Check brake pads light (while on holiday)

[ThomasHJ]

The "check brake pads"-light has come on. An orange light which shows up every 15 min or so.

The Cali is scheduled to go to the dealer for service just after our trip. We are in France on holiday.

Can anyone tell me how long its safe to drive? Are we talking days, weeks or stop now and call someone?

 

[sticky1]

My neighbour was a technician with the VW racing team and he told me VW recommend changing pads at 3mm and the lights comes on at about 5mm.
I suspect you have about 2000 miles on that basis.

 

[Flower Power]

Probably much more so no worries....

 

[ThomasHJ]

So, strange thing happend.

We got the brake pads checked at a local garage and the friendly guy said they were ok and we coukd drive back tje 1100 km we need to get home.

And now, after 3 days, the 'check brake pads'-light has gone away.

That's strange, right? I mean, you wouldnt program an important warning light that shows up every 15 min to get yout attention, to suddenly disapear, right?

In what I tbought was a seperate thing, the estimate of the number of km's I can drive after filling up the (80L) tank, was 1060km, while it has never indicated more then 800km on a fully filled tank.

Maybe these things are interconnected and its a display- or sensor-issue?

 

[Louis II]

Long drives on French motorways can be very good for fuel economy….. I’ve had my 2015 SE show nearly 700 miles after a fill up in France compared to more like 450 after normal use

Brake sensor is odd but as far as I know the brake sensor isn’t much of a sensor more
like just 2 wires embedded in the pad, when the pad wears the wires touch the disc and complete a circuit.

I very much doubt the 2 are connected

 

[BristolCali]

Just remember when you didn’t have brake pad warnings. If the brakes feel good and there are no grinding noises just keep going. You’ll haven’t least 2k and if you are doing a lot of motorway probably more as the estimate will be based on a mix including urban.

 

[dspuk]

If I remember right the sensor is just a wire in the pad. If you wear past the wire, the light goes off. So you have had the warning, checked, ok to get home, the wire has wore through, as it would, so no more light, just get them changed asap when home.

 

[ThomasHJ]

The light returned. ;-) But we made it home safely without any problems. So I can at least confirm that the advice here was right, we managed to do another 1200 KM without problems. The Cali will go into the dealer soon. Thanks everyone, again your help is greatly appreciated.