Brake indicator comes on during hard acceleration

Post by **Obsidian EX** » Sun Sep 19, 2010 4:40 am

Hey guys,

Over the last 2 days I've noticed my emergency/foot brake indicator light (!) come on momentarily under hard (= almost floored) acceleration. Basic scenario is stopped at light waiting to turn left, 2 lanes with one merging very soon after the turn, so in DS mode and accelerating hard to leave enough space behind me for the following vehicle to merge.

Anyone else experience this?

Naturally, I will get the dealership to look at this, but just wondering if anyone has experience this, or has any thoughts on it.

Cheers!

Post by **EXceptional** » Sun Sep 19, 2010 5:43 am

Interesting... I wonder if the ABS is detecting Rear Wheel slippage when you're giving'er.

In the Owners Manual, that symbol indicates there could be one or more of three problems...

1) Parking-brake is applied.

2) Low Brake-fluid Level.

3) ABS System problem.

Is the symbol an Exclamation Mark, inside a Circle, that's inside of a Triangle ?

Post by **Obsidian EX** » Sun Sep 19, 2010 7:08 am

Yeah.....

Definitely not the first two. Already checked those, after looking up the meaning of the icon in the Owner's Manual. Could possibly be the third, but it doesn't make a lot of sense for hard, straight-line acceleration.

The symbol that lights up is the red exclamation mark inside a circle (the parking brake indicator).

Post by **EXceptional** » Sun Sep 19, 2010 7:19 am

...and you're not on gravel or anything like that ?

We used to have a 2001 Volkswagon New Beetle "Sport" and when you mashed the Gas, the ABS Dash-light would flicker... and we were told by the Dealer that this indicates that the Traction Control is working.

Traction Control works by using pulsing the Brakes on the EX35.

Post by **Obsidian EX** » Mon Sep 20, 2010 5:27 am

Nope!

I actually managed to replicate it again yesterday. Same thing: brake light comes on for about a second under hard, straight-line acceleration.

My wife also mentioned that the other day (she neglected to tell me this until I asked her if the car was behaving funny!!!) the "VDC Off" and slip indicator icons were both on at the same time (indicating a malfunction in the VDC system). My Holmesian powers of deduction lead me to believe that the two are related!

Will report back once I have the results from the dealer.

Post by **RioD007** » Mon Sep 20, 2010 5:11 pm

I have this too but its always on so my tcs is always off and i LOVE it

Post by **majorg** » Mon Sep 27, 2010 9:52 am

I had the same thing happened to me. Replaced rear rotors and pads and the problem went away. Apparently, when the pads get low, they can "hang" and trigger emergency brake light.

Post by **Obsidian EX** » Mon Sep 27, 2010 3:27 pm

Rotors and pads, eh? That ain't gonna cheap at the dealer! I only have 32,000 km, so the rotors shouldn't need replacing at this point (I certainly hope). If that's the case, it eats rotors and pads faster than my Subaru!

Anyhow, I've got it booked in for assessment next week, and will report back what the service department has to say.

Post by **majorg** » Tue Sep 28, 2010 5:22 am

I've changed rear discs and pads for only $170 (EDC rotors and Akebono pads, probably better than OEM). Takes about 30 minutes. And, yeah, the brakes on these cars don't last. I've had an FX prior to EX, it was even worse: needed new brakes at 15,000 miles.

Post by **SteveTheTech** » Fri Oct 01, 2010 10:09 am

It definitely sounds like low brake fluid from worn pads...most likely on the rear.

When you accelerate it pushes the fluid backwards. That sloshing is enough to drop the brake fluid level sensor and set the light.

Post by **Obsidian EX** » Fri Oct 08, 2010 5:02 am

SteveTheTech wrote:It definitely sounds like low brake fluid from worn pads...most likely on the rear.

When you accelerate it pushes the fluid backwards. That sloshing is enough to drop the brake fluid level sensor and set the light.

You were right! They replaced the rear pads and machined the rotors yesterday. All is well again.

Cheers.

Post by **KJ911TT** » Thu Oct 28, 2010 2:00 pm

I got this problem as well, but only AFTER the dealer did a TSB on my car to address the "brake judder" I was getting when slowing down from higher speeds.

After they did that, this problem happened right away.

I think they might have screwed something up. I will see them this Thursday.

