The light on the dash stays on when the parking break is NOT engaged. However, when I put my water bottle on it and it stays all the way down, the light is off. I should also mention that my push button is missing. For the moment, I have a door lock lever as my push button. Why is my light staying on?

Rosy
1990 240 DL

With the parking brake on, look down near the base of the handle, right at the front of the hole in the console cover. There's a little black button sticking up. When the button is up, the parking brake warning light is on. When the button is down (b/c the parking brake handle is smooshing it down) it breaks the circuit and the light goes off.

That area tends to collect quite a lot of crud. Clean the little button switch and see if it works any better. Or just try to be more mindful of how that system works when disengaging the parking brake. I give mine a gentle little jiggle to "settle it in" at the bottom whenever I release the brake.

John