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.