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Hi

Hope you can help , I have replaced rear brake pads in response to the orange rear pad wear light coming on.

I am trying to reset the service computer for the new pads but can not access the service update menu. Have tried following youtube videos but I only get an exclamation symbol in the service box/panel.
I did not replace the wear sensor cable as the warning light was only yellow, not red, is the the likely error in my ways.

Also I did switch the ignition on whilst the rear brakes were dismantled, is this another potential error.

Any helpful guidance would be appreciated before I give up and take the car to BMW for another credit card bashing. [ Note : I have just replaced the tires and had full reconditioning of the 326 alloys. The latter was required as BMW main dealer carried out a pre-sale "wheel refurb" for previous owner, this included grinding back the face of the rims to remove kerb rash, resulting in flat spots to the radiused profile at the edge of the rim.

Hopeful Dave

The first thing BMW will do is change the cable, so for the cost of it you would be better trying that first.
There seems to be a lot of people having trouble resetting the light for the rear pads.
I have not yet changed them on ours but have changed them on the X6 and following online guides using the trip reset button it was reset quite easily.

Thanks for your advice Nictrix, I will give this a go.

When working on the rear drivers side I did not see the other end of the cable, any ideas (from anyone who has done this or is good at finding the relevant workshop diagrams or a photograph) where and what the sensor cable connects into.

Dave

Its probably behind the arch liner and will probably need to be loosened off to gain access.

When I changed my rears last with new sensor, couldn't reset the brake warning.
After 3 weeks trying I gave up, went to a indy, who used I think a Autel tool to reset.
Took five minute and the chap said give us the price of a few beers, so gave him a tenner.

Ps I now leave the sensors tied up out of the way to save future problems as I monitor wear the old way, mark 1 eyeball.

Thanks for the advice guys,

I took it to the local independent that I used for work on the previous car, E85.

Cost me £45 including the new rear sensor and the dreaded VAT, happy to have it resolved and running fine on new pads.

Dave

Dragging this post back up as I have just changed the rear disks, pads and sensor and although I could reset the mileage counter it only went from 1800 miles to 2300 miles. The date has stayed the same at 6/2018 too.
Bit of a pain in the arse as it was so easy to do on the X6 but the Z doesnt want to play. Will have to run it by the garage and get them to reset it.
The pads were not even half way through after just under 50,000 miles, these sensors just do not work properly.

The brass stud imbedded in the Mini Metro brake pad was such a simple idea, or the metal scrapper even simpler.

Done the fronts today and the same issue. Tried to reset the service indicator and it never moved from 8000 miles.
Measured the pad material left on the front pads and after almost 50,000 miles there is 8mm left. The rears were about the same.
So why does the cars computer decide that the rears needed changing in 1800 miles and the fronts in 8000 miles?
The front sensor didnt look like it had started wearing at all and the rear sensor had very slight wear to it.

Anybody looking for used brake disks and pads that could probably last another 20,000 miles?

Went to the local BMW specialist today to get them to reset the service intervals for the brakes.
Should have been a 2 minute job but they were also unsuccessful. They said the sensors must be faulty.
I was dubious that both sensors could be faulty so went home swapped out the new sensors for the old ones and bingo, managed to reset the intervals myself.
Garage must have been right and both sensors were faulty.

For some reason mine wouldn’t reset either after after a pad change. No one could help so left it and kept trying literally once a day and on around the 5th day it worked .

Had similar problems on my front and rears even with new sensors fitted they just don't reset properly. The miles on my rears have actually gone up recently from 1800 to 2300 without doing anything fronts have been on 1500 since they were changed.

Seems random my uncle could not reset them using his diagnostic kit neither could my local indy. Maybe I will grab a couple of new sensors again and try a second set.

I'm not that bothered as I know they are done and no warnings are getting thrown but it is frustrating.

flybobbie wrote: ↑Thu Jun 15, 2017 7:41 am When I changed my rears last with new sensor, couldn't reset the brake warning.
After 3 weeks trying I gave up, went to a indy, who used I think a Autel tool to reset.
Took five minute and the chap said give us the price of a few beers, so gave him a tenner.

Ps I now leave the sensors tied up out of the way to save future problems as I monitor wear the old way, mark 1 eyeball.

Can you do that? Just remove the sensors from the brakes and tie them up out of the way?

What does the dash report?

Seems like a very sensible idea if doable.

I have had no problems, I just leave connected and tied back the new sensors. I assume the car computer is thinking these new pads are wearing well, as the initial wear measurement hasn't taken place and never will. The pads seem to last a long time and I annually paint up the brake callipers so can keep an eye on wear.

Bringing this topic of the pad wear sensor reset back in to the light.

I decided to change out my rear pads instead of letting the dealer do it for £150.00. bought a set of Brembo pads for £40 odd and did the removal of the hand brake mechanism off the back of the calliper. No problems at all.

went to reset the pad mileage (showing 8,000 miles) and by following various Youtube how to's i never managed to get a reset. today i purchased a new brake pad sensor and installed as most of the information i read was pointing this way and low and behold...... nothing changed when i did the reset.

i did however decided to disconnect the battery for 15 minutes on a subsequent attempt. Started the engine to make sure all was well and then went for a reset. guess what? yes it reset itself to 43,000 miles. Job done.

Possibly this was the trick that nobody else mentions or it was just a coincidence.

so for what its worth, try the battery disconnect, but don't close the boot like i nearly did lol.