So I'm heading out from a friend's house when the guy in front of my decides to pull a U-turn. I follow, and bump just the front right tire over the curb (after all, I can nearly do a Uie on a two-lane road). It wasn't a hard hit or anything, but a few seconds later, the "Brake Failure" light begins to fade into view.

I pretty much freak out. I mean, brakes are important, and I know that replacing a master brake cylinder isn't exactly easy or cheap. So, I test out the brakes as best I can. They seem to be working well--there's no pedal sinkage (so cylinder is OK) and I seem to be braking evenly (so it's not stopping on three wheels). I follow my friend to where we're going, and the brakes seem to be working fine the whole time.

I park, turn the car off, and turn it back on. The light is now off. Okay.

I come back to the car an hour later or so, and the light comes back on when I start the car. D'oh. I drive home, and again braking seems fine. I park the car and it sits overnight.

I get up to go to work the next morning, and the light is still on, but I notice it's not that bright. In fact, I remember that it seemed to come on very dimly at first, and then eventually get up to what seems like maybe half power. Here's what I mean:



The Emergency Brake light is lit up on the left, and the Brake Failure light is on the right. It's much dimmer.

I start the car once or twice during the day, to run errands for work. When I get in the car at the end of the day, the light does not come on. It stays off for the ride home and has remained off since (as in, if I started the car right now, the light would be off).

I took the car to the mechanic's shop today because I had called them yesterday to make an appointment, when the light was still on. They checked out the car today, drove it, and took a look at everything.

The master brake cylinder will probably need replacing (that's another story), they say, before I go back to school in a month. Hoewver, as of right now, it is working as expected.

The rear brake pads are a bit worn and will almost certainly need replacing before school, but they too are currently functional.

The switch for the light, apparently, is fine, as when it goes "the light comes on and stays on," according to the mechanic.

Does anyone have any guesses as to why the light came on, and why it was so dim? I was thinking that there could be a short or accidental ground somewhere, but the mechanic nixed that idea. However, I *have* pulled the speedo cluster to install a new odometer gear. It is possible, though fairly unlikely (I think), that a wire could have worked loose.

Nothing else is giving me unexplained problems. Is the Brake Failure light on a single, independent wire? If it's on a half-moon type connector, then I don't see how there could be a loose connection without something else being disconnected too. Does anyone have any guesses as to what the problem is/was? Should I suspect problems, even though it seems the light won't be lighting up again any time soon?
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'89 244 GL -- 104,XXX miles (see profile for info on car)