[Saintor]

Originally Posted by NoTempoLimitN54

UPDATE: It turned out the rear pads had plenty of life left.

In my experience, these sensors are a waste of money and time. I cut them both and tied the wires together.

I manage my brakes old school. When I change my wheels (spring/fall), I just inspect them. Worst case is that you'll a metallic noise and this is the same function of the sensors.

[Efthreeoh]

The difficulty people have with brake replacements is the system is designed to have the pads and sensors replaced at the same time after the wear sensor triggers the indicator light on the gauge cluster and reset of the CBS so the system knows to start counting from zero miles (i.e. new pads). The brake wear system uses mileage in an algorithm and triggering of the first wear level of the sensor to estimate when the pads will need replacement, which determines the rate of pad wear in relation to how the car is driven.

Doing it any other way is just fighting the engineering.

[Bmwni]

I'm having problems with red car on lift and red brake lit all the time.

About a month ago noticed noise from rear pads, changed these and tied up sensor as it hadn't gone off but wouldn't securely fit into new pads. On inspecting the sensor seemed to be unmarked.

Then a few days ago the red car on lift and brake light came on while driving, the car was near its service interval and I though it may have been to reminds me to service(cbs I think it's called)

I reset the service interval and went to reset the brake service intervals for both front and back and when I did the famous "____" came up for both so couldn't reset either.

I checked front pads and they were worn so replaced them and the sensor as it was damaged.

I tried to reset the cbs for the brakes but still the "____" and won't reset.

any ideas what to try now, was thinking of shorting out rear sensor and see if that helps to reset, but can't understand why it won't let me rest the front at least as I know I put a new sensor in it yesterday.

Anyone help.

[Bmwni]

Just to let you guy know this is what I did and seemed to work ok.

Disoonected the fron sensor, cut the rear sensor( don't know for sure if it was good but had tied up anyhow as it hadn't let me know brakes on other side of axel were down to metal a few weeks ago)
This meant no sensors were connected, I then tried to reset cbs and it had an additional exclaimation mark, but obviously didn't set.( only did this in case it needed a negative signal to reset on) then I connected fron sensor and joined wires of rear sensor.
Got into car and hey presto it let me reset the distance for both sensors after this turned ignition off still got ramp warning, but when I removed key from ignition and restarted all was well and all warning lights seem to have gone now.

If you having problems with these light hope you get sorted.

[Pittsburger]

Originally Posted by Saintor

In my experience, these sensors are a waste of money and time. I cut them both and tied the wires together.

I manage my brakes old school. When I change my wheels (spring/fall), I just inspect them. Worst case is that you'll a metallic noise and this is the same function of the sensors.

Wait so I need to clarify what you did. You just cut the wires and then you connected the two ends or you just left them cut and tied them so they wouldn't be hanging?

I also agree with your old school method. I also change wheels around winter, but even if you don't change wheels, you can take a flashlight and see thickness of the pads through the spokes of the wheels.

I was planning on my next brake job to replace the sensors with new ones, but not install on the pad, but rather just connect them up and zip tie them. This way I can reset the computer.

[Bmwni]

Yes that's right, I cut wires tried to reset cbs so it had a fault reading then joined wires together in a block connector, taped over to protect and tucked safely out of way then reset cbs again.

[gigagb]

I have replaced both front and rear sensors and put them away the rotor.

[Sailing123]

Put new rear brake pad on and new sensor. Used a DIY on here to reset the computer, it worked fine and the light went out. 5 days later the brake light went on the dash again, exclamation point on the computer. Tried the same DIY process but the computer has the correct date and mileage. So now I have to buy a new sensor for the front pads that still have life in them?

[Sailing123]

Bump

[deeepsix]

sailing123...i joined to see if i can help with this issue. i changed my oil the other day and accidentally reset the rear brake sensor...then i ended up with the front/rear brake lining warning and the red car on a lift. the service reset procedure (odo reset stick, triangle, bc, etc) didn't work. i bought new sensors for the front and rear. i jacked the front drivers up to where i could reach the front sensor. i unplugged the existing and plugged in the new one and tried again and couldn't get rid of the dashes. tried jumping the sensor...no luck. finally, i left the front plugged in and jacked up the rear passenger wheel, removed the wheel, peeled back the liner and, again, simply unplugged the existing sensor, plugged in the new one. went through the reset procedure again and it worked. turned power off, plugged back in original sensors, re assembled and test drove....all lights off. the sensors will still work when they are "worn down" from actual break wear. let me know if you have any questions.

