I have the same problem…

Hey. I’m having the same problem. Did you ever figure this out?

Yes!
it was the fuse to the radio/accesories (I dont have radio or accesories)
I just replaced a new fuse, now everything is working fine.

Jerry.strom81, did you ever figure out your problem? My 2008 won’t move either. I have 76 volts to the contactor, but the contactor won’t shut to complete the circuit. My brake light is on on the dash also. I assume my problem is that someone had disconnected the parking brake switch, but I can’t figure out which wires go to it to hook it back up, or to bypass it. I don’t have the dark green wires under my seat that the manual says go to it. I am not sure what else to do. (I just recently acquired this GEM, I have worked on a few 2002’s, but this 2008 is a little different) I bought a service manual .pdf from online for a 2008, but I think it is for a 2005, are they different?

Any help would be appreciated.

From memory. The master cylinder switch may illuminate the same light.
Low fluid?

I did some research on here and did see that that could also be the problem, so I checked it, and it is above the minimum line. Would the low brake fluid keep the main contactor from working anyways, or just keep the brake light on? I know on the 2002 's, the parking brake switch would over-ride the controller to keep people from driving with the parking brake on. Mine is disconnected, but I don’t know which wires are supposed to hook up to it. I have a couple yellow with red stripes under the seat that go no where, and a couple other wires, but I don’t want to go hooking them up randomly. I thought I read in here somewhere that some years didn’t have a park brake over ride switch, but I can’t recall which years, and I can’t seem to find that discussion again. If I can just bypass the switch, that could at least let me know if the car works or not. Then I can replace or fix the parking brake switch circuit if that is the problem. Gas is so much easier :slight_smile:

Yes, it would keep car from running.
Both pull p13 of controller to B- (battery neg) through Gem ECM.

To bypass it, cut or remove p13. Connect the controller side to B- and tape the signal wire from Gem wire harness.

Not all T4s use P13. afaik

I will try that and let you know how it goes, thank you!

It may damage something if you ground the Gem side of the p13 wire. Only “ground” p13 of controller.

So if I cut the wire, tape the side from the harness, ground the side that comes out of the plug from the controller.

Yes, when I say ground, I mean the B- terminal on controller or battery. Frame is not connected to the high voltage system.

You’re the man (When I’m not around, haha) I’m up and running (The brake light is still on though). Plus, since you told me pin 13 was the one, I was able to trace the wire to a relay under the dash, to 2 of the wires from the relay, to where I “think” they should go onto the e-brake switch. Just one more to figure out, then figure out if the switch, or the relay is bad. Then hopefully that will allow me to hook everything up in a stock configuration.