i was driving to lunch this afternoon and as i was slowing down to a light, and heard the dong-dong of the OBC in the car, and saw a red mini on a lift. it looked terifying so i was a little worried haha. i then looked at my tach and speedo to see which lights had come on and its the BRAKE light, for the parking brake lit up red. i called my dealership and they said it may just be some debris near the sensor (or something like that, he wasnt speaking very clearly), and to turn off my car, wait a few minutes and turn it back on.

ok i thought, so i tried it to no avail. there was a lot of crap on the roads from this past weeks hail storm (yeah ice in august in NY, what is this world coming to?!) so i hosed off my car, and cleaned my wheels pretty thoroughly and the wheel wells too. got in, drove around the neighborhood for a few minutes, but the light is still there.

anyone else have this problem? what did you do?!

 

From the Manual:

Cause:
Vehicle Electronics Failed

What To Do:
You can not continue your journey. Contact your Mini Dealer.

It sounds to me like you may have a disconnected sensor or a sensor that went bad or maybe worse.

I would get it to the dealer soon.

 

Just had the same problem develop yesterday. What was the resolution to your problem? I am terrified of a dealer visit, even though she is under warranty, and I would like to have some idea of what this means before I go there...

I recently replaced the brake fluid... that's about it.

Thanks!

 

I also have mushy brakes parallel with this warning. Put new pads in and flushed the lines again, but still can't clear it.

 

This is just a guess by maybe the car's computer is thinking you are due for a brake service? Have you checked the brake service indicators to see when you are due for a service? The mushy brakes may be due to air present in your brake lines. I am not an expert on brakes but I often read about people "bleeding" their brake lines to get the air out.

 

benji / halifax - can you tell me what the issue(s) were? I have the same mini on a lift / brake light combo - saw the "Electronics Failed" note in the manuel but am wondering if i absolutely have to take it in or if there may be something else going on (like the check engine / tighten gas cap thing i've done a dozen times).

 

I believe that there was air trapped in the brake-clutch hydraulic system. When I flushed the lines, I did not include a clutch bleeding, so a bit of air must have gotten in there. Keeler MINI in Albany reflushed the system in its entirety and cleared the lamp.

Good luck!

 

Mine was the rear brakes were worn out (well not really) but enough the sensor was exposed. Weird

 

Come to think of it, MINI replaced a R rear brake wear sensor ... which was broken off ... which they said that I did ... which cost me $158.

 

I just got this light on tonight. I pulled the tire and then the brakes and couldn't find anything.

My sensor is tied off to the side (it'll melt if you leave it hooked up while at the track.... and since I go on a regular basis and each time swap out pads, I really don't need the sensor to tell me when my pads are low)

I checked the pads, brake fluid and sensor... though the sensor isn't hooked up, it's in one piece.

I guess tomorrow I will go to the dealer and see what the deal is.

Mark

 

I got this yesterday, I know I need new brakes soon, but I don't think it's that. I did install some new speakers in the back, so I think it might be that, any input?

 

I just had this issue this morning! The red Mini on the lift and just the BRAKE indication, which came on after I had been driving about 9 miles or so. I pulled over, turned the car off and on again (it started fine), drove the car another 4-5 miles to get home, and it ran without issue.

I also noticed that my countdown until service is due suddenly dropped to 0 miles - it was at 370 miles when I started the car.

It has been REALLY cold here today (Minneapolis, -5 f with windchill around -20 f), and all winter I've had a couple random lights (usually the indicator that I have a lamp out, check it every time and no lamp has actually been out) that seem to magically appear when the temperature drops...they often clear on their own.

Anyway, I can't get it in until tomorrow at best, and I've got to get to work tonight or the $ to fix whatever isn't going to exist!

Will I be doing serious harm if I drive it? How much is this going to cost?

 

I just had a car come in with this light (in yellow), it was a pinched brake wear sensor

 

When you get a CC (check control message) make sure to go into the Set/Info menu using the BC button on the stalk, and go into the Check Info area (press and hold BC)...short press the button to spin through the different messages you may have. So now that you are in this menu you can press and hold the BC button until the lower window shows a CC-ID number. That ID number corresponds to a much more accurate error message and I have the complete list of error codes in a PDF from the TIS. I will post that PDF later tonight.

