Brake light comes on sometimes when I brake

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by ToySub1946

Terruko,

"My question is, can I just put some brake fluid in it and call it a day or do I have to remove the old brake fluid and put new one in it?"

This is >poor advise< from me, but here it is. I'd throw caution to the wind. Add a minimal amount of new brake fluid to it's reservoir (like 1 to 1 1/2 ounces only), just enough to make that instrument cluster brake light stay off.
You don't want to fill to the max level, as later, when new pads are needed level will then go up by itself.

Being a former auto tech, I firmly believe in giving her only what she begs for. Never know, you might just decide tomorrow to trade her in.


Attempting to read what the tech wrote...appears left front disc brake pad has 4mm remaining. Minimal would be 1.5mm as it's limit. So that one needs to be checked again, next service. Possibly a New Year's Resolution. Have a nice Holiday season.

I read that notation on the LF as an "8", which would be more in line with the other side. Which would be more better .....

It has been my experience that most dealerships and automotive shops tend to be conservative when recommending brake repair. Maybe it's a liability thing or more than likely its a profit motive thing.

Furthermore, if the remaining pad thickness of the LF is 8 mm and the others are 8 and 7 mm in thickness, that puts them all in the "green zone", so why would the dealership not say they were OK, even 7,500 miles later ......

I'm with you, ToySub1946 , ......"iffen it ain't broke ..... don't be ah fixen it" ......

Like some of the obsessed ones back-in-the-day, doing a compression test on an engine, every time you changed the spark plugs, just because the gauge was inexpensive and the plugs were easy to get to.

OMG!! ..... I have one cylinder that is 5 psi lower than the others ....... I'd better pull the head(s) and do a valve job. That's where I would say ..... OK, go ahead and do the valve job and I'll betcha you will still have one cylinder 5 psi off the average !!.......


humfrz

[nextcar]

Dissenting opinion...

If your brake light is on, and your fluid is low, and you do not understand why your fluid is low, and you are not skilled/competent in diagnosing brake issues...

Please do me, my children, your children (if any), all the other drivers on the road, everyone else's children, and yourself a favor and have this inspected soon by a competent mechanic.

Please don't f*ck around with safety issues.

/end father lecture

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by Ultramaroon

Calipers?

I'll admit I'm a sucker for fresh rotors, though.

......and here I thought you went first class ......




humfrz

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by nextcar

Dissenting opinion...

If your brake light is on, and your fluid is low, and you do not understand why your fluid is low, and you are not skilled/competent in diagnosing brake issues...

Please do me, my children, your children (if any), all the other drivers on the road, everyone else's children, and yourself a favor and have this inspected soon by a competent mechanic.

Please don't f*ck around with safety issues.

/end father lecture

Hey, I was working on brakes before most of you were born .......

Seriously, nextcar, if the OP's situation were about my daughters car, and I was sending her off to college, I'd have the brake pads replaced ...... and maybe the rotors. However, if it were my car, I would just keep an eye on them.

Serious question, does the disk brakes on our cars have a wear indicator, that screeches when the brakes are applied and the pads are too low .....??


humfrz

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by humfrz

......and here I thought you went first class ......




humfrz

I do pump the pots out enough to inspect and clean the boots. No sense rushing it.

[ToySub1946]

If this tech illustration from service manual is correct, appears they do...have a screeching tab.

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by Ultramaroon

I do pump the pots out enough to inspect and clean the boots. No sense rushing it.

Soooo ........ does that mean you wouldn't replace the brake master cylinder, put in all new SS brake lines and triple flush the whole system ......




humfrz

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by humfrz

Soooo ........ does that mean you wouldn't replace the brake master cylinder, put in all new SS brake lines and triple flush the whole system ......




humfrz

I'm still on the factory fluid. Never bled it. SS lines? Bah! I'm more like you than you realize. If it ain't broken, don't fix it. BUT if I'm gonna fix it, you bet your ass I'll be taking my sweet time and making it nice and purty.

Bubba ain't coming near any of my shit.

[PetrolioBenzina]

Have you checked the packing glands?

[ToySub1946]

humfrz,

"It has been my experience that most dealerships and automotive shops tend to be conservative when recommending brake repair. Maybe it's a liability thing or more than likely its a profit motive thing."

I worked in a Honda Dealership shop where a tech got fired for selling customers brakes they did not need.
You can be sure he did it many, many times before they finally did something about it.

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by Ultramaroon

I'm still on the factory fluid. Never bled it. SS lines? Bah! I'm more like you than you realize. If it ain't broken, don't fix it. BUT if I'm gonna fix it, you bet your ass I'll be taking my sweet time and making it nice and purty.

Bubba ain't coming near any of my shit.

Oh, now, Bubba ain't all that bad of a mechanic ....... although he does specialize in tractors, (old John Deere tractors).




humfrz

[ToySub1946]

At least he's got a flip phone.

No wall phone with a chord.

[Terruko]

Actually there’s been a mistake, I posted the wrong picture.

This is the one I got at 61k miles



And this is the one I got on Monday (65k miles)



I’ll take it back Friday and ask them to check and see what’s wrong, need that light gone by Saturday because I’m planning on trading in my FRS 🤡

[ermax]

So your pads got thicker with 4k miles? That is a good trick. I need some pads like that. Hahaha