Brake Pad Warning Refuses To Reset

[BzsBimmer]

Originally Posted by chamba002

Does anyone have pictures how to jump the brake pad sensor?

I don’t have a picture but you cut back some of the wire jacket so the bare wire is exposed and then twist the two exposed pieces of wire together and crimp off using a wire crimp connector (butt splice) or electrical tape.

You won’t get electrocuted but disconnect the sensor first. Even if you don’t... you won’t get electrocuted.

[chamba002]

Originally Posted by BzsBimmer

I don’t have a picture but you cut back some of the wire jacket so the bare wire is exposed and then twist the two exposed pieces of wire together and crimp off using a wire crimp connector (butt splice) or electrical tape.

You won’t get electrocuted but disconnect the sensor first. Even if you don’t... you won’t get electrocuted.

Ok so, I'll disconnect the pad sensors but then cut into the pad sensor wire and the wire that connected to the car. Then with join those (pad sensors wire, and wire connected to car) together? Is that correct??

[BzsBimmer]

Originally Posted by chamba002

Ok so, I'll disconnect the pad sensors but then cut into the pad sensor wire and the wire that connected to the car. Then with join those (pad sensors wire, and wire connected to car) together? Is that correct??

The sensor head that goes into the brake pad gets cut off. Cut as close to the sensor head as possible. Do not cut the large circular connector that connects into the car.

[roastbeef]

Originally Posted by chamba002

Ok so, I'll disconnect the pad sensors but then cut into the pad sensor wire and the wire that connected to the car. Then with join those (pad sensors wire, and wire connected to car) together? Is that correct??

.

[Jadawin]

Originally Posted by edwinm3

What you guys need to do in this case is, disconnect the sensor and jump the two wires on the harness connector that the sensor connects to. While having this jumped, reset your light and when done, reconnect the sensor. Done it a million times and works every time unless sensor is bad.

Old tread but worked for me. thanks heaps. For others searching. "jump the two wires" does indeed mean connect the two wires that goes into the car. The go into the car and perform the reset function on the break pad mileage.

I found this helped with this function:

AND

CHEERS to all these people helping. Much appreciated.

[edwinm3]

[maughaja]

Changed the rear pads on my wife's 2015 328 xi F30 (I have a E39, much nicer!) and rear brake indicator timer would not reset. Checked sensor and resistance was 4.6 ohms. Seemed okay.

After reading here I tried the hack of shorting the system at the connector with the closest thing on hand and it worked great.

Gotta love the internet. Thanks, guys.

[red998]

Originally Posted by edwinm3

Glad I could help

Resurrection of post. Thank you for this thread as it’s been driving me nuts.
I just want to add that front r/l and right rear need to be jumped at the same time in order light reset. Next time I am not waiting till miles run down.

[edwinm3]

Originally Posted by red998

Resurrection of post. Thank you for this thread as it’s been driving me nuts.
I just want to add that front r/l and right rear need to be jumped at the same time in order light reset. Next time I am not waiting till miles run down.

awesome! FYI I just bought a used F10 M5 and it also worked on those

[red998]

Within minutes after posting this I went to take car out. I tried to get additional mileage because the mileage dropped from 6k to 1k and the brake service lights came on again.
My car used to be tracked and I cut all the wires that go to the brakes caliper. Do I need new cables?

Any thoughts

Congrats on f10!
I picked up a 996 4s. World difference plus it’s analogue in many ways.

[M3jamaica]

Bumping old three, I did everything as explained, try resetting the service light but it won't happen. Incur the sensor wire closest to the sensor that goes into the break, twist the 2 wires together, just like this tutorial. I left the sensor into the brake. It just won't reset, when do the dashboard reset it shows no numbers in the mileage part and stay red....what did u wrong?

[easyriderknucklehead]

i tried 2 and not the third in rear because of the hassle and its seperate reset and no such luck with this. i even changed one and dealer said bring her in. sure would be a piss off if i was 3/4 of the way there and should have did the rear ?

[easyriderknucklehead]

i guess being to cheap to pay the 1/2 hour the dealer wants to charge me to reset i will open up the rear today and jump it and try reset. I hope it doesnt fry my computer to do this jumper wire thing , very scetchy but here it goes... should i ??

[easyriderknucklehead]

ok thats it time to go to volkswagon i guess and get it scanned and removed i tried the remove the rear and used the old sensor i cut and tied the wires together trick and unplugged the fronts and jumped them with a paperclip in each with good contact and jumped in the car and tried the reset and same old crap _ _ _ _ _ . it didn t even allow me the chance to at least do the rear which cleary has a complete circuit with wire together. such a waste of time to save $80 - 1/2 hour quote the dealer gave me for a 5 minute reset i bet.

[AUDELA]

Old post that seems to keep giving!

I recently had a major service done and was told one of my front sensors is reading 9% whereas the pad itself is at 55%. Red handbrake light now on dash and red car on lift comes up at start of ignition. The technician told me he couldn't reset the lights until the sensor is replaced and rewired.

Strange thing is there were no lights on prior to the service - however I had just purchased used from a dealer so maybe they somehow had turned it off? If they managed to turn it off shouldn't I be able to?

Service Info menu shows both front and back brakes at - - - - -. Why would back brakes also need resetting if it's the front one with warning? I've tried resetting these as well but it doesn't do anything.

