Brake wires

Take my tip and do away with them altogether, simply remove the sensor from brake pad back to the loom connector. Cut both wires just short of the connector, solder them together then insulate them and plug them back into the car.

Brake pad sensors are notorious for giving a warning when the pads as as good as new.
Best to check your pads physically from time to time.

Jag75 said:

Take my tip and do away with them altogether, simply remove the sensor from brake pad back to the loom connector. Cut both wires just short of the connector, solder them together then insulate them and plug them back into the car.

Brake pad sensors are notorious for giving a warning when the pads as as good as new.
Best to check your pads physically from time to time.

Click to expand...

Thanks for that. The car was only MOT'd a couple of weeks ago and I would have thought the tester would have mentioned it if they were that worn. I had an amber warning that the pads were low but then went a couple of days before it came on again. Yesterday I got a parking brake fault warning but that hasn't returned again.

I'll physically check for wear tomorrow.

Don't solder the wires together, use an in-line splice and the correct crimping pliers. Put some heat shrink sleeving on the wires before you crimp them and then slide it over the splice before shrinking it.

My indy garage always replaces the sensors when they change my pads. I never questioned it.

If the sensor wires are tripped they have to be replaced. The warning stays on until they are. It sounds like your car is giving spurious warnings. That's usually a sign of a bad battery.

I physically checked the pads today and I would say they are about 50% worn which IMO should not cause a warning.

I initially thought of the battery as for some reason mine has a "stop/start" one in it but the brake pad and parking brake warnings are the only ones so far. I've got a new battery that I bought for my S Type a week before I sold it (wasn't going to let that go with the car considering what I was offered for the car) so I might swap them over and see what happens. That new one has been sitting in my garage for 12 months and still shows a voltage of 12.55V.

Give that battery a full overnight charge anyway before you install it.

Got fed up with the warning light coming on every time I drove the car so took it to my local friendly Indy who found the rear pads nearly on the metal but the fronts ok. Nice that they were honest enough to just do what was necessary as they could easily have said fronts were shot and charged me for those too

Not as cheeky a question as it appears John but how did they get into that state , I always try and make a mental note of when
they were last changed which is one of the benefits of DIY . That said however , when you first purchase a car , there is that
period when you are comparatively in the dark as to the state of the maintenance

reddiesel said:

Not as cheeky a question as it appears John but how did they get into that state , I always try and make a mental note of when
they were last changed which is one of the benefits of DIY . That said however , when you first purchase a car , there is that
period when you are comparatively in the dark as to the state of the maintenance

Click to expand...

Due to being an excellent driver, one who anticipates danger and hazards well before it becomes necessary to apply one's brakes i very rarely have to change pads. I did have to on my S Type but I had done 110,000 miles on them and that was just the rears, as was the same with my current XF.

Seriously though, I am very easy on brake pads so very rarely have to change them so I'm afraid it was a touch of arrogance on my part in thinking it was probably just a sensor issue rather than the actual pads. Also with the fact that I am now too old to carry on DIY'ing and for £50 labour charge the garage did it for me it was a bit of a no brainer.

ps..the bit about the S Type is true.