Alxx Nova

Thursday I get home from a quick drive and went back out in around 1 hour. As I'm driving away from the house I hear a metal scrapping/rubbing sound with each rotation of the wheels on the passenger side. I get like a 10th of a mile and it turns into a constant whistle for a few seconds and then stops. Haven't heard it since.

Saturday I take my wife to pick up her car and I'm driving back rather "spirited". I get home then head back out about 20 min later. This time the Brake Wear light came on. Drove about 1 1/2 miles and parked. Came out of the store around 1 hour later and started the car expecting the light to be on but it was off. Drove back home and the light never came back on.

Can the light come on and then go off by itself ? I thought once they were activated they stood on until you replace the sensor or connected the two wires together. Any ideas?

Alex
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2001 Boxster S
2008 Passat 2.0 T
1992 FXSTC

Macster

The wear sensor or make that the warning light is reset every time you turn the engine/car off. Even if one brake pad worn enough to bring the sensor onto contact with the rotor I have found that early on and even after some miles (at least hundreds of miles in one case) one can often times drive the car in such a way, use the brakes in such a way, to avoid triggering the warning light.

In this one time I continued to drive the car long after the wear light came on when I did finally do the brakes (pads, rotors, sensors, et al) I found 3 of the 4 front brake wear sensors were worn down about half way. The 4th had not even made contact with the rotor yet. (Pads do not always wear equally, evenly.

I had planned on driving the car until something metal made contact with the rotors just to see what happened, but I simply got tired of the light coming on. Towards, the end the light would come on when I started the engine.

You should inspect the rotors/pads closely looking for any signs serious brake troubles. Verify the pad wear is not overly severe and the brake pads are not near to being gone.

Check each pad's thickness at all four sides. Front of pad, rear of pad and the top and bottom of the pad. Oftentimes the pads will wear unevenly so the front of the pad looks to have a lot of pad material left while the rear is worn down quite a bit more.

Sincerely,

Macster.

schwank

My pads still have 40% left and occasionally when the wheels are dirty the pad sensor light will trigger. Washing the car and wheels and spraying the rotor holes out makes the light not come back on.

Last time I did the pads and rotors I re-used the wear sensors. Next time I'll get new ones and see if it helps at all.

Based on what you heard I would certainly check them out and see if things look ok.

Alxx Nova

I'm gonna try to get out there today and have a look at the sensors and outer pads. Tomorrow I should have more time to pull the wheels and get a better look.

Since I bought the car I knew the rotors were going to need to be replaced with the next set of pads. The pads were still looking good before the winter. I'll get a better look at them tomorrow

Alex
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2001 Boxster S
2008 Passat 2.0 T
1992 FXSTC

budmanv24

I've had issues in the past with the brake wear sensors going on and off even when the pads are not worn down to the sensors. When the brakes get hot the lights come on. Since then I cut all four sensors off and soldered and sealed the wire leads together. The result? The brake lights still come on after the brakes get hot under aggressive driving. Anyone know the procedure for disabling the brake wear light with the durametric?

Macster

Can't help you with the Durametric question.

The 'trick' with the sensors is to remove them from the pads and tie-wrap the sensors up out the way. Leave the sensors connected to the wiring harness to protect the harness connector from getting contaminated with brake dust. I did this once, but I can't remember if a plastic baggied the sensor ends or not.

I do know every time I took the car in for service I'd have to explain why I had the sensors tied up. Also, I got tired of having to check the pads for wear. Also, I don't track my car so I'm not at the brakes changing the pads often and having to deal with the sensors nor having the opportunity to check pad wear on a regular basis.

So the next time I did the brakes I just untied and re-used the sensors. From then on I just rely upon the sensors let me know when the pads are getting worn.

Sincerely,

Macster.

Alxx Nova

I had a chance to look at the outer pads the other day and they have around 50% left on them. The light has not come back on since then. It does test light on start up like it should so I know the bulb is good. I still need to check the inner pads just incase but it's looking like it was just a temporary glitch.

Alex
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2001 Boxster S
2008 Passat 2.0 T
1992 FXSTC
1989 944 N/A (sold)