***SOLVED***

Service bulletin (09-026 noted below) did the trick. I have the broken parking brake switch. There is a plastic pin on the side of the switch body that fits into a hole on the parking brake pedal's metal support assembly. It is supposed to keep the switch from rotating; apparently the pin gets sheered off, the switch rotates, and when the pedal is released it does not depress the deadman switch to turn off the dash light. Service bulletin says the fix is to replace the entire parking brake pedal assembly, not just the switch.

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I've had my 2006 G35x for less than two weeks. 74K miles. Loving it, still feeling it out.

One previous owner, all service records on schedule at a reputable dealer from the day it was purchased by them. It is a lovely clean machine.

Yesterday I released the emergency brake, but the brake warning light remained on. Re-setting and releasing the brake made no difference; turning the car off and re-starting failed to turn out the light. It doesn't feel like the brake is actually engaged, but since I don't know the car well yet, and given how weak parking brakes usually are, and the power of this car...well, you get the picture. I drove straight home maybe 3 miles and didn't smell brake burn on arrival.

Checked brake fluid and it is maybe 1/8" below max. Is that enough to start the brake warning light issue that I see in other threads (none of which seem to address this specific issue). Also, this isn't intermittent...it seems to be stuck "on."

Thanks for any help.

Dan

 

Update: I don't think emergency brake is engaging. Car rocks freely when brake is off; still rocks (maybe a bit less but not much) when brake is on. Would this light come on if the emergency brake is physically not working to engage?

 

As far as I am aware the only two things that would cause the light to stay on would be low brake fluid or the ebrake being engaged. I would try filling the brake fluid up for kicks but 1/8" below max shouldnt cause the issue. Another thing to check would be faulty switches, at the ebrake or the master cylinder. Unless there is another fault that kicks on the light those are the only things i can think of. I believe a ABS fault would kick a ABS light on and thats the only other sensor that would be involved with the brakes.

 

Thanks. A little more research in the service manual indicates that the pedal should only travel 2-3 clicks when properly adjusted. It travels way more than that. (On the other hand, wife says I tighten everything way way too much--jelly jars, soft drink bottles, that sort of thing--so perhaps I killed the brake setting it with my big strong left leg :-)

There is a service bulletin (09-026):

"VARIOUS INFINITI MODELS; PARKING BRAKE LIGHT SWITCH REPAIR PROCEDURE
The parking brake light remains on when the foot operated parking brake pedal is released.
AND
The parking brake switch is damaged as described in the Service Procedure section of this bulletin."

I need to get my hands on that to see what "parking brake switch damage" means.