This morning upon starting the car, the icon of a "car on a lift" showed up and he word "Brake". I was in hurry and spent the day using the car around town with no problem - car ran well and brakes worked fine. I got a chance to look at the owners manual just now and saw that the car should not be driven when this symbol appears. Now I am worried!

I would appreciate your experiences, thoughts, suggestions before I get it to a repair shop. The car is a 2007 CooperS 6 speed and is pretty new to me.

Thanks,

DrSteve

 

When I had that icon, the master cylinder was low. I had a shop put on stainless brake lines, and one of them had a small leak.

Try topping off your master cylinder to see if the warning light goes out. If it does, start looking for a leak. the same reservoir is used for clutch and brakes.

Mike

 

Could be you actually need new brakes. Perhaps the wear sensor has worn thru..

 

When the pad sensors are worn, it shows a different warning. Normally a circle with half of the car (front or rear). To confirm, use the button on the end of the turn signal to check 'service info', and it will give you the approximate miles left on the front and rear brakes.

Mike

 

Thanks folks. Brakes are nearly new so it's not pads. I'll be checking the master cylinder as soon as the coffee kicks in and get back to the forum with what I learn.

 

Yea, check the master fluid and see if maybe the sensor near it somehow unpluged.

 

Upon further review and after checking the brake fluid level in the master cylinder (it was full and clear) the icon of a "car on a lift" and the word "Brake" were simply indications that the service schedule had been exceeded. Once I got into the 'system check' feature accessible on the turn signal end, it showed the front brake service schedule was now 20 miles past due. Apparently the PO did not request that the system be reset when the new brakes were put on about 4K ago. The car has just over 40K on it.

This car has more technology packed into it than I ever imagined. Scrolling through all the menu options is techno trip on its own.

Now I have to figure out how to get the warning light to go away!

Thanks for your help.

 

It needs reset then.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...procedure.html

 

Thanks for the reset link. Pretty complicated! I'll need to go back to grad school to figure this out OR I'll find some teenage kid good at video gaming.

Happy New Year!

 

Welcome, have a great new year also.

 

2012 R56 - this is what worked for me, took all of 10-20 seconds..

 

Here is an update and a NEW question. Try as I might, using the suggestions from you good folks, the Brake warning signal would not reset. I took it to a local Mini mechanic. He checked the brake pads and rotors of the left front (without removing the wheel) and said they appeared fine BUT the only way to reset the warning signal would be to install new sensors - one for the front brakes and another one for the rear. He quoted about $80 per sensor. Of course, he also suggested it would be a good time to replace the pads while the sensors were being replaced.

The Brake warning light was clearly triggered by a maintenance date programmed into the system. So how come a sensor replacement is the only way to reset it? If I must do the sensor replacement, is that a tough job or can a person with tolls and some (not a lot) mechanical skill perform that task? Does $80 per sound reasonable if I had the mechanic do the work?

 

Sensor is $20 or so, fairly simple in most cars. If it didn't reset and brakes are good then the wire might have broke. $80 each is overpriced.
Usually you just plug it in and route the wire with clips.

 

Thanks Minnie.