What Is This?

So I have looked all over the internet for this and I can't find anything. All it says on it is, "JKC", 11207, and 5612. My E-Brake light is constantly on now and was told it was because of this. Anyone know?

 

I believe that is the sensor that tells you when your brake fluid is low .
Have you tried lifting the e brake pedal with your hands to see if the light goes off ?

 

@gearcruncher I have the E-Brake that's to the right of the wheel that you pull back to engage but I can't find the sensor or anything online

 

Sorry , I forgot about that excellent feature .
Wish I had the " handle " style e brake on my truck instead of the pedal .
Some info for you here http://web.archive.org/web/20101127014333/http://ncttora.com/fsm/1996/96_repair_searchable.pdf

 

All the "handle" ebrakes I've had in Tacomas or in friends' trucks have had a tendency to trigger the brake light when not engaged. I'm pretty sure it's just a sensor by the handle itself, and the handle rotates clockwise a touch and falls off the pressure switch.

Try pulling the handle out just a hair, rotating it counter clockwise (so it's dead horizontal or even a bit past with the right side of the handle a little higher), push it back in and see if the indicator light goes back off. This has worked in all my Tacomas, but the 97 I had it would only work for a second and then the handle would "slide" back down (rotate so the right side of the handle is a little lower), click, and the light would be right back on. I knew the brake isn't actually engaged so never worried about it

Edit: After a little googling it looks like that sensor also causes the dash brake light if your fluid is low? Check this discussion of the different Toyota sensor types and this tacomaworld thread:
https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/brake-reservoir-sensor-switch-wiring.366966/
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/emergency-brake-light-wont-go-out.20983/

so maybe your light is a bad switch, but first I would try the handle thing, and then also just try increasing your fluid level a bit above the "full" line

 

@nmiller08 I'll have to try the handle thing but I have filled the brake fluid barely passed and it stays on even if I reset it

 

Well I went out there to try what you said and I guess from messing around with the one under my hood it turned itself off haha

 

Good deal! Maybe from filling it a little it just needed to turn off/back on to reset? Or had it been awhile since you added the fluid? Maybe it's just a finicky sending unit or wires or something and by messing with it a little you got it working?

 

if your fluid hits the MIN mark and then sloshes around from driving it can trigger the light indicating you need to add fluid.

or like most of us the spring for the e-brake gets worn over time and will allow the handle to move away from the dash panel and trigger the light. this is just old age and a wear and tear kind of thing. usually it's worse in winter due to the cold. trying lubing your joints for the e-brake parts under driver and at drums) to see if it helps with the handle recoil.

 

If your fluid is low, or has ran low, then disregard all of this cause this only applies to the actual ebrake not the normal brakes, the ebrake is just a cable and my understanding is, it is independent of the hydraulics.

Not sure of your model year, but if its anything like my 04, then as long as your fluid is fine, and it is just the ebrake light that is on, then it is as some others have said, a switch that the ebrake handle presses on, but on mine the switch is under the dash at the base of the pole attached to the ebrake handle, you will see a piece of metal coming off the side of the part that moves when you pull the handle, and when it is pushed in to disengage it, that presses on a switch that turns off the light. On mine the spring that is under the truck in line with the ebrake cable, among other things, holds the ebrake handle tight against that sensor as well as allowing it to pull the cable when you push the handle back in so it doesn't bunch up, is to weak to hold the handle against that sensor.

A easy test on this one is, if the ebrake light is on, but the handle is in so the ebrake is in the off position, push in on the handle a little, if the light goes off, its that spring that is causing the issue. I saw on here a picture where a person had attached a screen door spring to the frame and a length of chain to that spring, to give it extra pull, i had to do the same to mine to get it to pull the ebrake cable back when i pushed in the handle to turn it off cause the spring that was from the factory had lost all of its pull. And the assembly that had the spring in it, was very expensive, $10 from home depot fixed my problem. If you need i can get pictures of all that i talked about.

 

The ebrake is a cable, doesn't use the trucks brake fluid system at all. You pull the handle, it pulls the levers on the rears to apply the brakes. It can be used even if you rupture lines and have 0 pressure in the system.

There is a spring (can't remember where it is) either underhood or inline past the firewall that applies tension on the line and keeps pressure on the switch to keep the light off. It can be adjusted when it gets worn. The easiest way to see if that is your problem is just to push in on the handle and see if the light goes out. If so, you need tension. If not, you need a switch.

Or you do like I did, not care and just get used to the light and every now and then just give the handle a nudge to turn it off.

I'd say that the light is kind of silly and you would have to be 10 kinds of dumb to not know you were trying to drive with the ebrake on. Except I know I did it once or twice

 

Just shake the handle. Mine is really sensitive and turns on/off at the slightest touch.

 

I had my parking brake cables adjusted and it went away.

 

I had always thought the handle was the only thing that made that dash light came on, it wasn't until reading this thread that I realized the low fluid used the same dash light

 

for me it was years ago back on customtacos while reading I learned this