Brake and punctuation issues
 

No just kidding! New to the forum, first post. Trying to find out a few things on my brakes! First my parking brake light is always on second are the brakes supposed to go damn near to the floor before gaining pedal pressure third if these are issues and a thread out there that explains the issue and fix please point me in the direction or if you could answer me here great!

2001 Cherokee 4x4 4.0 sport everything stock!

Unless you are leaking brake fluid.......
The light is on because you have low brake fluid in the brake fluid reservoir. As your brakes wear down, it takes more fluid in the pistons to keep them working. The solution is to check your brakes and replace the pads and if need be other parts like the rotors, the rear brake shoes, etc.
As you compress the pistons in your brakes to fit the new pads or new shoes in, it will displace brake fluid which will be pushed back up to the brake fluid reservoir which will cause the light to go out. Then you bleed your brakes if you have excessive brake pedal travel before your brakes engage. Once you have it all replaced and working, you can top off your brake fluid.

Sounds like your XJ is telling you she wants some attention and parts replaced!

Punctuation is free. Use some.

Generally the RED dash lights mean you should STOP for the safety of the car or your own safety. The orange ones are the ones where you can probably continue to drive and get it looked at as soon as you can. Kinda like how the lights at intersections have orange for "watch out, continue or stop as is safe", and red is just stop.

If your brakes are that worn down you'll want to look at how used up the brake fluid is. You shouldn't be able to detect any color in it if it is good. If it is slightly yellow see orange lights above. If it is slightly brown or darker it needs to be replaced. The color comes from water mixing in with it and that water will kill all the rest of your brake parts before their time. $100 spent now on brake fluid replace will save you $3,000 five years from now.

You should not drive it until you figure this out. You arent going to get one problem solving answer here as easily as youmight think. It's just not that simple and easy

If you do not know anything about brakes you should probably take it to a qualified mechanic.

If you do know about brakes and how vehicles work then...
Check if the lines are holding pressure
check the fluid
check the vacuum hose going to the booster
check ALL the lines for leaks. Every inch of line
pull the wheels and check the shoes and cylinders and the calipers pads and rotors

Thanks! BlueRidgeMark! Didn’t realize I was in 9th grade English class!!!!!!!! Lol



To the other guys/gals appreciate it! I just needed a starting point, I wasn’t sure if the breaks were supposed to be squishy! Since never owning a Jeep I figured a “Jeep Forum” was the place to go! I’ll be back!

No this isn't English class, but you ARE an adult like the rest of us here. So its just assumed that everyone here knows how to correctly convey the English language so it is understandable, including punctuation, grammar, spelling, etc...
It can be difficult to figure out what someone is talking about when there is no punctuation. I understand that is how a lot of the younger generations do it with their facebook and instagram or twitter or whatever, but its lazy, not to mention pretty annoying to see on a daily basis.
This is just good advice from people who frequent this forum and we do our best to help people, but that can't happen if we cant communicate efficiently. :thumbsup:
All brake systems work damn near the same way, regardless of make/model. If the brake pedal goes to the floor in ANY vehicle, its not good.
You could have a leak in the hydraulic system. The brake light does double duty as an e-brake alert AND a pressure imbalance warning between the front and rear brake hydraulic systems. The switch for the pressure imbalance warning portion of the circuit is located on the brake proportioning valve just below the brake master cylinder. That switch, or the E-brake switch, can turn the light on.

Also, see the 4th entry of BlueRidge's signature for a good idea of how to get the most help out of people. It didn't seem like you took too much offense from his comment, but you know.... more advice.
.

Wow!
Glad I got a response from those who look past the “grammar”!
Oh wait should the exclamation point go before the parentheses or after?! Asking for a friend!

Keep on keeping on all you keyboard warriors y’all are the ones who give forums a crappy experience! No wonder I never ask y’all for help!

Here is a very complete answer after the advice I gave.
We aren't being a-holes, just letting you know its appreciative to post questions and comments in a better fashion. You will still get some help if you must type the way you do, but trust me, not near as much help will come. No one likes to sit and read while trying to figure out what it is supposed to say because it's a run-on sentence. Just sayin'.
I'm not sure why EVERYONE takes offense to our request for better quality English.....

I apologize for my run on sentence! I figured by numbering my questions the group would understand, apparently not! Since I do not frequent forums too often, I didn’t realize my grammar would freak people out! Obviously I am using a cell phone to create my post, signatures do not show up! Sorry my grammar, punctuation, and every other thing you see wrong with my thread isn’t up to standards! I’m just trying to get help if the “grammar police” have issues with my “grammar”! Keep your opinions to yourself and scroll to the next thread! Simple!!! I have no room for opinions just facts!

Good luck.
And it isn't an opinion, its a fact.
We were also done with the "opinions" a few posts back and I began trying to help you with your problem, yet you continued to stay offended by our request and you kept complaining about it. So if you'd like more help, continue informing us of your issues and we'd be glad to help. If you'd like to stay butt hurt over nothing, then that's on you. I really dont understand how your tighty whities got into such a wad over a simple request. We didn't insult you, cuss at you, or anything of the nature. We just asked you to try and be a little more formal with the posts so WE have a better understanding of what is going on so we can help the best way possible.

So, let's move on.

Thanks!

