Hand brake light and charge light comes on/off/on/off What?

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GAS-A-LOT!

GAS-A-LOT!

10 Year 15 Year
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
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Location
LOS ANGELES
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www.destechservices.com
Any Ideas?
I've started getting the hand brake light come on and stay on for days at a time... And now, the Charge light comes up with it as well.... Could it be a ground??? Are there weak links in the grounding cables that I might not know about????


1987 SR5...

Thanks
 
It could be a bad ground, but generally flashing lights on the dash, particularly the Charge light, indicate a failing alternator. It could be as simple as replacing the brushes, a cheap/easy repair.
 
As said before, this points to an alternator issue. On Toyotas, the "BRAKE" warning is tied into the "CHARGE" warning. I am not sure why, maybe just so it really gets your attention.

Grounds are always a good place to start with any electrical problem, but the majority of the time in cases like this the issue is with the alternator itself.

On my '85 pick-up, I had this same exact issue with intermittent "BRAKE" and "CHARGE" lights for a couple of days, and then it became a contant issue, with no battery charge at all. I checked the brushes as it is a common item to wear, but they were good and clean. I then troubleshot the alternator on the bench using this TOYOTA TECH TRAINING MANUAL, and discovered it was the internal voltage regulator that was bad. I replaced just the regulator, and save a bunch of money vs replacing the entire alternator.

Bottom line, it's probably the alternator going bad. You can replace the entire alternator, or you can troubleshoot and replace the bad component inside the alt, such as the brushes or VR.
 
you guys will not believe!!! Last night I stated cleaning the alternator with a rag along with the area around it... It looked like Power Steering oil had leaked out. And figured that If I cleaned it, it at least would keep it from getting oil in the alternators internals...

Well, this morning when I looked to see If I had cleaned all right the night before, I notice something sticking out! It was the main Screw that the Alternator hinges on... It was almost out! Only had about 1" left. So I pushed it back in and it went away...

It was not getting ground. Now, I will look for a nut so I can be able to tighten it tomorrow...


I was glad I checked in time, if not I would have left my alternator in the FWY somewhere...

THanks Guys...

Cheers.
 
thats a good catch,but do check on your charging system anyway and load test it.
 
I had the same problem this weekend with the battery,brake and AT oil temp light coming on.????
1990 v6 auto.I think its the alternator also. But why the temp light???
Thanks, Mike
 
mikej said:
I had the same problem this weekend with the battery,brake and AT oil temp light coming on.????
1990 v6 auto.I think its the alternator also. But why the temp light???
Thanks, Mike
Click to expand...

Different Models. Same issue..basically it's in "Idiot Light Mode". The Check Engine Light is the last one that will come on, and that's when you're engine's off b/c the battery's completely dead.

It makes common folk freak out enough to have to take it in and get things checked like they should.
 
this has happened to me about 2 weeks afer I put an acdelco alt on my truck, and i think it was on tr4.org, but when the alt and parking brake are flasking at a regular interval it is the voltaage regulator in the alternator, so just swap the whole thing, rebuilding the brushes with a bad voltage regular wont help.
 
dubsb said:
this has happened to me about 2 weeks afer I put an acdelco alt on my truck, and i think it was on tr4.org, but when the alt and parking brake are flasking at a regular interval it is the voltaage regulator in the alternator, so just swap the whole thing, rebuilding the brushes with a bad voltage regular wont help.
Click to expand...

I've had to replace 5 or 6 sets of brushes in different trucks, I've never had a voltage regulator go bad...
 
you are probably not dumb enough to buy n acdelco.
 
I found out it was my voltage regulator it was from t4r.org, one guy did some extensive research on the correlation of the brake and charge light flashing in unison,

brake and charge light flashing

mabye even faq stuff, since rebuilding it wont solve them problem.
 
My toyora

For the past month my 87 Toyota charge light has stayed on and will not turn off. I have replaced the alternator and battery both and the light is still on any info on what might be causing it would be a huge help because I can't figure it out.
 
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