Worn Brake pad warning light reset

W

wbowman

Member
Had the front brake pads replaced for MOT by non Audi local tame mechanic, worn brake pad light was on prior to replacement. Following replacement, warning light still on.

As the garage didn't have the OBD tool, I thought I'd get one of the cheap VAG-COM USB cables off ebay and download the freeware version of the software that it was compatible with.

Seems to read some of the controllers, and reports no fault codes on the ones I have looked at so far. So I'm guessing we have enough functionality in the setup to reset the light, question is, where do I reset it?

Does anyone know the control code or the location of the controller I need to access? It it possible to reset the orange worn brake indicator in the DIS at all? Is this going to be a grovel to Audi job?

:confused:

Thanks in anticipation

WB
silver A2 TDi
 
Brke pad warning lamp has b****r all to do with control units.

The only cause would be a a connector not connected! or a broken wire.
I would advise cheching the connections to the pad itself before looking any further.

Fisheggs
 
Thanks

Thanks for the reply, did take the car back to the garage to double-check the sensors and why the brake pads were clunking when braking in reverse. After leaving the car with the garage for the afternoon, he said that it was down to floating brake pads. They still clunk, the light is still on, the garage assures me everything is as it should be......

How easy is it to sort it for myself?
 
You should steer well clear of the garage in question - the pads should NEVER clunk, whilst reversing or at any other time. Also, the pads are not floating, they are held securely by the calipers and retaining springs.

There is only one sensor wire to check, on the nearside front wheel. It may be possible to check whilst the wheel is on, but for ease, I'd remove the wheel and get your head around to the back of the brake disc to check the connector is seated correctly.

My guess is that they've b****red the connector, which is remarkably easy to do, and they're now passing off the wear indicator as being nothing to do with them.

Cheers,

Mike
 
why the brake pads were clunking when braking in reverse.
Click to expand...

on audi and vw break calipers the pads sit on two stainless steal shims if they are left out the pads will clunk

cheers
robin
 
Can I just repair the sensor?

If I find that the sensor wire is at fault when I remove the wheel, will the light still require a reset, or will it extinguish as soon as the fault is rectified ? (you can hit me with the jargon, I was an electronics engineer ! :) )

If the shims are fitted, could something else be loose? The calipers themselves have a small amount of play all be it really minimal......
 
...just to clarify

Just like to say thanks for the previous posts link, and advice, but link to post with brake light reset seems to be a bit contradictory, one says problem was fixed after re-seating plug with new shroud, one says you need to do the reset with a full version of VAG-COM........sorry if it appeared that I was not reading the great advice so far... :)
 
The light should self-extinguish and it is quite normal to have a tiny amount of play on the caliper itself, so don't worry on that front.

Cheers,

Mike
 
robin said:
on audi and vw break calipers the pads sit on two stainless steal shims if they are left out the pads will clunk

cheers
robin
Click to expand...

erm no they don't on the A2, nor any other VAG car I've owned, (6 different types) on the A2 they are held in place with a 3 or 4 point clip fixed directly to the back of the pad, no SS shims in sight when I changed mine (and they have never clunked!!) others have a brass or copper retention clip.
 
stand corrected on the A2 just looked.
The shim on other vag is on the caliper bracket the pads sit on them so the pad's will slide in and out
The only other thing it could be is the pad's are the wrong size for the caliper bracket and there is a slite movement of the pad in the caliper bracket.
what make are the pad's
some times the pad's are remanufactured.

cheers
Robin
 
snapped wire-sensor end!

OK, found it! The connector is fine and in-tact, the wire is ok, right up to the point where it enters the caliper assembly, where is it sheared off! :eek:

What are the chances of making a repair? Will it solder or crimp?

Haven't had the wheel off yet, so can't see any more than that.

:mad:
 
Sounds like it's the wire from the pad to the connector. Worst case scenario is a new set of pads, but you can have a go at soldering the wires back together, but this will probably entail removing the pad.

Best of luck,

Mike

PS, You could always just ignore the warning light!
 
If I can't fix the wire.....

If the worst came to the worst, and I can't solder it back on, or attach it to the pad, can I get around it another way?

Is it just a contact-type sensor?

to defeat the warning light, can I join the wires together, or electrically isolate them? Or is it based on resistance? could I solder a resisitor in?

I'd like the light to go away so that I can see the outside temp on the dashboard again with winter coming up....


Thanks for all your help, sorry to be a pain.

:)
 
As far as I know, the wires should be insulated to stop the light coming on - the embedded contacts and normally insulated from each other with the pad material an it's when this wears away the contacts short out on the disc, so completing the circuit and lighting the brake light.

Hope this helps,

Mike
 
...just my luck!

So technically, if the wires have been cut off, it is unlikely that they will be in contact with each other (possible, but not probable), so why is the orange symbol still being shown? It's the one in the DIS where the temperature is normally shown.

If the wires are not touching, and the light is still on, what else could it be? Didn't think it needed a reset. :(

It's not been my week, my girlfriend curbed the tyre at the weekend, and last night a young blonde in a Tigra pulled out from a junction leaving me about 3 feet to stop on a wet road at 20mph. Suffice it to say, the Tigra is not the same shape it used to be, and the A2 is now missing some paint on the front bumper! (at least it is a tough little car!). To top it all, checking the sensor today, I now need to get the tracking done as the inside tread on the newish front tyres is more worn than the outside!!

Begining to think the car is unlucky. It came back from having the door and wing re-sprayed after someone jumped a red light and hit it just a month ago, and six months before that, the turbo decided to give up, costing me £2000!

The joys of car ownership.
 
It may be that there is another underlying fault with your braking system. You don't have 17" wheels by any chance do you?

If you are anywhere near Manchester, I could do a full diagnostic scan for you to check, or if you are planning on attending the social in a couple of weeks in Coventry, we could do it then.

Cheers,

Mike
 
17" wheels?

They are the standard TDi SE alloys, what is the significance of the wheels? :confused:

Have quite a tight schedule with marriages and the like, (not my own) so might not be able to make the social, but thankyou for the invite. Might be able to do it at some later date.
 
wbowman said:
They are the standard TDi SE alloys, what is the significance of the wheels? :confused:
Click to expand...
If you had the 17" wheels, there could be an issue with the anti-lock braking system - on early Sport examples, the tyre was known to wear through the ABS cable.

Cheers,

Mike
 
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