13 replies to this topic

[Cambelt]

As the description says and why is it slightly melted ?

[TL1992]

It's the break test switch. Don't know why its melted, looks like it has been chewed =s

Edited by Dan, 24 April 2014 - 06:55 PM.
No edit

[rally515]

It's the brake light test switch, press it and if it lights up it means your brak lights are functioning as they should.
 
I could be wrong but it looks to me as if the surface of the switch and part of the other switch to the right have been burned so id say at a guess that its just abit of vandel work ?, but best to pop it out and inspect the loom area for it to be sure :)

Edited by Dan, 24 April 2014 - 06:57 PM.
This advice is misleading and potentially dangerous

[Cambelt]

Oh right what's a brake test ? (Probably a stupid question)

[Bungle]

self destruct button , looks like it's already been pressed and your mini is starting to melt

[HarrysMini]

It's the break test switch. Don't know why its melted, looks like it has been chewed =s

Incorrect. 

 

It's to test the bulb in the switch works. If it lights up without pressing it, your brake fluid is low.

[Bungle]

It's the brake light test switch, press it and if it lights up it means your brak lights are functioning as they should.

 

I could be wrong but it looks to me as if the surface of the switch and part of the other switch to the right have been burned so id say at a guess that its just abit of vandel work ?, but best to pop it out and inspect the loom area for it to be sure :)

 

no just means the brake failure warning light bulb works it doesn't test anything else in the braking system 

[Cambelt]

All looks fine behind me it had become loose one side but that's all sorted now
Thanks gents

[rally515]

 

It's the brake light test switch, press it and if it lights up it means your brak lights are functioning as they should.

 

I could be wrong but it looks to me as if the surface of the switch and part of the other switch to the right have been burned so id say at a guess that its just abit of vandel work ?, but best to pop it out and inspect the loom area for it to be sure :)

 

no just means the brake failure warning light bulb works it doesn't test anything else in the braking system 

 

 

 

  ............oh...............  

 

 

 

 

 

[domdee]

has the symbol been updated on mpi's? by any chance?

[HarrysMini]

has the symbol been updated on mpi's? by any chance?

Later Minis had a different symbol, yes. Not just MPis though.

[domdee]

 

has the symbol been updated on mpi's? by any chance?

Later Minis had a different symbol, yes. Not just MPis though.

 

oh thanks :)

[CityEPete]

My reservoir has the connections missing, the lamp still works but doesn't light up on it's own, does it work in reverse, bit of an oversight if it is.

[tiger99]

The light and switch are there because they are required by a very badly written law, thanks to idiots who built duck islands at YOUR expense (and MINE too). Possibly it was their even more corrupt counterparts in the dysfunctional EU system.....

 

Just to clarify what has already been said, the switch and light don't have any effect at all on the brakes, nor do they test the brakes, nor even the low brake fluid detection circuit, the switch only tests the bulb. Now, a bulb that is almost never used lasts for a very, very, very long time, while a switch that is exposed to underbonnet temperature and brake fluid does not, so it is the switch that fails 99 times out of 100, and occasionally the wires break off too, but almost never the bulb. So it has no value at all as far as safety is concerned, and in any safety-critical industry (I happen to have worked in several) a warning test system like that is completely disallowed, because it is useless and can give a false sense of security. People can, and do, rely on it to tell them that their brakes are working properly, when in fact it is only checking the bulb.

 

A proper brake fluid level test circuit would have a small solenoid which pushed down the plunger on top of the master cylinder, to test the complete warning system, but evidently the need for that was well beyond the comprehension of the legistators. But note how the test circuit is run via the live side connector at the brake reservoir lid, to test that the run of wire is ok (but not that it is actually connected to the switch!), and there is no test at all of the earth return, without which the system is useless.

 

To test the low brake fluid warning system, you should NOT use the test switch, instead push the button on top of the reservoir, with the ignition on, while watching the warning lamp. (Don't have an external button? Well, CLEAN THOROUGHLY, and unscrew the cap, to check that the light operates. Dirt entering the hydraulic system may cause the very thing that the light is imagined to warm about.) But how many Mini owners know that? Maybe 1%, because it is not properly explained anywhere, and in any case it is proven fact that people do not read the instruction book, even if the car still has one. Look at some forum questions, often from people who are by no means stupid, but don't know the difference between the alternator and oil pressure warning lights, and you will see what I mean.

 

Why do I bother to go on about this, you may well wonder. Well, I don't want there to be any accidents, so I want people to know and understand what that daft switch, effectively put there by politicians, does NOT actually do, so that they will not rely on it as in indication of safety, when it is no such thing.

 

If you do have a broken warning light system, I strongly advise fixing it immediately, because although it is all but useless, it is a legal requirement, and if you really did have a leak in the brake system which was not detected, your insurers would have a perfect excuse to avoid paying out if it was not working.