Brake Warning Light

[catweazle]

Hi,

I have a 1995 A6 V6 Estate which has been a great, reliable family car. However, about 2 days ago a red flashing light appeared on the dash and according to the Owner's Manual (and Haynes Manual) it is for the brake system.

My tame mechanic came and had a look today but cannot find anything wrong. Discs are fine, pads are fine, fluid levels unmoved, no obvious leaks or faults on the brake pipes/cables. The pressure in the system is fine and the car runs and brakes perfectly well, just as before.

He suggested getting a diagnostics check to see if we cna get any more info than a flashing light but that means a VW/Audo dealer - which could be expensive.

So thought I would try you guys first:

1. Does anybody know what this light might mean?
2. Is there a way of getting the diagnostic code, if there is one, myself (the car is too old for ODBII)?

:1zhelp:

Any help, as always would be appreciated

[kenney]

Did your mechanic remove the wheel to check the inner pads?sometimes the outer pads look ok and the inner pads are worn out,and it is on the inner pad the brake pad worn device is,other than that there may be a break in the wiring from the pads to the instrument cluster.

[catweazle]

Did your mechanic remove the wheel to check the inner pads?sometimes the outer pads look ok and the inner pads are worn out,and it is on the inner pad the brake pad worn device is,other than that there may be a break in the wiring from the pads to the instrument cluster.

Thanks Kenny for your reply. I can't say that he did remove the wheel, he is usually very thorough, but its something to check I guess.
I did however think that a worn pad would show as a yellow (!) light and I have a red flashing one which i was led to believe is a warning of a hydraulic problem? Have I got that right?

[avantscott]

hi there,, i have same thing with my a6 and my friend had same fault with a4
only does it in damp weather aqnd goes away in summer,, i just ignore it hope this helps

[catweazle]

hi there,, i have same thing with my a6 and my friend had same fault with a4
only does it in damp weather aqnd goes away in summer,, i just ignore it hope this helps

Thanks for input. I am waiting for a dry break in the weather to get out and have a better look at things and perhaps get the vagcom on it and see what comes up, who knows it may very well be summer by then ;) .
What I have now noticed is three beeps now accompany the red flashing light on the initial turn of the key. There is no yellow abs light showing which i have read sometimes also appears.
Does this narrow down what the cause of this problem might be?

[catweazle]

Just a bit of an update. I have stuck the Vagcom on the car and it is showing no fault codes having done both a full scan and one on just the brakes.
That surprised me as the red warning light is still flashing away. I have had a quick look at the sensor connectors and they look o.k. As I said when it stops raining I will investigate further.
Any more thoughts would be appreciated.
Thanks

[lonky]

funny . If I get a long wet spell I get the same warning light up on the dash.
First year it happened I changed fluids, checked all pads switches etc.
Finally went away after a few dry days.

Bit of a pain when it drys out as it flashes on and off every few miles and bleeps. Luckily it dry's out quite fast.

Last year it never trigged. This last month however it as been activated for the last 3 weeks

I have never found the fault, and done everything except take out the dash, which is where I assume the water must be getting

[paul b]

Mine is doing the 3 beep (!) light as well as putting the ABS and ESP light on at the mo. Problem - I have a brake light bulb out on the back. :)

A job for later this afternoon.

There are a number of posts on this forum that advise you to check the brake lights when the warning pops up.

[catweazle]

Thanks, for both the last two posts.
A number of people are suggesting a damp/wet cause to these problems. I hadn,t heard the suggestion about brakelights before, but I have had a look and all seems o.k there.
I appear know to have a new sympton or a coincidence. All the dial lights have gone out on the dash. I will check the fuses, but I'm going to take the dash out when I get the time (moving house this week) and have a good check around. I've read that some dash's suffer with poor solder joints? Anyway I know I'm giving little back in this thread re fixing the problem myself, but as as I said as soon as I get the time I will update my findings.
Please continue with your thoughts there always appreciated.
Thanks

[sbt]

hi all this can be caused by a poor battery when you start the car a low battery will bring up this warning symbol hence the reason it happens in damp cold conditions the system senses a voltage drop and the warning comes up

[hoppouk]

hi sbt,cheers for that,its started happening to mine in the last week..:beerchug:

[avantscott]

sbt
i originaly came to that conclusion... replaced battery and still does the same thing lol i hate electrics with a passion :mad:

[catweazle]

Hi all,
I know it has been a while but i just wanted to update you all on the outcome of my problem.
Eventually I found the time and the weather to have a good look around the cars brakes. The pads seemed to be o.k at first glance but as someone suggested here I removed the inner front pad to have a better look and it turned out to be slightly more worn then outter one, enough infact to have reached the low pad sensor wires. The discs appeared quite worn too and lipped on both sides so i decided to bite the bullet and change the lot. I was pleasantly supprised how cheap the parts were from GSF £66 and it took about 3 hours to replace both sides. On the second side the sensor wires had broken off the pad, even though they were still within tolerence. I also noticed that the brake level which had appeared a little bit below the max mark befor the refurb was now just above it. After removing some fluid I turned the key and the light and beeps were gone. The rear pads were o.k but I will change them too as it costs so little. I guess the moral to all this is believe in what the cars warning system is telling you and dont be fooled into thinking that small tolerances don't matter that much or that a cursory look will tell all. I hope this helps and thanks for your input.