Has anyone else had the Brkae sys. light come on? Mine comes on when it's when it's 3 degrees or colder and the car has been sitting outside. It also only happens on the startup brefore it warms up. It's strange & the dealer is worthless as usual. All I can think of is at that temp the sys. has an issue building pressure due to cold fluid. But I can't see that unless the fluid has an overabundance of moisture in it. Any Ideas??

 

Sorry no help here. If it was 3 degrees or colder I would not know if there was a problem or not cause my @$$ is not going to be getting out of bed.
As far as that goes if it hits below 40 I do not think I will be going anywhere

 

I just started to get this warning yesterday. Its been about 12 F here at night and the last 2 mornings the "Brake" idiot light and "BRAKE FLUID" indicator in the DIC both come on when I apply the brake to shift into gear. Checked the fluid level and it is fine, so it must be something with the cold weather and pressure building in the system. I am going to take it to the dealer this week and have them check it out. Usually the car is garaged, but my son gave his Cavalier a massive detailing and wants it to stay clean a few days so I have been leaving the HHR outside. Its funny, I took delivery last February and did not have any problem during that period of cold weather, so something has changed somewhere.

 

Last week the weather was below zero farenheit up here and I have not encountered a brake light situation. My car is garaged and does not sit outside for any extended period of time.

I would be concerned if I saw this when driving, especially in the cold and when it's icey.

 

I purchased mine in Feb also and My brake light has never come on and I do not have a Garage my HHr is out all year long, and thank God it has Elec-Start. It get cold here in Chicago. Good Luck!

 

When you take your vehicles to the dealer, it will not happen. probably will not execute a "code" for them to reference.

I would suggest trying to get a picture with both the brake light indicator, on, and using the DIC to indicate outside temperature. At least you will have some type of visual documentation.

Curious though...how long does it take for the light to go out?? Does "pumping" the brake pedal normally, have any effect.

 

Got to the service department early and they took me in right away. Turns out the brake fluid was near the minimum amount in the master cylinder and that triggered the warning. The advisor did say it was over the minimum mark but was close enough to show the alerts. Bigger question is there a leak somewhere or has it always been low and the cold weather helped bring on the problem. I'll keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn't continue, but as of now is was just a lack of brake fluid.

 

It is normal for the fluid level to go down as the disc brake pads wear. When new pads are installed, some fluid must be removed from the system. Completely normal with disc brakes