 

In the mean time you can go here: https://wiki.bentleypublishers.com/d...38ED1C09241701 As most of the messages should be about the same.

 

I had these same indications in December. (2007 MCS, Novemebr build.)
New brake pads, rotors, and sensors and the problem was resolved.

The dealer wanted $1200.00 to replace the brake pads, rotors and sensors, all 4 corners.
Way Motors wanted a little over $500.00 for better parts and OEM sensors.
The brake job took me ~4 hours on Christmas eve morning. I could probably do one now in about 1/2 that time.

 

I attached the list of MINI codes to the following thread:

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ml#post3211376

 

I'm interested in this thread because my 2008 Mini Cooper has fewer than 18,000 miles on it and I doubt that the brakes have gone bad. I love this car but honestly, the electronics and computerese are bewildering. I'm tempted to put a piece of electrician's tape over that damned red brake warning light.

 

Why not just do a quick visual check of the brakes and confirm or deny the light's findings?

 

Why don't you get it checked out? Granted, 18K miles might be a little premature for pads but you could have a sensor messed up.

Mark

 

Damn it, I knew I should have responded earlier...

Mark

 

I do that all of the time, open 50+ tabs of threads I want to read, the reply to a few, bye the time I reply to some it is the afternoon and I opened them int he AM. I try to hit F5 before submitting a reply to ensure it hasn't been done. But I am totally with ya.

PS Mark I am stopping in Charlotte a day before I go to the dragon next year, might have to swing by and say hi. The wife has a full week before the Dragon planned out (as of yesterday, reason for mentioning this) and we will be going the long way from SW FL to Fontana.

 

Absolutely, stop by.... don’t hesitate. In fact, spend the night here and rest up before you drive up there. We’ve got extra room... hopefully it’ll be the same day we leave.

Let me know.


Mark

 

Hello, I know this is an old thread, but I experienced this problem a few days ago.

I had the Brake Light come on (in red) in the middle of driving, which came on the same time as the dinging alarm letting you know of a problem and the picture of a Mini on a lift.

At first it scared the crap out of me, thought something was seriously wrong with my car. Pulled over, checked all brakes and controls, everything was fine. Drove it the rest of the way to dinner and to the store carefully, but couldn't notice anything different from before.

I decided to tackle the problem the next morning. I put mini on jack, removed front driver-side wheel, checked pads (just fine at 27K miles). I noticed there was some gunk on brake wear sensor, so I just cleaned it off with "liquid wrench, penetrating oil" (which is a very handy thing to have in garage). Re-installed brake wear sensor, bolted everything back up, put wheel back on.

Repeated everything for the rear passenger-side wheel.

Started the car, the same errors came up, problem not fixed.

Noticed that the brake check service reading game up at -20 miles. (I guess it counts down the miles for when brakes need to be checked).

Reset the mileage timer with the BC stalk button. Problem resolved!!!

Not sure if you actually need to inspect wear sensors, or if it's just recommended. Anyone who has used up their brakes at 27,000 miles is either driving a race-car, or seriously mental.

I have never heard of factory brakes lasting less than 50,000 miles. I feel sorry for the people who take their mini to the dealer and get shafted out hundreds of dollars when they are misled by service advisors.

Do yourselves a favor and learn about brakes, and anything you can about your car. Don't be afraid to reset the brakes or fluid check timers or anything else if you have indeed verified everything is correct.

I can't believe the errors that popped up looking like my car was gonna explode. Especially for no reason, this is almost dangerous, to have these kind of false errors like this.

Anyways, love the Mini Cooper, fun car.



If you missed it earlier in my post, you can fix the red brake light, mini on lift problem by cleaning out the brake wear sensors, and then resetting the brake inspection mileage counter by using the BC stalk button in the info/service menu on the dash. You could possibly try to just reset the mileage thing on the dash first and see if that works, but you could get the problem again if it is indeed the gunked/damaged sensor.

 

Omg! thank you, thank you so much I was panicking and when I found this thread I got disappointed when I saw how old it was but the I saw your comment. Now I'm gonna see if i Can fix it lol thanks again