Brake Wear Indicator Light

[willydoit]

Hi all, I have a 98 Ls400 with a genuine 45000 miles on the clock, yesterday the brake wear warning text appeared on the dash, it wasnt there after restarting the car. Having read about the sensor it seems that a wire is broken to generate the warning which would make me think that if the wire is broken through wear the warning would stay on permanently. As mine hasnt and mileage is still low, could this be an electrical blip and do I need to take it to a dealers to get it sorted and if needed the pads replaced or will local kwik fit or similar be capable of replacing pads etc properly. Would have been happy to have this done at a non dealer until I read about rotors which may need to be addressed and the warning sensor replacement. Am obviously concerned that a non dealer may not be aware of how to deal with the sensor and the rotors issues and we may end up with additional costs due to trying to reduce the initial costs but also dont want to pay through the nose at the dealers.

It may be that sensors and rotors are common place nowadays and I can get this sorted at any decent garage. Any advice on a) could the pads need changing if the warning isnt on constantly B) Will any decent garage be able to do the job properly.

Thanks in advance for any help provided

[ROYT]

Check plugs and wires on top of calipers for broken wires etc.

[willydoit]

Check plugs and wires on top of calipers for broken wires etc.

Hi Roy, Thanks for that, but if the wire was broken would the warning not display all the time. Under normal circumstances does the brake wear warning stay on all the time?

[ROYT]

It might be an intermittent fault caused by a break in one of the pad wear wires.

If vibration caused the break to reconnect the light will go out.

The system works by wearing away a little block in the pad back, breaking the circuit and putting the light on.

[plastic orange]

Quite a bit wear left in pads when it shows a light as I found out.

Pete

[Malc]

I found that on my earlier LS400, the brake pad wear light gave me about 6 months notice before they really needed changing !

Better safe than sorry I guess for Lexus to err on the side of caution.

Malc

[ROYT]

When I checked the price of new pad wear wires I gave up, reconnected the wires together and now I just check them visually once a month.

[steve2006]

I found that when the pads are nearly at their wear limit the warning light came on intermittently but I changed my pads out before the sensors were damaged, at around £50.00 for each sensor they cost more than the pads!

Have your pads checked as soon as possible to avoid the extra cost of having the sensors go.

Any decent garage will be able to replace the pads so no need to pay dealer prices, I would however buy genuine Lexus/Toyota pads and give them to your garage to fit.

Time wise 1.5 hours labour should cover the job.

[willydoit]

Hi all,

Thanks for your help it is appreciated, was a bit concerned about hearing people talk about rotors but now realise they just mean the brake disks, have booked the car in at a local garage for checking over on Tuesday so Thanks again for all your help.

[nicenic61]

Hi all, still got my shabby Mk4 on the road. Front brakes just went, metal on metal, no warning light, got new disks and pads fitted at my local for £220 a few days ago. Not much use for your brake light problem, but an indication of costs.

The ride is now much better also, the disks were warped which meant it was shake city on heavy braking. Now its just the struts, or possibly the arms......

Nick