Tdi brake warning light

[Defendozer]

Hi all,

The brake warning light in my 95 Def started coming on the other day, stopped and had a look at the brake system but nothing seemed wrong, fluid level was fine, no leaks anywhere and the brakes themselves felt just like they always have.
When it first came on I was driving downhill on a fairly bumpy gravel road, I have noticed since that the only time it comes on is when I am driving downhill and more so when its bumpy.
I'm thinking it might be an electrical fault somewhere, any ideas???

Cheers, Remo

[Don 130]

If you're not familiar with it, have a closer look at the TOP level mark. It's only just under the lid. , it's easy to read the lower mark as the top one, and fluid level goes down as pads are used up,so check them as well.
Don.

[vnx205]

I support the suggestion of checking the fluid level very carefully.

I had an identical experience. Light started flicking on going down steep slopes. Fluid level looked pretty good. Closer inspection later showed level was down a tiny bit, just the result of normal wear on the pads.

I topped up the fluid and the light hasn't flicked on in the year or so since then.

It seems that on steep hills, a fluid level just a couple of millimetres below full can trigger the warning.

EDIT:
BTW, I kept an eye on the state of the pads and replaced the rear ones recently. The new pads made the level rise enough in the reservoir that I needed to remove a tiny bit of fluid.

[Bundalene]

Our Puma does exactly the same when the level is slightly off the top the light flickers when going down very steep hills - topping the fluid to the top mark stops this.

As mentioned the down side is that you have to drain out fluid when changing pads.


Erich

[weeds]

same thing happened to me, for some reason it did it for a while on decents.........and for some stranger reason it longer does it

[rainman]

I forth/fifth/whatever that. I had the same, and with a new reservoir and cap. Just add a touch more fluid.

James.

[Defendozer]

Just cheeked again and the fluid level was about 8mm below the MAX line, I didn't think that that would be enough to cause a problem but makes sense that it would cause the light to flicker when going downhill.
One would think that it would be better to have the lid/sensor in the middle of the reservoir!!

Brake pads are fine. I'll take it for a drive soon and let you know if it has fixed the problem, I'm hopeful:) Thanks for your help

[Defendozer]

Thanks for your help everyone, adding a touch more brake fluid seems to have fixed the problem so far... No flickering warning lights now:D

Cheers Remo