Brake light switch

Hi All,,,,Dose anyone no where the hand brake switch might be on a 1988 110 its not on the hand brake its self I have looked there..... once when I use to put on the hand brake the light on the dash went on and off when I took the hand brake off but since I have change the engine from a 2.5 a/n to the 200tdi the light now stays on all the time but a bit dimmer? I cant seem to find what make this light work, there are no wires on the brake fluid filler, if anyone can shed any light on this I would be very grateful ......

I also have another problem since I change the engines my heater gauge goes in the red all the time after a couple of miles running but its not over heating? I was told this was because I needed to change my heater gauge from the old 2.5 n/a to the 200tdi, which I have done at a cost of 50 qwid? but still have the same problem running up into the red, so today I'm going to try changing the thermostat to see if thats not working correctly, I have also order a new sensor and will replace that as a matter of course, also when I put my lights on the heater gauge jumps up buy a quarter so say when its warming up and in the middle of the gauge if I then put my lights on it then jumps into to red? didn't seem to happen with the old gauge? so when I have replaced this bit I will see what happens, and maybe even put the old gauge back in to see it that also now jumps, just wonder as anyone come across this? will keep you post on what happen with the heating when I put the new parts in....... I also have this problem but I think its just a case off changing pipes over, when I push my heater leaver to hot it goes cold and when I push it to cold it goes hot? I'm guessing it is I have put the pipes on the wrong way around on the heater?

Errr ... Your hand brake is a mechanical piece of kit! Yer pulls the lever and a bit of cable which is attached to the 'brake pulling on thing' and jams the brake shoes onto the drum. That stops the prop from turning. Clever innit??

Mine has a spring attached to a pull on switch, which is mounted underneath the cover just above the brake lever, so when you move the lever, the cam operates the switch, turning the dash light on ... or rather it did before I broke it and couln'd be bothered to replace it.

Don't know what relevance the brake fluid reservoir has to this, as I didn't know that you had a drybollick system on yours!!

As for the other stuff, I ain't got time at the moment to go through it, but will try and get back to you later.

Black-Feather said:

....there are no wires on the brake fluid filler, if anyone can shed any light on this I would be very grateful ......

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Your looking in the wrong place. There IS a switch around the hand break area (a normally closed or NC one).

I didn't think there was one on mine the other day till I look really closely and made out a 1/4 spade on it!

should be somewhere here


and looks like this:

Tronicus Maximus said:

Your looking in the wrong place. There IS a switch around the hand break area (a normally closed or NC one).

I didn't think there was one on mine the other day till I look really closely and made out a 1/4 spade on it!

should be somewhere here

and looks like this:

Click to expand...

Hi thanks for the photo just had a real good look around mine nothing there? thanks for your help M B-F

Oldseadog said:

Errr ... Your hand brake is a mechanical piece of kit! Yer pulls the lever and a bit of cable which is attached to the 'brake pulling on thing' and jams the brake shoes onto the drum. That stops the prop from turning. Clever innit??

Mine has a spring attached to a pull on switch, which is mounted underneath the cover just above the brake lever, so when you move the lever, the cam operates the switch, turning the dash light on ... or rather it did before I broke it and couln'd be bothered to replace it.

Don't know what relevance the brake fluid reservoir has to this, as I didn't know that you had a drybollick system on yours!!

As for the other stuff, I ain't got time at the moment to go through it, but will try and get back to you later.

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Thanks for your reply, I would have never GUESSED that a hand brake on a land rover would work like that.

I thought the handbrake on a 110 worked on the gearbox - and not the actual brakes?

boomer8 said:

I thought the handbrake on a 110 worked on the gearbox - and not the actual brakes?

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on the back of transmission it does

Hi when i did conversion from 2.5na to 200tdi , also had temp goin into red but wasnt overheating. Put 2.5na sensor in and got correct temp reading .

