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Thread: Brought e90 in for oil change, came back with brake light on

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Oct 2015
    Location
    Orlando
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    BMW E90 (2008 328i)

    Brought e90 in for oil change, came back with brake light on

    Hi everyone,

    I have a 2008 328i e90, and I brought it in to Carmax for an oil change yesterday (yes, I know this was my first mistake). I picked it up and was told that everything looked great, no issues under the hood, brakes look good, etc. When i brought it in there were no service lights on the dash, but when i got back in the car I had the red 'BRAKE' light on and the red car on a lift light on. I walked back in and asked them about it and was told that it looked like i had recent brake job done but the sensors weren't replaced. I have not had any brake work done. When i said that the light was not on when i brought it in, they said it couldn't have been anything they did, because they were were no where near the brakes.

    Its clear to me that they did something that caused the light to come on, but I have looked everywhere and can't find anything related to this. Can anyone shed any light on this?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
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    Seattle, WA & Bulgaria
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    1992 750iL highline
    The first thing I'd do is check the brake fluid level. Secondly, check your brake pad thickness, just looking through the spokes of the wheels - it should be visible. If the brake pads are not low, then maybe they hit a wire for the sensor?

    Next, I would get a scan tool to check the fault code. It has to be a BMW-specific scan tool, not a generic OBD2 tool, since generic ones can't read BMW-specific ECUs such as the ABS or instrument cluster. I will promote my own mobile app, Carista, which can do BMW-specific diagnostics and will tell you the cause of that light. It could be a code for a specific wheel speed sensor.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Oct 2015
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    Orlando
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    BMW E90 (2008 328i)
    Quote Originally Posted by todor View Post
    The first thing I'd do is check the brake fluid level. Secondly, check your brake pad thickness, just looking through the spokes of the wheels - it should be visible. If the brake pads are not low, then maybe they hit a wire for the sensor?

    Next, I would get a scan tool to check the fault code. It has to be a BMW-specific scan tool, not a generic OBD2 tool, since generic ones can't read BMW-specific ECUs such as the ABS or instrument cluster. I will promote my own mobile app, Carista, which can do BMW-specific diagnostics and will tell you the cause of that light. It could be a code for a specific wheel speed sensor.

    Thanks Todor. Do you think it is at all possible that is in fact bad sensors?

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Oct 2015
    Location
    Orlando
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    BMW E90 (2008 328i)
    Quote Originally Posted by todor View Post
    The first thing I'd do is check the brake fluid level. Secondly, check your brake pad thickness, just looking through the spokes of the wheels - it should be visible. If the brake pads are not low, then maybe they hit a wire for the sensor?

    Next, I would get a scan tool to check the fault code. It has to be a BMW-specific scan tool, not a generic OBD2 tool, since generic ones can't read BMW-specific ECUs such as the ABS or instrument cluster. I will promote my own mobile app, Carista, which can do BMW-specific diagnostics and will tell you the cause of that light. It could be a code for a specific wheel speed sensor.

    Thanks Todor. I will check the fluid when i get home tonight. Is it at all possible that it is just in fact bad sensors?

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
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    3,339
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    1992 750iL highline
    Yeah, anything is possible It's even more likely that your brake pads are just worn and that's why you're getting that light (and the whole carmax thing is a coincidence). But who knows... Did they look at your brakes at all after you complained about the light? I would think they would have noticed worn pads...

    Just FYI, when brake pads wear down, the sensor wears with them and a little filament/wire gets ground down and eventually cut along with with the brake pad. So the sensor is probably not bad, it's probably just worn. Sensors get replaced together with brake pads.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    May 2016
    Location
    Dallas, TX
    Posts
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    2008 335i
    Is your ebrake slightly engaged?

    I thought worn pads used a different icon other than the BRAKE light.

    Sent from my SM-G925T using Tapatalk

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jan 2016
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    Ca
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    2001 525it
    I like the carmax answer we never touched the brake instead of saying let me check a few things out do you have a minute. That would be customer service. We had a customer take his 2009 m3 to jiffy lube, yes stupid. For an oil change when he got the car back it said oil was to full. There was 12 qts in the engine, they only drained the oil pan not the other oil container. Don't go to jiffy lube ever or car max.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jan 2012
    Location
    Philadelphia
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    90 535i 08 335i
    Quote Originally Posted by hbrandon1987 View Post
    Is your ebrake slightly engaged?

    I thought worn pads used a different icon other than the BRAKE light.

    Sent from my SM-G925T using Tapatalk

    Once you pass the recommended service interval for the brake job, the red BRAKE light comes on. I am not sure if the illuminated light is based on the overage of mileage or the wear sensor contacting the rotor and closing that circuit. I know because I went 200 miles beyond the recommended service interval before doing the job.

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