2008 GEM car brake light on dash stays on so car will not move? Any ideas? Im very new to GEM cars!
2008 typically due to one of two “sensors”…
Check the brake fluid reservoir level. If it’s low, it’s the low level sensor, so pour some Johnny Walker Blue or Platinum in it to raise the level. If that’s too spendy, then brake fluid works kinna good… DOT 3 or 4 or 9 whatever is on the cap. Check the wires going to the sensor, see if one of them fell off or corroded away or got eaten by a rat that was expecting fine Scotch but walked away disappointed.
If it’s not the fluid reservoir, then when you turn the key on, and drop the hand / parking brake, and if it sounds an audible alarm consisting of a constant pitch continuous tone? This could indicate that the parking brake is not making physical contact with the sensor switch located under the lever arm and it’s not closing the switch, or if the switch is being pushed down, maybe it clicks, but doesn’t make the light go off, it likely has shed it’s mortal coil, it is no more, it has passed beyond, it is pushing up daisies, it is dead. Replace the microswitch.
Or, just douse the GEM with gasoline and chuck a lit road flare at the puddle. It will be very satisfying to watch and the brake issue will no longer be a big problem.
Oh, and BTW, Jiffy Pop in the aluminum tins is really a good addition to the above.
JJ was correct that low fluid level in the brake reservoir will light up the brake light on dash, but it will not keep the car from moving.
I would have a look at your hand brake loop. As you suspect, the controller must detect the hand brake is released before allowing the car to go.
It could be the switch, a wire pulled off the switch, No 12v power on the wire, a bad relay in the loop, a bad connection, or an issue in the controller.
Some of these test/checks are easy, Some are not so easy. It depends on your abilities and test equipment. Problems like this are easier to track down/solve if you have a handheld digital voltmeter to test some wires.
Do you have a DVM handy? (and some basic meter skills to use it?)
– Easy checks –
Does it beep?
First test is always the Handbrake Beep.
Condition- MainBatteryDisconnect switch to ON, KeyOFF
Releasing the hand brake should produce a continuous tone from the dash area. If NO, then skip to check the fuse.
If YES,
Either of two actions will silence the beep:
- Pulling up (setting) the hand brake
- KeyON
Check Fuse 10?
Fuse 10 is the begin of the handbrake loop.
Bottom row, far right.
It is marked Radio, but it does more than that.
Switch not clicking?
Pull up the rubber boot around the base of the hand brake and locate the little switch. Note where the two wires are attached. You can even pull off the wires and connect the two wires together to see if the light goes out.
If the Key is OFF, connecting these two wires together should trigger the beeper to sound a continuous beep.
If YES, then the switch is bad or in need of adjustment.
If NO, then we need to look elsewhere and the next steps get more complicated.
Ok so fluid is good! It does sound correctly when emergency brake is off and key is off. We have not checked the microswitch?
So we have checked the fuse with a test light says its good. Emergency brake beeps as should the light just stays on dash all the time so carts will not drive. We have not tried doing the to wires together on the Emergency brake yet. We are having bad weather here right now. Im just scared its the controller if so any ideas where to get it rebuilt at?
I am not ready to blame the controller just yet.
I think you misunderstood the sequence. (I’ll look back to what I typed to see if instructions not clear).
If the handbrake beep/silence test works as intended, then there is no need to check the fuse, or the switch.
The Twins
Not to be confused with JarJar’s favorite fantasy, this actually refers to two cube relays related to the hand brake loop. One controls the beep, the other controls the signal to the controller.
Now you need to check the Twin relays (weather permitting).
Locate these relays under the top section of the dash, over on the right side(passenger), mounted up near the windshield.
These relays are pressed into their sockets. Since we know the beeper relay works, a real easy thing to do is swap them.
If you drop the brake and pull the relay out, you can tell which one is which when the beep stops as you pull out one of the relays.
If you find the beep relay first, you get to work in silence. Then you can even feel hear the relay clicking as you are plugging it back into the other socket.
