After only 13K miles on new pads (front and rear) and rotors (front), the yellow brake warning light is coming on intermittently. Sometimes it flickers and sometimes it's solid. According to the mx records the p.o. paid $450 for a brake job 13K ago. Before I do another brake job, I'd like to know if this could be a false alarm. Anyone else had this problem?

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Bruce

73 220D (never left Germany)
81 300D (totaled)
84 300D (Purchased '03, sold '17)
85 300SD (purchased 10/01/03)

It is possible that you could have a sticking brake caliper piston that would apply pressure to a brake pad and not release.

You can find out for sure by jacking up the car and pulling off the wheel on each side. Brake pad wear is pretty obvious with the view you get.

Also, it has been known for the sensors to get shorted out. These are little electrical wired things that get pushed down into a tiny hole in a brake pad on each side - to detect wear. That is, when they short out to the rotor, the wear light comes on. Sometimes they get dislodged or the wire gets shorted somehow. That doesn't usually happen, but it can.

An inspection will tell you for sure.

Ken300D

Bruce Bonds,

This is one of those rules you have to learn to follow. If you have an indicator and it is telling you it has detected the conditions it is sensitive to, you cannot ignore or second guess it. Believe it until you have evidence either the sensor or the circuit is faulty. I could get on a rant here, but I won't, just a little one...

Three Mile Island was one of those instances that happens when someone feels it is ok to ignore a warning light because the fault seems so improbable you find it more believable the sensor is bad. The point of the brake wear sensor it to tell you the brakes have worn to the point the sensor is grounding. If it is happening early, there may be some other brake related problems. The sensor is pretty simple, and therefore, reliable. I have seen these go off a few hundred miles early in wet weather, but never when all the pads were ok. I would pull the front wheels and check the pads.

Good luck, Jim

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Own:
1986 Euro 190E 2.3-16 (291,000 miles),
1998 E300D TurboDiesel, 231,000 miles -purchased with 45,000,
1988 300E 5-speed 252,000 miles,
1983 240D 4-speed, purchased w/136,000, now with 222,000 miles.
2009 ML320CDI Bluetec, 89,000 miles

Owned:
1971 220D (250,000 miles plus, sold to father-in-law),
1975 240D (245,000 miles - died of body rot),
1991 350SD (176,560 miles, weakest Benz I have owned),
1999 C230 Sport (45,400 miles),
1982 240D (321,000 miles, put to sleep)

did you check your brake fluid level........

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2005 Audi A4 1.8T CVT -Silver/Black "Siegfried"

1982 300D - Silver/Blue "Ralph" -For Sale:
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showthread.php?p=852260

1989 VW Diesel Jetta Blue/Blue "Bodo" RIP

It sounds like you're talking about the pad wear light, the one with the circle and lines around it? If so, check to see if one of the leads has come loose and the wire is grounded out. Grounding of one of the wires leading to the sensors is the only thing that will turn on this light.

If it is the other light, then don't overlook the switch on the emergency brake.

Good luck,