Hey all, got a weird one for you. Did some searching and couldn't turn anything up so here goes:

Recently I've noticed while driving a few different lights popping up at me, the most concerning being the one from this morning. I was doing some fairly heavy braking when the highway came to a near dead stop and noticed my parking brake light flashed on accompanied by the message "Brake Fluid Low" it was only there momentarily as my foot came closer to the floor and disappeared as quickly as it had shown up.

I have not had it reoccur yet. I more frequently however see just my parking brake light come on if I'm cornering hard.

I've checked my fluid reservoir and it seems acceptable in terms of fill level (just below the big ridge around it) but have not gone so far as to physically check the pads themselves. Being the second owner I don't know when the pads/rotors were last done and I've put ~70,000km on it since purchase.

I can take the car to be read on a more robust scanner if need be, as I only have my little Bluetooth gadget for use with Torque. Any help is greatly appreciated gents!

 

You may have a service booklet with your owner's manual with details of when servicing was done.

I would check pad thickness anyway.

How old is your battery?

 

Thanks for your reply! I had an issue with my battery being slightly discharged earlier on this year around the tail end of winter. Car was sitting and not being driven sufficient distances to charge the battery properly. I have since had no issue with it, but I can guess the battery is no more than 5/10 years of age. I haven't really had to replace much on the car which has been amazing, but I'm wondering if there's maybe something going on with a sensor or something? I'll see if today's rainy drive produces any issues

 

 

+1
In fact I would think you already have no pad material at all left on the pads !! Who is maintaining this car, as examining pads for wear is part of any yearly maintenance routine?

 

I suggest you have the battery load tested.

A little hand held electronic tester is NBG.

 

I tend to be very gentle on my brakes, with at least 70% of those kms are highway (drove from B.C.to Ontario once, and Ontario to Nova Scotia and back) It looks like my pads are pretty much toast at this point from what I can see, too tired to take the wheels off tonight. I did notice the parking brake light pop up while braking today as it was absolutely Hammering rain.

Thinking about doing a complete brake system refresh; pads, rotors, rear calipers, and full fluid flush. As for battery, I don't have a load tester but I may know someone who does.

Maintenance wise it's all me, I prefer to maintain and work on my own vehicle to the extent of what I'm capable of. Beyond that if I can't fix something I have a mechanic I take it to, but she rarely sees the shop.

 

In Australia and in the UK a good auto electrician will test a battery FOC.