Sometimes, the relays are actually good, and the connection on the bottom is sketchy. Pulling these relays out and pushing it back in cleans the tabs.
After switching cubes, Try KeyON, BrakeDown, to see if Brake light now out.
Report back with success / no change and further instructions.
Bsd weather is the best time to go enjoy a plate of hot, delicious Ikea meatballs and a scrumptious slice of their chocolate cake.
Go, enjoy, we can wait for you to get back.
Btw. The brakes go through the PSDM (behind the fuses) the controller is the gray rectangle onder ths hood for the motor.
Ok sorry its been a while, alot going on. Got around to checking everything everyone has said. And no results. All I can say is contactor are not even clicking either?
Got around to checking everything everyone has said. And no results.
To continue, I need more information than this. When your answers are vague, this lack of detail makes me think your testing may be equally as lazy and there is a high possibility that you may have missed something.
→ Did you find the relays?
→ Did the beep silence when you removed one?
→ Did you swap the two relays and check the Brake light again?
→ when you plug the relay from the beeper into the other socket, can you feel a faint click as you are pressing it in?
→ Are there any other numbers on the dash display besides a big 0 (zero)?
All I can say is contactor are not even clicking either?
This is expected. The main contactor (relay) will not close when the brake light is active.
We switched both relays no changes
We took both switches off the brakes and no changes.
The brake light never went off during any of this.
Yes you feel a faint click when you plug the relay in.
No numbers but the 0
Brake light stays on and seat belt light stays on.
My batteries are fully charged we bought new batteries showing full vaults
My batteries are fully charged we bought new batteries showing full vaults
Another note: Also- this is vague. Your opinion of what full volts do not mean much here. A real number is much better so we can relate..
It may not mean much to you but there is a huge difference between 72.6 and 84.2v(example). At least quote one place after the decimal point but two places after the decimal is even better for us tech nerds. Don’t return with 72v… 72.6 is good, and 72.65 is even better.
This all assumes you have a handheld meter and able to do some basic voltage checks? Yes?
I want to go back to the relay/sockets. Identify/recall which one triggers the beep, (right or left) then focus on the OTHER relay (being the trigger associated with the dash light). With relay removed it looks like this:
Meter/Probe the socket/pin flagged here as B- (-72v). Your other meter probe goes on B+ on the front of the PSDM(see pic below - single post on driver side of PSDM).
You should see B+ on your meter (something greater than 72v).
Confirm (Y/N?)
Ok so volts 75.2 is what my volt meter said.
I will have to go back and check the clicking on the 2 relays
I went out and messed with them that time on the 2 relays and got no clicking sounds? Thats weird sometimes i do and some times I dont?
got no clicking sounds?
To get the click, Main Batt Switch ON and Hand Brake handle must be down.
Lst thing I need you to check (if you are up to it) is checking for B- signal up at the controller.
You need to disconnect the 23 pin Main Harness connector on top of the controller. It looks like this:
To release this connector, you need to pull out on that locking tab and pull up on the connector. Use a slight rocking motion.
Once removed,the end of the connector looks like this:
Observe the pin numbers 1-8 across the top. 16-23 aross the bottom.
Locate pin 13. Confirm you have the correct pin by looking at the back of the connector and you will find a Blu/Or wire.
Use a tiny needle and poke it into the Pin13 hole in the connector. (Note: the troubleshooting guide suggests using your meter probe directly. We have found that most meter probes are too big and can distort the pin springs and it will have issues making good contact with the pin on the controller next time it is used). Using a smaller needle will not stretch the pin springs and still allow this test.
With one meter test probe in contact with Pin13, other meter probe on B+ on the PSDM for reference, Cube relays installed, Brake Handle down,
You should expect B+ reading (at this time 75.2). (You may need to fish the other meter probe through the firewall to get at that B+ on the PSDM.)
Confirm (Y/N?)
I got a clicking from both relays with brake down and batteries on.
Sorry yall this is my 1st GEM Car.
I will do all they other stuff tomorrow when it clears up here