Had my rotors turned today - ever since, the warning light for break pad wear is on - plenty of pad left and the sensors appear to be good...

Driver's side is missing the retaining clip, would that make the difference? I'm going to order new ones, but I want to make sure that I don't have a potential problem elsewhere.

 

I would install new sensors with each brake job.

 

Ditto. Sounds like you have a broken sensor wire. Those things are very tricky to reuse.

 

Probably a broken sensor.

Normally, I don't bother replacing them... I'll just zip tie them to the car and be done with it. But I found out that if the wires themselves break than the light will stay on. I fixed the problem that time by cutting the sensor portion off and soldering the two wires together.

You can also try electrical tape over the light.

BB.

 

Yeah, mine goes on and off intermittently ... I know the PO just pulled the wires and zip-tied 'em, so probably I'm just getting the occasional short. I know my pads are okay, I ignore it.

 

with my turbo, the sensor wires were too long and rubbing on the inside of the wheel. it cut thru em. so I pulled back the heat shield, and made em sense 1 pad by taking the leads that go to the outside pad, cutting them shorter and twisting them together. wrapped that with electrical tape, and tucked it under the other heat shield. no problems to date, and I've got like, 8K miles on em.

 

There's a factory clip you're supposed to use to keep the sensor wire attached to the caliper locking pin to prevent this.

 

Thanks everybody. I ordered new sensors and stainless lines from paragon. Pads and rotors are still in fantastic shape, so I didn't feel getting EVERYTHING was necessary at this point...but that little red light sure is annoying.

 

I used it! the one built onto the caliper?

 

No, it's a separate part made of thin steel. It slides onto the locking pin and snaps shut with a prong at the end.

 

I'd bet MOST of the cars on the list don't have that clip anymore.

 

small zip ties work great for replacing missing small clips.

 

Yeah, a lot aren't using the stock pad sensors either, for that matter.

 

I ditched them long ago...