I checked errors on Bimmerlink - and got the following one :

5DE0 - BRAKE PAD WEAR VA NOT / WRONG INITIALIZED

It also said that the "Error would not cause a warning indicator" but clearly it does. I've cleared the code, will see if it returns.

Any suggestions? Will simply replugging/tripping the front sensor work given its reading 9% wear? Or do I need to replace sensor entirely?

[Z K]

The brake sensor knows when a new sensor is plugged vs an old one. I think it measures the resistance and compares the value it gets vs the old one. Just unplugging and replugging an old sensor will not work.

I just put in a new sensor and zip tie it away from the brake pad. No splicing wires and it will reset as normal. The sensor is not on the brake pad so it won't wear down and will not give me any warnings.

But this doesn't solve the problem of brake mileage countdown based on mileage. It will still trigger a warning if it sees you braking hard i.e. track driving.

[Mimmer]

The fix for this if you get the ———- thing when trying reset and it won’t. You will want replace the sensor plugs on all 3. Doing 1 by 1 trying figure which it broken it pita. For like 11-15 bucks each might well do it all with new ones.

Once replaced turn on car and then reset.

I tried doing just 2 fronts with new sensor and nothing for rear and didn’t work. Did plug and unplug with new still no luck.

Once I replaced all 3 it allowed me reset removed the blank mileage. I hope this helps someone else !

[Impastokitsch]

Originally Posted by Vacek

Did this today and it worked like a charm !!

I took a wild guess and removed the rear passenger wheel, and jumped that sensor. I reset everything while only this one was jumped, and the red brake light reset nicely, along with the mileage for next service.

Plugged it back in, and all is great now.

My front sensor is acting up

Tried clearing it with secret menu and idrive seems to clear but whenever i reverse it shows up again.

I guess i will buy new sensor and change during my rotor change next week

Hope this cleared

[su_root]

Old thread but hoping it helps someone out there and google reminder to myself...

Brake warning was triggered as I installed BBK setup for front and rear(Stoptech Trophy). I accidentally let the mileage hit 0 and jumping/splicing rear passenger sensor first then attempting to reset Rear via button on tach did not work. Kept coming back showing "mls -------" and would not clear in Vehicle Status.

I then removed Front driver and Front passenger wheels; jumped/spliced the sensor at the junction/connector box for each side. Reinstalled wheels and was able to successfully reset Front and Rear Warnings. All 'GREEN' on vehicle status now.

Timesaver tip...pickup the ECS tuning bypass dongle for ~$15 USD each vs splicing/soldering/etc. It just happened to be 10PM and I had nothing better to do than to stress and sweat in the garage for a bit Good therapy!

Thanks for the tips everyone provided here. Simple but good thread.

[ZenBudda]

Originally Posted by BzsBimmer

The premise is that once the sensor trips, it's potentially too late and the brake pad backing could dig in to the rotor and ruin it vs just doing a pad swap and possibly having more life in the rotor.

It's a conditional based service and computers aren't perfect for each condition that a driver puts on their cars. It's not just mileage but yes, most people see a lot more pad life left by the time the OBC says the pads need replacing.

Essentially after 3 weeks of investigation this is true. Conditional based service is based on the computers best estimation of the pad life left, based your driving habits. It's not based on the reality of a visual observation of the pad. Essentially so you replace the pads early before the rotors go bad, at least that is my assumption.

6 months ago I had my front and rear brakes done. A tire place severed my front sensor. All good they reimbursed for everything. I had the front sensor replaced at my local shop. They could not get the red "brake" light to turn off, through their coding system.I reset the light through the dashboard and holding down the trip odometer. It then stated 41,000 left on the front pads, while the rear still says 90,000. The red "brake" light did not turn off initially but did turn off after driving 25 miles, but still states 41,000 left on the pads when I think it should be 90,000, same as the rears.

I'm going assume at this point the computer will adjust the miles left on the front pads over time, baded on my driving habits and check the miles again in perhaps a week. Unless the light goes on again I don't intend at least at this time on making anymore adjustments. Any comments let me know, thanks.

[--Aramis--]

For those who would be faced with the problem of resetting the brake pad sensor default messages after replacement

I had the problem,

I positioned shunts instead of wear sensors

Reset with ISTA and erased the default, the message and gong came back at each start.

In ISTA there are 3 levels of resetting CBS for brakes :

-sensor/pad replacement
-modification of the replacement index
-entry of the remaining new brake pad thickness

It is these last 2 parameters that prevented the erasure of the defect

There were at index: 3 and thickness of pad 2mm
I entered index: 3 and thickness 20mm and the defect disappeared

These values must be corrected if you have the recurring defect with new sensor/pad. (red symbol of the car on a lift and brakes message on cluster)

The computer estimate the pad thickness and if you reach near 0 you need to correct it

[sobriez]

Originally Posted by d0o0fy

The problem with that, is the car seems to have another way to account for pad wear. Likely based off of deceleration. This means, that even with brand new sensors zip-tied, the car will still throw the warnings after a while (which can be a very short period if you track). I wish it was the solution, sadly it's only more infuriating since you now have to fiddle with or replace brand new sensors.

I posting this for my own future record. I could not reset the brake sensor unless the car was running. So sometimes the car has to be running to reset the counters. Sensors reset. All good.