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Mr_330i

brake pad wear sensor - E46 Touring 330i

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Background info

I don't drive my car very often and took my car in for an MOT to a trusted garage in Sheffield and I am based in Halifax. The MOT tester advised that the N/S Handbrake was sometimes sticking but free'ed itself when pressing the brakes, which he found weird, but he advised that it is due to rust buildup due to infrequent driving, and that at some point I should take the disc off and clean inside the drum unit. 

It then made sense to me why my traction control light kept coming on and why the rear N/S wheel would judder, as I presume it was due to the resistance from the stuck on handbrake.

On my way home I decided to drive through country lanes and then all of a sudden yellow brake warning light came on, when I got home the N/S rear wheel was really hot, but I found it strange that handbrake being stuck on would cause a warning light, as I believe the brake warning light is associated to brake pad wear sensors, which I believe is on the rear O/S wheel and NOT the rear N/S wheel. 

Anyways yesterday I took my car to a local classic car garage, as everyone else was advising that I would need new pads and disks, whereas the existing pads, shoes and disks had plenty of meat left on them, bar the rust, which would soon gather on new disks and shoes too. The mechanic cleaned off all the rust on the rear N/S brake components.  However, the braking warning light still comes on, I have tried all the reset procedures online but I believe the only  way is to replace the brake wear sensor, as these are analogue sensors that can only come on if the brake wear sensor breaks, as this would leave the circuit open? 

Other than the handbrake being stuck on the brakes on my car have always felt good, no travel in brake pedal, dragging/squealing sounds or judder. Very responsive.  

Question

Is there a specific part number for brake pad wear sensors on my car or are all the e46 wear sensors the same? 

* Where are the two sensors located? Front N/S and Rear O/S?   If it is rear O/S makes even less sense why the light came on

* Is it just a coincidence that my brake warning light came on at the same time as my handbrake being severely stuck on? 

* Is the yellow brake pad warning light a dumb analogue signal or is more intelligent?

 

Thanks to all for viewing.  

 

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Pad wear sesnsor doesn't trip until the face is worn out.. You could look at the face of it by removing the pads and tell pretty quickly.

If you want to replce the sensors anyway - they're pretty cheap. They're all the same generally. They go on drivers side rear and passenger side front.

Once replaced the light should go out (if it's that). But as you're finding - you can quickly spend £££ chasing a light on these cars - get the codes read by a mobile auto diagnostics company to be sure.

To confirm, your light is the one on the right (next to ABS), and not in the centre of the image below correct?

IMG_20131113_105051_zps6169acd0.jpg

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thanks momo :). Do you think its just a coincidence that my N/S handbrake sticking and the Brake Pad light came on? 

I don't get how the brake pad sensor light came on when the pads still have plenty of meat.   

Edited by Mr_330i
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