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Hi all!
i have a R52 2008 and had my first rear brake pad replaced at 71580 miles and the front pads replaced 3 months ago. the clock now is at 111250 miles.
while it is safely to presume the rear pad will last til 71580 x 2 = 143160 right?
However the brake pad sensor light just came on and off 2 times, (on for 3 ignition and off for 3 ignition). the first time the light came on when going thru a speed bump and one time while driving. i looked at all the pads they should be all fine...
where do you suggest me to check first? some mechanic told me it is sometime to do with the brake fluid?
thank you all for helping..
r
Last edited by remotecontrol; May 21, 2016 at 07:15 PM.
Checking the brake fluid is a quick thing to do, but I'd also check the brake pads wear sensors. The sensor sits in the middle of the pad and once the pad gets worn, the rotor will rub on the sensor until it cut the wire, which open the circuit and makes the brake service light go on. If your brake fluid is fine, you may have a break in one of your sensor circuit. The brake pad sensor is just a wire, nothing really fancy.
Checking the brake fluid is a quick thing to do, but I'd also check the brake pads wear sensors. The sensor sits in the middle of the pad and once the pad gets worn, the rotor will rub on the sensor until it cut the wire, which open the circuit and makes the brake service light go on. If your brake fluid is fine, you may have a break in one of your sensor circuit. The brake pad sensor is just a wire, nothing really fancy.
was the front sensor replaced 3 months ago? They may not have gotten the connecter fully seated and it has been working its way out .... easy to check ... the two ends press together until it 'clicks'
was the front sensor replaced 3 months ago? They may not have gotten the connecter fully seated and it has been working its way out .... easy to check ... the two ends press together until it 'clicks'
Thanks. Is it possible to check without removing the wheels?
Check in front of the wheel well. On the left hand side of the car it follows the abs sensor. There is only one on the front It has to line up and the pins have to be all the way in the male side has the seat and click all the way in on the tabs.
Check in front of the wheel well. On the left hand side of the car it follows the abs sensor. There is only one on the front It has to line up and the pins have to be all the way in the male side has the seat and click all the way in on the tabs.
Update to you all. Raised up the car, removed the wheels and checked. All sensors intact.... Now the brake pad sensor will come on about every 70 to 80 miles while the car is moving and when the same journey ended, i turned off the engine, turn the key to position2 and waited for30 seconds, everytime the brake sensor light will go off again....any thoughts?
Sounds like the sensor wire has a break and makes intermittent contact like a bad cell phone charger when you wiggle the wire. To test, have someone sit in the car while you are wiggling the sensor wire to see if the light goes on and off.
If your car has DSC, as opposed to ASC+T, it is likely you will need the rears sooner...
The gen1 grade pad sensors is just a side, that is looped through a slot in the pad....pad gets thin...wire is broken, light goes on....
I did have a piece of road debris cut one of the wires to my brake pads ad sensors on the front...just spliced it and it was fine....my rears, I bypassed it....just twisted both ends if the wire together...added a drip of solder...taped it up...then ZIPTIED it out of the way...and monitoried them manually.
The issue with estimateing brake wear on a mini is the braking system SOMETIMES ACTIVATES A SINGLE brake to increase stability in a turn...so depending on your driving style, you might wear the rears out FASTER than the fronts...that's what happened with me...
So just monitor it...it's pretty easy to check the outer brake pad thickness with the car parked...inner is harder, but general rule is when the pad material is the same thickness as the backer plate, time for brake pads.
Now the brake pad sensor will come on about every 70 to 80 miles while the car is moving and when the same journey ended, i turned off the engine, turn the key to position2 and waited for30 seconds, everytime the brake sensor light will go off again....any thoughts?
What I hear you saying is you are resetting the system correctly, and the light keeps coming back on. Hence, the car still sees a bad sensor .... either one is broken or not plugged in correctly. (I'm GUESSING that after the reset, it takes a while b4 the car sees the bad sensor again ... but this is a guess)
Do you have the old ones? I'd build a jumper by cutting out the sensor and soldering the two wires together and then use this to replace a sensor and see if the problem goes away .... you should be able to ID the bad sensor.
Of course it is also possible the wire got messed up ABOVE the sensor connector and then .... welllllllllllll. I'd suspect this if the jumper test on both wheels (lf and rr) fail to ID a bad one.
And people wonder why I bypassed my sensors . . . .
I had an intermittent problem like this once with a wheel speed sensor (similar mounting location and connector). Was totally self inflicted. I zip tied the wire in place because the plastic clip was broken, but didn't leave enough slack to account for turning the front wheels fully. When I turned the wheel hard ( like when parking), it would pull on the wire and create an temporary open.
Always here for the MINI owners.
