Brake light (!) on the dash - what stopped it for me - RS2

[Golfboy666GTI]

I know a lot of us fear the dreaded (!) brake light coming up on the dash. This is normally a good sign that you will have to open your wallet wide and replace the brake bomb.

Ive had the dash brake light come up twice over the years, and for me both times (fortunately) it wasnt the brake bomb. I thought a few of you might like to hear what else it could be.

The first time (some years ago) was a leak from a hydraulic hose, I believe this needs to be taken off to regas the aircon? Could also be RHD only - not to sure?

The latest I sorted on the weekend. The symptoms were when driving over uneven road the light would come on, also when I drove up my driveway, and thirdly was when I braked hard. The fix was interesting, it was low brake pads, but interestingly my RS2 doesnt have brake wear sensors. Since the weekend the brakes have been great.

Note* I wouldnt recommend wearing your brake pads this low, but lucky for me I didnt get to metal on metal stage!

[veneto rs2]

In this case your brake wear sensor was...
The brake fluid low level, alarm triggered by the sensor on the reservoir on top of your master brake cylinder
The red brake light can come up due to the bomb/loosing pressure on PAS circuit i.e. when you blow a power steering pipe or the power steering fluid low level or the brake fluid low level.
Your weared pads got the fluid to fill the gap in the brake lines hence the red light due to low brake fluid.

[Bowie69]

Yep exactly, good job you spotted it, but it was an unintended side-effect of having low pads that your fluid level was low and gave you a warning