This is about my wife's 2014 Rogue S, it's a basic model Rogue, not an SV or all wheel drive. It has about 77,500 miles on it. We both work from home so the car does not get driven a lot, but we do try to drive it around town at least once every week to ten days. But today she had to drive to a meeting in Orlando, the car was ok on the trip to Orlando but when she went to leave at about 3:00 this afternoon the brake warning light in the dash was on, lit up solid. She checked the parking brake, it was all the way up in the off position. She did not notice any problems with the brakes and drove it back home without any trouble but the light stayed on all the way home, about 35 miles. When she got home she parked in our garage, turned off the ignition, then started the engine again and the brake light did not turn back on.

I checked the fluid in the master cylinder, it is full and still in good shape. I changed the oil and rotated the tires a few months ago and the pads had hardly any wear on them. There is no sign of any brake problem when driving the car at all. Her car is in great shape and has never given us any trouble, we have had the 30K and 60K maintenance done at the local Nissan dealer also with a CVT service done at both intervals.

The one strange thing about the brake light problem is the heat. My wife said the outside temp gauge on the dash said it was 99 degrees when she went to come home today. The heat index was about 110 here and the car had also been sitting in a freshly resurfaced black asphalt parking lot all day so the real index was probably even hotter than that. I wonder if the high heat had anything to do with this brake light problem. I appreciate the help if anyone has any info on it. We will take it to the shop to get it fixed but it does not make any sense to do that if the problem can not be duplicated. I also wonder if the problem might be the sensor/switch for the parking brake going bad. The parking brake works ok.

Thanks for any help on this.

Just first go and order a FULL brake bleed ( aka a flush )....say No MORE , don't tell shop why or give ANY reasoning to them , cause they'll make up hundreds of dolllars to "fix" your problem.
Cost can be $75 up to $400 depending on the dishonesty of the 'good' shop owner . Dealers are on the higher end .
It's good maintenance AND I mention cause with THIS HEAT.........I believe your getting some kind of boiling of H2O (water) in the system and that is what ultimately causes the intermittant light and especially when REEEEEAL HOT out , ya ?

p.s. When was last time brakes been bled - all four ........or FULL FLUSH done may be the clue.

If you don't find any problem with the fluid, try a new brake pedal switch. They're dual-throw and they can cause some pretty weird intermittent issues when the two throws get out of sync.

Thanks for the replies. I checked our maintenance file and the 60K service with a brake flush and CVT fluid was done in January 2020. So the car is overdue for another brake fluid flush, even though we have only put about 6,000 miles on it since the 60K service.

The fluid I can see in the master looks clean and is a light amber color. We have not had any boiling fluid symptoms or other brake problems ever with the car but I think the simple solution to start with is the brake fluid flush and drive it like normal for a while, see if the light comes back on. I checked the brake lights today and they all worked fine, so the switch may be ok. If the throws are out of whack will the brake lights still work? If the light comes back on I will replace the switch anyway, that seems to be the next logical step.

Thanks for the help with this.

Jimmy9190 wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 26, 2023 7:32 pm

If the throws are out of whack will the brake lights still work?

Yes.

Keep in mind , and you see this when doing the bleeds or br flushes IS that the worst most discolored , rusty Coca Cola-looking fluid is where ? Right Rear bleed (furthest from m-cyl & LONGEST br lines) WILL BE the true indication of aged stagnant br fluid . Cause , like I do every 6 months is to R&R m-cyl fluid using the Turkey Baster method of removing down to just 3/8" left covering ANY of the bottom opening in m-cyl (Not let air in ya know) , then you topoff w/new fluid (Hi-temp?). And when that IS done ....................fluid in m-cyl looks beautiful....BUT remember R-Rear bleed WILL reveal the best example of 'overall' br fluid condition. ya

VStar650CL wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 26, 2023 8:06 pm

Jimmy9190 wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 26, 2023 7:32 pm

If the throws are out of whack will the brake lights still work?

Yes.

Thanks again Vstar. I will replace the switch and still get the flush done anyway. I won't have time for it until next weekend but that will give me time to order in a new switch or pick one up from the local Nissan dealer.

Thanks for the info on this.

macgiver wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 26, 2023 8:16 pm

Keep in mind , and you see this when doing the bleeds or br flushes IS that the worst most discolored , rusty Coca Cola-looking fluid is where ? Right Rear bleed (furthest from m-cyl & LONGEST br lines) WILL BE the true indication of aged stagnant br fluid . Cause , like I do every 6 months is to R&R m-cyl fluid using the Turkey Baster method of removing down to just 3/8" left covering ANY of the bottom opening in m-cyl (Not let air in ya know) , then you topoff w/new fluid (Hi-temp?). And when that IS done ....................fluid in m-cyl looks beautiful....BUT remember R-Rear bleed WILL reveal the best example of 'overall' br fluid condition. ya

Thanks for the info but I will not be doing the brake flush myself. I will likely take it to a good local mom and pop garage near my house and have it done there. They are good honest folks that have always treated us right. They do a good job and don't charge too much. I can replace the brake switch but for me it is best to leave bleeding/flushing brakes up to a pro who knows what he is doing and has all the tools and info for the job.

Thanks.

yes yes , of course , and so then you may have the shop show you a sample of the furthest R-Rear bleed-out on a white rag or even a little vial many shops have to show a customer condition of a car's fluid. That's kind of a stop-gap way to see the severity of your rusting out of car's brake lines on that there vehicle . Can give a good gauge as to actual necessity of a brake bleed - often ........or say not so often , save money BUT getting clean br fluid , but without doing the job more often than really needed ?
Good luck .....your "ON IT " !!

An update here, in case it may help someone else with a brake warning light problem like this. We took the car to the local indy shop, they did the brake fluid flush and a 4 wheel brake inspection. The guys in the shop could not duplicate the warning light problem and the only possible real problem they could find was the front rotors were getting real close to being too thin. These were the OEM rotors, when we had the 60K done the Nissan dealer had turned the rotors and put new pads on. The last time I rotated the tires I had checked the pads and thought they looked OK but I am no expert. I had the shop replace the front pads and rotors and we have driven the car several times now in the last few weeks and the brake light has not come back on. The brake fluid flush was necessary but I think the front brake job took care of the problem.

Jimmy