NA6 Hand brake light turns off upon engine start

[vincevince]

So I discovered this weird occurrence where the handbrake light will turn off when I start the engine even though it is pulled up.

Before start: e-brake light on (e-brake pulled up)
After start: e-brake light OFF (e-brake pulled up)

Would like to know if this has happened to other people before.

[hks_kansei]

When the key is turned to "run" but the engine isn't running, every light on the cluster will be lit regardless of if they are getting a signal from whatever activates them.
They do that so you can see if any bulbs are blown.

The fact it's lighting up suggests the bulb isn't blown, so I'd be looking at the handbrake mechanism I can't remember exactly on an NA, but there should be a pair of wires leading to the handbrake handle ratchet, at the end of them should be some sort of switch that tells the light to work.

Sometimes the switch moves/falls off/gets stuck and doesn't get pressed (thus not lighting the cluster light)

When you find the switch try pushing it in/out with your fingers and see if the light on the dash comes on and off (with the engine running)