Toyota Repair: brake light on indicator panel, shaft alignment, cam shaft

Question
Ted,
I have a 99 4-Runner-V6 w/ around 70,000 miles on it.  The indicator light on the dash for the brakes came on about three weeks ago.  The brakes worked fine, fluid levels were fine, pads were in good shape, master cylinder cap was on tight.  I took it to the dealership this morning and they verified that it was not a problem with the brakes but wanted to run a wiring test.  I stop here to give some information I think will be helpful.  About 4 months ago we found that we had a problem where a mouse had gotten under the hood and had chewed through the wiring leading to an engine sensor (cam shaft alignment sensor-I believe).  Anyway, due to the nature of the wiring problem I let the Dealership repair the problem by rewiring the sensor. I have a hunch that the mouse may also be the root of this problem as well.  My questions are as follows:

1) If the brake light coming on truly is just a wiring problem, other that having the indicator light on all the time what affect will it have on the brakes performance if any at all.  I monitor the fluid levels and check and replace pads when needed, will I have any other trouble.  I understand the purpose of the indicator light is to let me know of problems and if I don't correct the wiring problem, I want be able to tell if I REALLY have a problem.

2) Do you believe my problem as I have described to be a wiring problem.  If not, what else should I check for?  If so, any tips on trying to track down this problem?

3) Any good suggestions on a Rat Poison?  Only joking, the problem I thought had been taken care of will be taken care of again.

The dealership wanted to charge me $120 just to test the wiring, who knows how much to repair the problem. I am to cheap to drop a minimum of $120 on a problem that I'm not sure that NEEDS to be fixed. It would be nice but is it needed?
Thanks Ted


Answer
Hello Will, welcome to my expert page.
The warning light on the dash does one, and only one thing, it turns on when the brake fluid gets low, the brake fluid level drops as the front brake pads wear down, so when the light comes on it's an indicator that the brakes may be low.
And yes, since mice chewed though the other wires this is probably the case. Does it "need" to be fixed, I guess if you don't mind that light glaring at you, no,just keep an eye on the brake fluid and have the brakes checked every 5,000 miles or so.(You could always remove the instrument cluster and take out the bulb, it's up to you)