I have a 2012 Mini Countryman Base.

My rear brake warning came on, I changed my rear brakes myself after about 50 miles or so. They were thin but not completely worn, definitely time to change.

I always do do my own brakes and oil changes and stuff like that. Have had my mini since brand new from Oxford.


After changing the brakes and putting the sensor back in, I have reset the brake warning indicator on the dash 10x and it is doing nothing. The miles keep counting down and every time I start the car the service light keeps coming on. And the brake pads warning on the radio display keeps showing (navi) the red imagine with the car on a lift.


Am am I missing something?

 

maybe there are other services that needs resetting or changing the service date. Go through the whole menu to see if there anything else needs resetting.

 

I wish it were this simple. This is not it.

 

My experience is only with hardtop and ragtop GEN1 and 2 so sorry if CM is different ...... IME:

if the sensor tripped it must be replaced with new ... it is "consumed"

if you did replace it, then possibly you did not get it correctly plugged in

the system is very simple. The sensor is just a loop of wire in some plastic that fits into a slot of the pad. As the pad gets thinner the plastic eventually starts to touch the rotor and wears away just like pad material. Eventually the loop of wire is broken .... and the computer says THIN PAD. The light will stay on until the circuit is closed, usually by replacing the worn sensor.

If you are sure everything is right but the system does not work ... you might try this: do you have the old sensor? Snip off the end and tie the two wire ends together and put this back in. If the car sees this as a 'good' sensor the light will go out and tells you the 'new' sensor isn't connecting correctly. (I usually do this <short out the sensors> at the first pad change .. the sensor is pretty useless IMO esply if you do any maint' on your own. Checking pad thickness happens every time I check tire pressures.)

btw there are two brake wear systems. The counter is just that - a counter, AND the physical sensor. Several times I've had the counter tell me to change pads and when I looked there was plenty of pad left. I reset the counter and everything was fine for thousands of miles. But this will not work if the sensor is worn.

 

Thanks. I never replaced the sensor. I just unplugged it, replaced brakes and reused it.

i guess I’ll just order a new sensor. I wasn’t aware they should be changed if they got triggered.
It does seem like a bad sensor.

 

I got one from Advance auto parts, in stock, I think under $25. It worked fine.

 

I actually already found one on amazon for $11. I don’t need it right away. I can wait a day or 2.

Next time I will know to order the sensor when I get the pads.

 

Heads up. Last time we did Countryman brakes on our 2011, I bought the cheapest sensor I could find on Amazon. None of the connecting points lined up with the car and I wound up having to give pay for the local OEM version at full price. Possibly a bad place to save a few bucks.

 

In the past I ordered the same brand (different part) for the front brake sensor. And that fit perfectly. When I did the front brakes I ripped the old sensor so replaced it without knowing I should have anyway.

I did get my pads from rockauto though.

Worse case I’ll either get oem or just use tie wraps. Good thing about amazon is it’s super easy to return it if it’s wrong.
I hardly ever bother returning items to the local store if it’s wrong, it’s easier with amazon orders.

 

Just wanted to update for anyone else that may fine this useful.

After changing the rear brake pad wear sensor I had to reset the service light interval and then the light finally went off.
all good.
Was definitely the problem that the sensor needed to be changed. At least now I know for the future when I change the brakes to also change the wear sensor at the same time.

 

I just had that issue with my 2012 R-56. It needed an update in the overall computer to recalibrate the sensors.

 

Sorry I didn't see this until now. Yes, as soon as that sensor gets low enough that it shorts out you can't reset the sensor and need to install a new one. Same goes for BMWs as they are essentially the same. If you want to avoid it, you can swap out the pads before the warning goes off, but in the scheme of things they aren't terribly expensive and part of many kits so you might as well let the car tell you to do it. Kind of a neat system if you ask me.

 

I'm a relatively new owner of an 2013 R56 convertible manual. I had the same issue this week.

• Parking brake light is always on regardless of position of the parking brake handle
• Service light indicating that the rear brake pads need servicing
• This particular message was in red rather than orange which I thought was interesting, maybe an indication that it is a sensor rather than a manual reset.
• I could not reset the reminder, it had -120 and every time I reset, it stayed at -120.

The fix for me was to temporarily override the rear brake sensor. This allowed me to reset the service indicator and the parking brake light now only illuminates when the parking brake is pulled up.

• I cut the sensor cable close to the brake caliper (being very careful to ensure I cut the correct cable)
• Stripped the 2 wires and twisted them together, insulated and zip tied to something stable
• At this point, I was able to reset the service reminder and it changed from -120 to 37000
• I am replacing the pads and sensors once the parts arrive.

There is 1 sensor for the rear(passenger side).

If replacing the sensor did not allow you to reset the brake service light, then I suspect that your sensor may be faulty or not fully seated.

Hope this helps. Good luck.