All of a sudden the RED Brake light has come on? I replaced the front rotors and pads in June.. and back pads... But now the big RED circle BRAKE is on. I took off all the wheels and brakes.. reinstalled them. I could see nothing.. Master cylinder is full.. Owners manual does not tell me what is causing that RED light.
Anyone know what I am missing?? OH, hand brake is down and off..
But i cannot see what is making that light come on..
Any helpful ideas you all can give me will be greatly appreciated..

 

Brake sensor replaced when you did those services?

 

NO.. did not know i had to change them...
buddy just told me to take both left front and right rear sensors out of the caliper and it should fix it?? he said one is bad. if that does not happen. i will have to go buy both???
do they have a connector ?? easy to change??
thanks

 

One is most likely damaged. I usually just swap them out either way when I change my pads. Very simple to do. You just plug it in, and follow the wire to the connector. Then connect it to the spots the other one was connected to. It'll reset the brake light then, did you already have the service light reset?

 

no. i can do that with my analyzer ... but i thought it would just come on again 5 minutes later..

 

Well, replacing the sensors should do the trick.

 

I had the same problem. Red brake light came on and I pulled over thinking that "red" means a catistrophic failure, stop and call a tow truck. I checked every thing and found nothing wrong. Finished my trip and got in touch with a Mini service tech and he said that it is a maintanance warning light...that is it. The computer does a countdown based on the wear indicator and when it thinks that you have very little pad left, it turns on that warning light. One of the most ridiculous things I have seen BMW do...a red light for a service indicator....oh well.

As that goes, replacing the wear sensor should fix things. What I don't remember is if you have to have someone reset the computer or it will do it on its own.

 

It should just go ahead and reset it's self if he had already reset the brake pad service. If not, there's a procedure you can do they have it on here. Just search "reset service indicator". They also have a video on YouTube that shows every step by step detail.

 

Thanks.. mission for monday.. reset light.. bugs me..

 

I cleared codes with my analyzer.. did not clear red light.. i will go search for reset now

 

The red "BRAKE" light, will not go out unless you replace the sensors. So until that's done, trying to reset the codes/service lights is impossible.

 

I'm going to change pads in the next few weeks and hadn't planned on replacing the sensors (I have no warning indicators/lights on at this time). Does this mean I should go ahead and change the sensors or that the OP has a bad sensor which is why it is being suggested to replace it?

Just checking

 

You can reuse the sensors. They are designed to break apart when the pad is worn to a certain point. If the warning light is not illuminated, the sensor is still intact. At least this was the case on the R53. I have not had to change my JCW R56 pads yet.

 

It's better to just go ahead and change the sensors. Better safe than sorry. If you know how, you can go into the system and look to see if the count down on the brake replacement has started. If it has AT ALL you must replace them. Most times it won't show if only a few thousand miles have been taken off the counter. Just my input...

 

Thanks for the input. Will be rotating the tires tomorrow night and will be checking out the brakes. I've got about 35k on them so I expect it is about time.

 

THANKS to the guy that told me how to Reset the RED BRAKE light.. it worked .. now it is out.. took a few tries to get the light out.. but it finally worked

 

Sorry to revive an old post (I didn't want to start a new one), but this is driving me batty. I did a rear pad change in the fall (and I did NOT reinstall the sensor - I can check the pads/rotors for wear myself, thank you very much), simply because they were getting worn, and I didn't want to get stuck with having to do it during the winter months. I did NOT reset the computer for the rear brakes, as the warning hadn't come on yet. Guess what? It's on now, showing the rear brakes are 60 miles overdue.

The thing that I think is a bit funny is that the rear sensor hasn't been hooked up in 4 months.

Now, question #1 - Is this normal behavior for when the computer thinks you need a rear brake job?
Question #2 - How easy/difficult is it to change the rear sensor, if this is indeed what I have to do to be able to reset the service indicator? Where do I get one, the dealer? No matter what I do, I can't get the indicator to reset, and after reading this post, maybe that is why. And yes, I was following the information found in our informative forum on resetting the indicator.

Any help would be great! Thanks all!

 

I had a problem that the wire broke going into the sensor (my fault) which gave me a "brake needs to be replaced" light. It took a while for the dealer to find the problem, but replacement of the sensor seemed to fix the problem without having to reset the computer. I watched while it is being replaced and it seemed easy. The wire (from the rear wheel) goes forward and up into the frame area and there is a snap connector. That was it. As for the computer, it seems that it looks at the resistance of the sensor to judge the milage. It probably took the last reading from when it was disconnected and counted backwards from there to give you the warning light.

 

A similar thing happened to me. I replaced the rear pads a while back and just zip-tied the sensor out of the way. Red brake light came on and I figured it was just a normal mileage countdown but I could not get it to reset. Going in by the hold-trip-reset-until-the-service menu-comes-up method would offer the option to reset it but would never work.

I took the sensor out and checked it with a meter. Oddly, though it looked intact it was not completing the circuit.

So I just cut the sensor lead a couple inches above the plug and soldered the wires together. Brake light went right out and reset rear brake mileage and I didn't even have to mess with the reset procedure.

 

I zip tied mine and the sensor bounce enough to break the wire inside the sensor housing. You can't see it unless you pull the insulation on the wire back. Those wires are pretty fine and break easily.

 

the light came on out of nowhere for me as well today. good to know it's nothing to worry about mechanically.

i am a bit confused about how to get rid of it by reading this thread. my brakes are fine otherwise.

thanks!

 

R56 brake service reset:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FwJz2KSD4M

 

thanks so much ... followed it this morning and it worked!

 

If I change my pads, and reset the light using the video above, will the brake light come back on if I don't isntall sensors at all? TIA. I feel that the sensors, are money making tools for the dealers. They come on way too early.

 

If the sensors are intact the light should stay off.

I think for most people sensors are silly too. You can "trick" your sensors.... cut the ends off and attach the two wires with a connector and tie strap them out of the way