So I get the Brake Service light on my JCW. I have replaced the pads, but the sensor was not damaged so I did not replace it (still had enough on old pads). When I try to reset the light it says resetting but then says reset unsuccessful. Do I need to pull the sensor out and plug it back in? Any ideas would be helpful.

 

did you change pads at all 4 wheels? Both sensors are good? Brake service light usually means a sensor was 'used' .... they get 'consumed' by being activated ... a tripped sensor must be replaced.

Also, IME the sensors get very brittle from all the heat they see and it is easy to damage 'em when changing even if the look good . . . .

GEN1 had a procedure to have car see a new sensor ... GEN2 saw the new sensor automatically ....

there's really two brake wear alert systems. One is a simple counter like on the oil .... computer guesses wear based on driving habits and will send an alert based on this countdown. This is the alert you reset. IME the number was WAY off and when it came on I saw I had a lot of pad left so just reset and went for 10,000 more miles before system TWO kicked in ... That's the physical sensor. If the physical sensor is tripped you get 'reset failed' when you try to reset until the sensor is replaced (or jumpered out of the system, which is what I do . . . ) The sensor is nothing more than a loop of wire in the tip of the sensor. When pad wear allows the sensor to touch the rotor the material wears eventually breaking the wire. SO long as this "open" is seen, you get the device warning. Open could be result of a sensor just getting 'unplugged' but have never seen this actually happen myself.

 

yes I replaced all four pads so they would match. Yah verified the sensor was ok. The warning is not the same one you get when the sensor gets tripped it was the service brakes soon warning, with the yellow warning not the red when the sensor gets tripped. I guess I will buy a new sensor and see if that helps.

 

TLDR; Brake sensor warning is appearing about 20 seconds into driving and can't be reset, even after repalcing pads and sensor cable...

Having a similar situation and want to see if it is the same as yours Madmix...

I broke my front sensor some time back while replacing my pads for a track day event and the result was not an immediate warning upon starting the vehicle like other sensors. Instead, when I would start driving after about 20 seconds I'd get a 'brake pad' warning message on both my center control display screen and on the insturment cluster by the speedo. After deleting both warnings the red "Brake" light stays on in the instrument cluster, but that is it.

The interesting thing is when I would cycle through the service wrnings by turning ignition to "On" and holding the ODO button to see if I could clear/reset the warning but nothing comes up that is brake specific so technically there is no code to reset. I also checked with the OBD Fusion app and no bake codes showed up.

I lived like this for a while and just last weekend replaced pads again and FINALLY replaced the busted brake sensor cable as well. And of course after putting the new cable in I am still getting the damn warnings. Took it to my mechanic and he checked on his computer and can't clear/reset them either. He has no idea why it is still producing the code after the new cable was put in.

Has anyone seen this before? It's annoying as hell and aside from going to the dealer I don't know what to do.

Thanks in advance for any help offered!

 

The brake light just came on and the sensor is still not broken so will replace

 

when you are sure everything is right

and the program does not work

something you are sure of

is WRONG

*************************
had this over my desk when I was a code writer ....

 

If I agree with you then we would both be wrong!.

Have this over my desk now.

 

If you visually check pads regularly you can strip the sensor leads to bare wire and twist them together then protect out of the elements and reset the warning for an extended period of time (max interval on dash)

 

so picked up another sensor on the Amazon and replaced. Light cleared. I looked at the old sensor and it did just start to rub. Guess these things are sensitive.

 

They are 2 stage as you have found, which irritated me since they trip when there is a lot of pad left. That's why I disabled mine. All 4 wheels should be checked every oil change as not all wheels are monitored and can wear at different rates. Be sure to check outer and inner pads too. Not really an improvement from the metal tab squeal indicator and way more pricey imho.

 

I've dissected one ... the two stage is a myth ...... there's one loop of wire .... period ... there ARE two different systems: the miles counter and the physical sensor.
I too have found the miles counter to be WAY off but you can simply reset that one .... a triggered physical sensor on the other hand is only cleared by replacing the sensor (or jumping it out of the system)






I cut mine off too .... they are useless if you do ANY of your own work ...... simple tire rotations allow you to check pad wear all around and a kwik check can be done without even removing a wheel

when the pad material is thinner than the back plate you need to get thinking about new pads.


this is a worn MINI pad and I put some white on the backing plate ... note the pad material is just about as thick as the backing plate

here's an almost new MINI pad .....



A couple of 'kwik check' hints ...... if you look closely at this good pad and compare to the worn pad you'll see that the 'bevel' ends just about the thickness of the backing plate (did I manage to explain that?) ...... in other words .... IF you can still see 'bevel' you're cool . . ... ...

 

totally agree, but there is something going on. could it be possible it measures the resistance somehow? i maxed the miles counter out when i first got my alerts since i did a visual check and was like "are you for real", and the dash still kept lighting up. after i cut the wire then the alerts went away. i checked the pads till they got too thin then changed them out, 100s of miles later.

 

so picked up another sensor on the Amazon and replaced. Light cleared. I looked at the old sensor and it did just start to rub. Guess these things are sensitive.


when you are sure everything is right, and the program does not work, something you are sure of is wrong .......

case closed this unit ......

 

after i cut the wire then the alerts went away. .... you can strip the sensor leads to bare wire and twist them together then protect out of the elements and reset the warning for an extended period of time

you cut the wires tied them together? .... doing that made a closed circuit and the car 'sees' a good sensor .......two separate brake wear systems .... a simple counter which can be wrong and easily over ridden and the physical sensor which can only be cleared by 'closing' the circuit .....

. .

 

Just did a full brake job and 2 new sensors and my F54 just won't do it for either circuit (front or rear), as they have separate resets. I can get to the rest screen, but it 'fails' every time I have tried it. I wonder if the aftermarket sensors are out of the expected range of the OEM sensors??? Since the pads are new and the sensors are well off the rotor, there isn't a 'good' reason I can think of blocking the reset other than the sensors themselves unless anyone on here can come up with and idea.

 

Make sure that the plug is seated secure had this happen one time had to pull sensor and reseat and it cleared

 

For $12/corner or $24, I figured it would be best to replace my sensors so I get some sort of warning on the brake pads if I don't pay attention when I rotate my tires. I rotate my tires 2x per year, so I get a pretty decent look at the brake pads...but you never know.

Anywho, I figured out the reset issue with some research and basic luck. I found a comment on MiniMania's site by a fellow F54 owner (see below) that was having the same issue of not getting a successful reset. He found that you have to have the e-brake 'off' for it to reset. I went out to my car, released the e-brake and went into the reset monitor...SUCCESS!! Guess I have to get a bit more control systems savvy with this car, since having the e-brake on didn't have anything to do with a pad sensor in my brain...

I was thinking there was something wrong with the sensors from Power Stop that I installed. I did send a note to Power Stop brakes that they should add this to their Customer Service notes, in case someone calls in with the same reset issue I had.