Hi I was thinking about that, I cant remember now what the thread is as when trying to get one get asked is it fine thread or coarse? ( I have now put a new 200 gauge and still hitting the red so now I have a new 200 sensor to put in to see if that makes any differences in reading? (If not I'll try what you did put an n/a in can you remember what the thread was on your and where you got it?) thanks for your reply M B-F

jamesmartin said:

on the back of transmission it does

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No on the 110 like the Range Rover it works on the prop, I have looked for this switch all over where one might expect to see it, well on normal cars?lol theirs nothing on my hand brake as some have suggested, I have looked around the gearbox area, I cant see anything that stands out there, I even looked on the brake reservoir as some said that it might be low and the light might show, I don't have any wires coming out of that, like some cars do when the pads get low give a warring light, which is the same as the hand brake light warring, I'm at a total loss, I was thinking of just taking out the bulb? but then I would always no something wasn't right, and I hate not fixing things and having it work right, regardless of costs but thanks for you reply M B-F

jamesmartin said:

on the back of transmission it does

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Yes its works by holding the prop shaft ?

A lot of cars use the same warning light for low fluid and hand brake on,
not on your motor

Black-Feather said:

Hi I was thinking about that, I cant remember now what the thread is as when trying to get one get asked is it fine thread or coarse? ( I have now put a new 200 gauge and still hitting the red so now I have a new 200 sensor to put in to see if that makes any differences in reading? (If not I'll try what you did put an n/a in can you remember what the thread was on your and where you got it?) thanks for your reply M B-F

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i took sensor out of my 2.5na engine, you should be able to get one off ebay or paddocks. thread the same as 200tdi sensor .

difflocked disco said:

i took sensor out of my 2.5na engine, you should be able to get one off ebay or paddocks. thread the same as 200tdi sensor .

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Hi yep just fitted a new 200 sensor and spot on, back to where it always used to be just off middle,

I also before the sensor change, put a new 200 gauge in as well so there now right for each other.

Now I just have to find out why by hand brake light warning light is staying on all the time but only dim?, I'm not sure now as to whether or not it was working before I change the engine over from the 2.5 n/a to the 200tdi, cant remember, but think it always used to come on when the hand brake was applied? but as I said cant remember if it did or not now, I have looked all over the hand brake and its area no sign of a switch anywhere, and I have looked around the hand brake drum area as well cant see anything there either, now thinking to myself maybe it wasn't working and never had a switch, so if it didn't I'll have ti find out why this light is on and also fit a switch? thanks very much for your "Helpful" replies have a nice weekend.
Regards M B-F

Sounds like somone has cut out the wires or tucked them away and one is going to rubbing to earth

I was thinking that might be the case an earth problem, but I still can't see a switch on the hand brake wheres its meant to be? so might have to put one back in, then I'll need to find the wires for it and do a re-wire,

I was thinking maybe take out the dash clocks and look at the colour of the wire on the light which is on, and try and trace them back? I can't see any wires hanging around the hand brake area so I have no idea what colours to look for, also wonder did the truck when made not have a hand brake light switch, but I feel sure before I had the engine changed it was working ok, but now because it was a long time of the road doing the engine change over as I have a few miss haps in fitting it in, I might of imagined it working? I feel sure it was but could be wrong, so I'll just have to fit a new one in and find the wires to wire it up, (would you no what colours they are under the bonnet, I'm guessing here one must be a live and other earth (Black) live no idea of colour, and the wiring of switch + and -...

I would think that the earth goes to the part of the switch that when the hand brake is applied the button lifts up to make the earth, and the live would be on the switch

many thanks for your reply

you may find that your motor hasnt got a hand brake switch but the dash has a warning light if from a later model check the binnicle for bare or shorted wires

Hi, Yes I'll do that,

I perfume that the wires behind the dash on the light will go into the engine compartment somewhere for a lead off, which I can then take off to put the switch in where it should be on the hand brake and then just run wires from the switch to these which I'm guess are an earth and live to make a circuit

I did notice yesterday as I going over the engine checking that I had no leaks from putting in the new senor, there is switch on the back of the brake servo that I had seen before and was wondering is this maybe at fault? would you no what this switch dose I guessing here also it must be an warring light switch to do with breaking, looks like two green wires in one side and a black wire on the other side, with the two green on the same link? so I might also try getting a new one of these switch and see what happens? thanks for your reply M B-F