Help...Brake warning lights!

[Marc'sCoupe]

Went on a long motorway drive on Saturday and these popped up on my dash! luckily a couple of miles later I ran into some traffic so turned the car off, restarted it, drove a couple of metres and the lights went off for the rest of the day.
The next day whist driving home on the motorway the same thing happened, again restarted the car and all was well...

Yesterday, got into the car the lights came on almost instantly and do not reset with turning it on and off...

Any ideas what might be causing this?

 

[mac27040]

do a search on here for DSC problems, it could be just a dirty abs sensor but could be more.

 

[weegeoff]

You could have warn brake pads :!: :!: :!: :?

 

[Rich8]

I've been getting this for the past month or so. They light up, they reset, they light up again.
The only thing that's annoying me when they are on is not having hill assist (although with all the leaves on the road now maybe I'd like my abs back).
Just waiting til I have the time to take it in to find out what it is.
From what I've read it could range from a wheel sensor or two costing not too much North of £100, to the steering angle sensor (I think - it was a while ago I read up on it) which is about £1500 part from BMW, or send it to ecutesting.com and be without it for a week for about £300 (plus fitting and removal if like me you don't have the confidence to do it yourself).
Kinda been putting off taking it in to find out, my luck normally ensures it won't be the cheaper wheel sensors.

 

[Mike6]

As above I would check brake pads first. If your not confident of checking yourself - really easy visual check, then pop it in to say Kwikfit rather than a garage.

 

[Marc'sCoupe]

Interesting, my MOT was a couple of months ago and no mention of worn or wearing brake pads, however they did say the disks are slightly worn but not enough to fail the MOT obviously...do you think this could be the cause?

 

[Mike6]

Slightly worn discs really means nothing. They probably have a small groove around the outside edge which can mean the pads wear prematurely at that point. I tend to file the outside edge when fitting new pads but if you go to say kwikfit they will insist on replacing the discs as well as once wear starts it can speed up . I am not certain about Zeds but if the pads have an electronic wear indicator they may have reached that point. Worn pads would certainly be the point I would start and it would take just minutes to check but if your discs are worn you should replace them the same time as the pads. No pint changing the pads if you need new discs in a few thousand miles.

 

[jan_tekin]

Its not the pads as it would show a different warning light, hopefully its just a ABS sensor but it could be the pump. buy a code reader or get a garage to read the codes

 

[ZedM]

Agree with jan_tekin. Is your speedo working OK? If it isn't, then it will be a failure of the nearside rear ABS sensor and a cheap easy fix. Good luck.

 

[Cookie]

I had this problem a few months ago. Took the car to my local Indi, who connected the diagnostic tool on it and it showed the front DSC pressure regulator had failed. Looked on eBay and they were £85 each. Found some 2nd hand ones from Quarry Motors in Sheffield, £42 a pair inc postage. Fitted one, kept one as spare and a clear dash now. Had no more issues. :driving:

 

[Cookie]

By the way. Under the bonnet the DSC valve nearest the bulkhead is for the front breaks. Which was the one I had problems with.

 

[jamie_z4]

as some people have said it will either be a wheel speed sensor, pressure sensor, steering angle sensor or the ABS pumps failed. Wont be worn brake pads.