Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Branches California CE light & E-brake light

I thought I'd check with you guys first in case anyone has had a similair problem.

Really it's two seperate problems. One is, when I take turns really hard, my e-brake light comes on, and then goes off after a few seconds of straight line driving. WTF?

The second is I noticed that when cruising for any extended period of time (maybe 5 minutes or so) at or oaround 80+ mph, I get a Check Engine light that stays on for quite a while, but does eventually go away. It's possible that there is a correlation to alititude since I do most of my fast driving going from San Jose to the Tracy area.


Any suggestions?

hey, wasn't BB's CE light doing that before his engine went south on him? BB, any comments? the only problem with ligths that i'm having is my coolant light stays on for a few minutes (instead of the normal seconds)at cold start up. hope this helped.

The only thing I can think of for the CEL would be your CAT not doing it's job fully at such high speeds. Do you get any funky smell when getting on the gas really hard?
Brake light..... no idea. Unless your cable is getting pinched or rubbed when you corner really hard which set the sensor off.

the brake light is a normal thing when making hard corners if your brake fluid is not all the way full. its because all the fluid is being forced by innertia to one side and therefor the sensor in there thinks you are running low on brake fluid(which also is the shared resvoir for the clutch)

Well, not that this will be any help, but welcome to my world. My '95 GL has been doing the CE light thing for over 2 years now. After dropping too much money into diagnostics (in Texas and Cali') the mechanics don't know what is going on. Even after having my engine rebuilt/retrofitted last year, the same thing. Tried resetting the 'puter... didn't work.
At first thought it was my chip causing a faulty read. But tests come up empty. haven't experienced any probs with the brake light (yet) and she has over 124,000 on the odometer. Sorry I couldn't help.
James

I just went through exactly that. Hard turns and str8 quick takeoffs, then the light would go on. I knew my breaks were almost gone so I replaced them myself. It didnt do it anymore. Even if u see that your pads are thick still, the inside part could be gone. Wich was the case on mine. After i changed the pads, everything was normal again.

That same brake problem was happening to me, just add a little brake fluid. Nothin special.

If only you had a '96 we could have used my obd-2 scanner to see what was wrong. But I'm useless for any other info

I can second the opinion on adding brake fluid- I had the same thing on my 99 SVT.

On the CEL, I had something that seemed similiar, turned out to be the electronic fuel recovery system. I had to take it to the dealership. They dealt with mine under warranty, though, so I never found out exactly how much it would have cost me to get taken care of if not as a warrantee repair.

--Ross

Correct if I am wrong, but it's a lot easier to get computer codes on '95 model. I think all you have to do is short a couple of pins and the CE lamp will blink corresponding to the code. And I've seen bunch of ppl post '95 codes on the board (Alex_96gl used to have them, i think).

Now bcorrysvt, don't go causing a panic! Sorry I found this post a bit late but I will chime in.

The e-brake thing is normal, I had to get used to it! Damn Fords.

My CE light was one for like 3 months before my engine blew, but it was not related to the engine failure. Pretty much during the 7 months I had my car the CE light was on about %70 of the time. I think the CE light was on for the moosing problem, and whatever else the dealership f*cked up on my car. Damn Ford employees.

If your CE light begins to flash, then PANIC. I don't care if you are taking a long right hand corner at 90 mph in the middle of a snowstorm, if the CE begins to flash then shut off your engine immediately!!

James