I recently purchased a ranger and the parking brake light is always on. It passed inspection the day before I purchased it. my issue is that I checked the brake fluid the first day and the levels were fine, I checked again 3 weeks later and it was down 1 1/2 inches. My brakes still work fine. Is it due to age and should I just keep filling the fluid?

Any ideas what is causing this? And how much might it cost to fix?

 

Look behind the rear wheels and see if you can see any wet spots. you may have blown a wheel cylinder.

 

In which case you could soon lose all brake power, E-brake wont help since the drum would be coated in fluid.

 

should i be able to see the brake fluid if it is leaking that slowly? now that you mention it my ebrake has been a little weak. I applied it the other day on a slight incline and i started to roll a little. I just pushed it in farther and it held. any idea how much it will cost to fix if this is the issue?

 

I've had this happen before. Wasn't fun at all. If this has just started happening, you may be able to see the fluid leaking out of the back side of the drum brakes, but you can always pull your drum off and check the inside.

 

Thanks all, I think I will take it to the garage tomorrow.