AoxoMoxoA

As the subject alludes, I have this phenomenon of the yellow (Change brake pads. Driving permitted) warning popping up on the dash (along with the red "BRAKE" text) despite in my case - brand new pads, rotors, sensors just being installed.

I just did new pads and rotors, front and rear (and four new sensors) on my 2015 Macan S, after getting this warning repeatedly on my last pads which were worn to appx. 50%, definitely not to the sensor level. I attributed it to maybe a bad sensor, but I replaced the whole gamut just to make sure. Despite the new components the message continues.

More importantly, if anyone else has experienced this, have you resolved it, and how?

TIA

VAGfan

Probably a bad sensor, or one of them is not plugged-in properly. Unplug each one, and inspect the contact pins, make sure they are not bent. You can use a DMM to test each sensor, to measure the continuity between the sensor pins, should be less than 5 Ohms.

LT1

i just chatted about this with my indy about my mini cooper S which has a bad sensor and is triggering a 'replace pads' light. He says he occasionally sees bad sensors after a brake job and replaces them under his warranty. Take your car back to the shop that did your brakes and have them fix it.

Nickshu

These sensors are cheaply made and can melt just from heat and trigger. Agree w/ above you will have to remove wheels and investigate, easy with a multimeter at the plug. They are just a simple wire that gets broken from friction on the pad. Not a fancy sensor at all.

AoxoMoxoA

Thanks all for the replies.

And to LT1, I am definitely taking it back to the shop that did the work...
It's in my garage at home, lol! Labor rates are reasonable here!

What I failed to mention in my original post was, the warning message doesn’t stay on all the time. It appears at random — sometimes twice in a week, sometimes two weeks in-between... When the vehicle is turned off and restarted, the message is gone until the next time it decides to show up. That should rule out a break in the wire of the sensor itself, correct?

For now, I think I’m going to check each individual sensor visually for bent pins, and with a multimeter to see if there are any electronic irregularities between them.

If the sensors check out, the problem might be further upstream, which would likely be out of my purview. If I spot anything out of sorts, I’ll report back.

DHL

The fact that the fault light is intermittent and continues after replacement with known good sensors indicates perhaps a wire harness fault somewhere. Have any mice nesting in you car? They love to chew on wire harnesses.

chassis

^agree^

What year, how many miles and in which region is this car operated?

AoxoMoxoA

Good point; I bought the vehicle used from the original owner, and did notice some chewed-on sensor connectors under the engine cover, on the intalke manifold when I first removed it. There were a few acorn remnants there as well. Nothing since my initial deep cleaning on that occasion. The fault is a mere annoyance at this point, although these sorts of things tend to nag at me. Not sure I'd bring it to a garage for this alone, and my knowledge of tracing faults in automotive electrical systems is on par with my knowledge of how to perform open heart surgery.

2015 / 120,000 / New England / Garaged — and yes, if left unchecked, mice find their way into lots of vehicles parked outside.
The original owner (in Rhode Island) parked the vehicle outside since it was purchased new by him.

chassis

One of the saltiest regions in the country for winter road conditions. Salt and grime in the sensor should be cleaned out if present.