warning lights

Thu Dec 25, 2008 12:27 am

on my dash a red light comes on raely now and then, its kind of a circle with breakes in the white line every few mm, just wndering what it ment? im new to e30s so dont know much about them, i hardlyever drive it because its still in project stage so dont know wether this would make a difference?

cheers

Thu Dec 25, 2008 12:37 am

Its a brak pad wear sensor light. My one is fooked and the light stays on. If you look at the front calipers at the rear of the caliper there will be two wires and they atach to a cable which runs up the oposite side the strut. I assume this can be bought seperatley but have no intention of replacing it untill the red light annoys me enough or I have to buy new pads etc, whatever comes first.
I will stand corrected if I'm wrong but I am prety sure. Spent quite alot of time under there so far.

All the best good luck with project.

Merry Xmass

Thu Dec 25, 2008 12:40 am

ideal mate cheers, im hoping is just a fault in thecable and not the brakes because it went through mot fine with the brakes as they are cheers and merry christmas

Thu Dec 25, 2008 12:43 am

It will be a fault. On mine the cable hangs free and two wires from the back of the caliper are just loose. Tidy them away and all is well.

Thu Dec 25, 2008 12:57 am

kitch wrote:on my dash a red light comes on raely now and then, its kind of a circle with breakes in the white line every few mm, just wndering what it ment? im new to e30s so dont know much about them, i hardlyever drive it because its still in project stage so dont know wether this would make a difference?

cheers

With E30s, this light can come on every once in a while even if the wiring and pads are A1.
If your wireing/pads are ok,then it is usually the 220ohm resister that is mounted behind the dash cluster.The joints can crack and you can resolder them with relative ease.
HTH

Thu Dec 25, 2008 1:10 am

ok thanks people, glad to know its nothing major to worry about

Thu Dec 25, 2008 1:36 am

They're there for a reason, if they're not working right it would be better to sort it than leave it. Nothing dificult, just bad connections to repair usually.

Thu Dec 25, 2008 10:33 pm

yeah im going to ook at it and fix it hopefuly if it i just a dodgey cableetc but just glad to know its nothing crippling to the car and since im not driving it daily its relieved me

Thu Dec 25, 2008 10:44 pm

Your car will happily pass an MOT with the pad wear light fully and permanently on, and just a sliver of pad material left on all eight pads! It may get an advisory, but it will pass!
If the light goes out for relatively long periods, and only occasionally develops a habit of flickering on and off for a day or two, then the problem is likely to be the soldered joints in the cluster.
Use the search function to look for "220 ohm resistor" and my username.