I have this flashing red triangle on my dash. I ran a diagnostic with a machine and no codes appeared. Anyone know w

hat this means?

 

I can see that “brake wear” message at the bottom from two states away.

 

​​​​Okay wasn't sure if they were seperate issues or not😅

 

Do the brakes soon or you will have to also replace the sensor if wire burns through.

 

The wire burning through is what disrupts the signal and triggers the message I believe, unless I’m totally mistaken

 

A good set of pads and rotors, ie: PowerStop, will come with a new break wear sensor.

 

No the message comes on first the second it touches ground then burns though later. Without replacing after burn through you can just short out the 2 sides but no longer functions.

 

Huh, mine wasn’t working correctly then. I heard my brakes before any warning light had come on. When I replaced them I noticed the wear sensor was burned through already, when I put everything back together (with new pads and worn sensor) I got the alert. Jumped the wires and it went away. Weird.

Hang on, isn’t it plastic? Plastic doesn’t react when it touches ground.

 

I am confused. I have always changed my pads "too early" to avoid the brake pad warning light, which I thought the light meant sensor loop was cut through. I heard the tiny loop thing is like another $100+ at dealer for front and rear (dealer warned me). I know 3rd party its probably $5, but then I need to go elsewhere and had always had good results at dealer. Now I'm wondering if I can wait for the warning message before changing my pads and save the sensor. The thing about touching ground is unclear and something I never heard before. Can we get clarity on how the sensor works? i thought it was a wire loop that literally gets cut through to trigger the light. No saving it then.

 

From another thread right here on CL:
So it appears I was correct, unless this guy was also wrong.
Found in this thread.

 

I liked the system on one of my previous cars.
It had 2 pieces of spring steel welded to the side of one of the pads and when it hit the wear limit the spring steel would scrape against the rotor every time you hit the brakes and the SCREEEEEECCHHHHH noise drove you NUTS!!!!
More precisely it drove you straight to the nearest brake shop to get new pads fitted. VERY effective indeed. <LOL>
The SCREEEEECCCHHHH was very good at making pedestrians jump too. <LOL>

 

In my 2001 the wear sensor when it touched triggered the warning and when I replaced about half the wire was burned through. It has been a long time but I thought that is how it worked.
Easy to tell is touch wire to ground and see if triggers warning. My wire is still intact and not burned through so did not have to short out or replace.