[nnguyen04]

wow thanks to this thread I didnt have to waste 30 bucks on sensors went with the snip it off route. I really dont need brake sensors.

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by nnguyen04

wow thanks to this thread I didnt have to waste 30 bucks on sensors went with the snip it off route. I really dont need brake sensors.

The only issue is the car needs the brake wear sensors. The car is looking for brake wear. It expects brake wear to occur over mileage. There are two wires inside the sensor. When the first wire breaks, the computer notes the mileage and uses that information to estimate the remaining pad life left.

Replacing pads out of cycle in these cars, if not done properly, will screw up the system. I have done all four of my brakes twice and have never had an issue. The first replacement event, all four brakes wore out at the same mileage, so I replaced all four. The second replacement event, the front brakes wore out first, with the rears about 1,000 miles remaining. Tischer was offering brake parts on sale that month, so I got all four brakes and replaced them at the same time. So did the rears a bit early, but I replaced the sensor and reset the system, so I had no issues.

[ifonul]

I'm in the same boat here. I know what I did 'wrong' now and I get it how to 'fix' it. But my question is: is there a way to delete the sensor by coding? There are many useless codings available (double hazard flash in case of crash anyone?), I'm surprised I don't seem to find any coding for this.

Thanks in advance, I'm new around here and I found a lot of useful information in this forum!

(2008 M3 E93)

[TeutonicFlight]

Originally Posted by deeepsix

sailing123...i joined to see if i can help with this issue. i changed my oil the other day and accidentally reset the rear brake sensor...then i ended up with the front/rear brake lining warning and the red car on a lift. the service reset procedure (odo reset stick, triangle, bc, etc) didn't work. i bought new sensors for the front and rear. i jacked the front drivers up to where i could reach the front sensor. i unplugged the existing and plugged in the new one and tried again and couldn't get rid of the dashes. tried jumping the sensor...no luck. finally, i left the front plugged in and jacked up the rear passenger wheel, removed the wheel, peeled back the liner and, again, simply unplugged the existing sensor, plugged in the new one. went through the reset procedure again and it worked. turned power off, plugged back in original sensors, re assembled and test drove....all lights off. the sensors will still work when they are "worn down" from actual break wear. let me know if you have any questions.

[ifonul]

Thanks for the very useful info in this thread. I don't think I would have ever figured it out otherwise. However, after a few hours of frustration (cutting the front sensor did not reset the iDrive light), I realized my car (a 2008 M3) had *two* front sensors, one at each front wheel.

Still looking for a coding to do this without cutting wires, BTW...

[shawntech]

so if I do only front pads/sensor I cannot reset CBS front pad wear since I'm not touching the rears?!

[3Coupe4Me]

Originally Posted by ls3c6

so if I do only front pads/sensor I cannot reset CBS front pad wear since I'm not touching the rears?!

It will cause a problem with the CBS reading. The computer is looking for a new sensor for the front and rear when you reset it. If it doesn't see that then it give a bad reading. You can short the wires together of the old sensor you are changing and use that in the rear just to reset the CBS then replace the old rear sensor when you are done.

[shawntech]

so the proper procedure would be:

-replace front pads
-install new sensor in front
-splice removed sensor wires
-plug spliced sensor into harness at rear
-clear CBS, start car, verify mileages reset
-turn car off, plug in ORIGINAL rear brake pad sensor

all should be well?

[3Coupe4Me]

Originally Posted by ls3c6

so the proper procedure would be:

-replace front pads
-install new sensor in front
-splice removed sensor wires
-plug spliced sensor into harness at rear
-clear CBS, start car, verify mileages reset
-turn car off, plug in ORIGINAL rear brake pad sensor

all should be well?

Yup, that's the way I did it.

[shawntech]

I'm almost CERTAIN my car has a separate reset for FRONT or REAR brakes, I will check

[3Coupe4Me]

Originally Posted by ls3c6

I'm almost CERTAIN my car has a separate reset for FRONT or REAR brakes, I will check

I could be wrong. I did mine so long ago.

[Whit]

Just did my front pads and rotors. Easy as it gets. I as well do not need my pad sensor so just clipped it off and connected the two wires as suggested. THANKS! Reset my dash and the BRAKE light as well as RED CAR ON LIFT both went away and is now reset for 80,000. Love this place.