Starret, you might want to check the adjustment of your rear brake shoes. Caliper pistons will stay the required distance from the rotors so the distance they have to move is minimal, but the rear shoes will retract all the way and if they are not adjusted to be close to the drums, the pedal will have to move a long way to activate them. If the front pads are worn down, excessive fluid will remain in the calipers, causing your low level light. This is all providing you don't have any leaks. As my Dad told me many years ago, the truck may not go fast, but it's GOT to be able to STOP! It's the most important system in any motor vehicle.

And yes, DOT classifys it as a truck because they didn't get catalytic converters until 20 years after cars did.

Thank you!! I’ll pass this information to my kid I called it a truck he said it’s a Jeep, I said it’s a truck! Lol

Heh, I called it a truck and got chewed out for it because it is a unibody and not a ladder frame so it's a car! I still think of it as a truck and didn't get my feels damaged. But do watch out, there are a lot of people that don't know the difference between a fact and an opinion.

Thank God my sister taught me before kindergarten "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me."

My 98 is titled and registered as a Station Wagon. SW on title. Absolutely not a truck lol
Edit
Let's not argue lol

it's neither a truck, or a car. it's a jeep!!
maybe that means, it's sort of a cross between the two? but i have other jeeps that have a real frame. and i'll be damned if i call it a car, or a truck. again, it's a jeep.
jeep is in a classification all on it's own. there is no mistaking it from either.

the best part about jeep, is they are the exact same, no matter where you go in the world. you can walk up to any parts counter, and they know, once you say Jeep, just what you have.

never do i say, "i've gotta run out to the car"...

now, back to your regularly scheduled program...

some die hard Wrangler guys would disagree lol

The ONLY REAL JEEP is a WRANGLERRRRR:furious:

Wrangler ??!! umph!
The only REAL Jeep:
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...92909e4a9.jpeg

I'm on the TJ Wrangler Forum too and you're right, there are a some of those limited thinkers. I get the last laugh though as my Canadian TJ & LJ, and YJ's too, are not Wranglers at all. Due to the naming rights being owned by GM Canada, its pickup truck Wrangler is a Wrangler and ours are simply TJs, TJ Unlimiteds and YJs. it was all sorted by the time the JKs came along and they are called Wranglers.

THAT is a Wrangler. :thumbsup: Note what it's called on a 1990 Canadian sales brochure though. Up here it was just a YJ. Everything else had a name (Cherokee, etc.) but not the YJ. :icon_cheesygrin:

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...ea22dff59c.jpg

Just kidding actually. My son in Fla. has a '97 TJ. I like it a lot. The CJ in the pic is a '77 CJ5 Renegade Levi Edition. It's used strictly for doing what you see in the pic. Only has ~130K miles on it but the frame and body are shot.

OOPS!! I used to have a '69 CJ so I should have known. lol. It was red and had a plow too. I don't think they were ever called Wranglers either. :dunno:

First year for the Wrangler which replaced the name CJ was '87. YJ (yuppie jeep) it was dubbed.

Except for in Canada. The first year for the Wrangler was '07. It got called a lot of things! :cry: The GMC Wrangler was gone by then. :)

Do you happen to know what took the place of the CJ and when?

moar pics

:dunno: Pretty much all I got. So far I've only had to plow once this year.

I don't. I had my '69 CJ from '72 to '75. Among other things I remember using it to drive my friend to the dealership to pick up his new '74 CJ5 and I can tell you it was a lot nicer than mine! I replaced mine with a 2 yr. old VW "Super Beetle" ... and it was compared to 2 other Beetles I'd had up to then. I know there were changes and new models but I kind of lost touch with Jeeps until I bought my first XJ in 1990. It was a new Laredo and the last year of the RENIX Jeeps. I had no idea there was a big change coming in 1991.

Don't be ridiculous what the hell difference does it matter

What you guys don't seem to realize is that you get LESS help with posts that give the people who can help you most, a headache.
FACT.

Absolutely!!

My first Jeep was a '74 CJ5:

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...021efc03dd.jpg

AFAIC Wrangler's not a Jeep, it's a car.

PCO is right. they couldn't use the name Wrangler, as it was associated with the GMC pickup truck, until Chrysler can call their TJ a wrangler, however, it wasn't official until the JK, which was marketed as a wrangler. in other countries, like the US, they only started calling jeeps wranglers when the YJ came out. the CJ was never called a wrangler. but i still only call my JL a JL, never a wrangler, unless i'm picking up an oil filter at Napa. they don't know what a TJ, JK or JL is.

i have a few of these, starting with my CJ3a, my CJ project, TJ and JL, as well as a couple lifted XJ's. some would call me a die hard "wrangler" guy, but really, i'm an XJ guy by heart. my first jeep was an XJ, and i will always have one, until i can't.

Did y'all have the Scrambler ('81 - '86) up there?

This is my first and only XJ. All the other Jeeps were CJ's in the '76 to '86 range with the '76 to '79's being my favorite. Still have a "hybrid" project under tarp but doubt I'll ever finish it.

I can't recall if this thread is about breaks :smartass: or punctuation and I'm sorry that it's veered off course BUT if anyone wants to know what a1980s/90s Canadian Wrangler looks like here you go. Sorry about this too ...

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...b7fce412ba.jpg
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...94352f8870.jpg

They're not common but I've seen a handful of them. According to this 1983 sales brochure we did get them.

1983 Jeep CJ5 CJ7 Scrambler J10 J20 Cherokee Wagoneer Canadian Sales Brochure (autopaper.com)

BTW - I've bought a few things from Troxel's Auto Literature and they are a good source.

I'm guessing that p/u would be our GMC Sierra.