- KJ

Post by **SteveTheTech** » Thu Oct 28, 2010 5:10 pm

Interesting....

Check the brake fluid.

Sounds like you need the rotors measured.

Are you hearing any noise? Or are there any problems when the brakes are applied.

Post by **KJ911TT** » Fri Oct 29, 2010 11:56 am

SteveTheTech wrote:Interesting....

Check the brake fluid.

Sounds like you need the rotors measured.

Are you hearing any noise? Or are there any problems when the brakes are applied.

Seems all too convenient that I brought the car in to have the "brake judder" problem fixed which includes resurfacing the rotors and now I have this problem.

Post by **SteveTheTech** » Fri Oct 29, 2010 2:05 pm

There is very little doubt they are connected. Get it back in to the dealer soon.

Post by **KJ911TT** » Wed Nov 03, 2010 3:05 pm

SteveTheTech wrote:There is very little doubt they are connected. Get it back in to the dealer soon.

They told me the brake fluid was low. I think they must've let some leak when they were doing the Brake Judder TSB job and didn't refill it.

They also told me I only had 2-3mm of brake's left on the rear after 25K.

Does that sound normal?

- KJ

Post by **aft981** » Thu Nov 04, 2010 12:29 pm

I don't think this is limited to the EX - the loaner G37x I had last week had the same issue (in addition to the Slip & VDC Off lights flashing on at intermittent times over the 24hrs I had it).

Post by **tazcalvin** » Sat Nov 13, 2010 3:38 pm

i have same problem and dealer told me that it could be my low brake pads hang on to abs sensors. ??
it only happens when i floored the gas pedal literally.
i will post it when i change my brakes.
this is a bit annoying and luxury brand car like this shouldn't behave like this.

Post by **SteveTheTech** » Sun Nov 14, 2010 6:15 am

I would be willing to bet that just about any modern Nissan and Infiniti (equipped with awd and or VDC) will do this when the pads are getting low. The low brake fluid sets a trouble code in the Antilock Brake system which sets trouble codes elsewhere.

I find this setup (although annoying the first time) to work better than the old metal "squeelers". Since the float sensor in the brake master is sensitive enough to almost immediately set a dtc that is why you notice it when the fluid sloshes to the back of the reservoir but if you restart the car the brake light is off.

Post by **Obsidian EX** » Sun Nov 14, 2010 9:04 am

SteveTheTech wrote:I would be willing to bet that just about any modern Nissan and Infiniti (equipped with awd and or VDC) will do this when the pads are getting low. ..... I find this setup (although annoying the first time) to work better than the old metal "squeelers".

I agree. Now that I know what it is, that next time it happens, I won't worry so much, plus I will know it's time for a brake service. It would be nice if the Owner's Manual indicated this, but then I suppose they are worried about owners making an incorrect diagnosis.

Post by **EX35_bernard** » Tue Nov 08, 2011 9:07 am

So I've been having the same issue for about a couple of weeks now. Moderate to heavy acceleration then brake emerg light comes on, after a couple of seconds the lane departure warning light, wheel slip light and vdc light all come on. Sometimes just the emerg brake light comes on. So I read this thread and decided to check the pads.

The rear pads are about 5mm (outboard) and 4mm (inboard) and the rotors about 6mm on one face (outside to middle). Brake fluid is between MIN and MAX lines. Front pads and rotrs are way thicker and didn't bother to measure. CAr is about 55,000kms.

It seems like my pads and rotors are still ok, should I just fill the brake fluid reservoir a bit then to prevent it from "sloshing" around?

Thanks in advance.

Post by **SteveTheTech** » Tue Nov 08, 2011 4:01 pm

If that were my EX I would probably think about doing them sooner rather than later.

I am not a fan of topping off the fluid it really masks the problem instead of resolving it. 30k (48k KM) is about the expected life of the rear pads on these vehicles. I would consider myself lucky and a light driver if I would have made it another 5,000 miles (~8000km) beyond that.

In my neck of the woods (Washington DC metro area) our average for EX rear brake life is lower. It is not uncommon to replace pads at 25k Mi (~40k KM) it is all in how and where you drive.

Post by **EX35_bernard** » Tue Nov 08, 2011 5:51 pm

I actually replaced the rotors today. Passenger side was no problem. Driver side, we accidentally turned the bottom pin clockwise initially. Got so tight we stripped the head.

(fail) After about an hour and a half of trying to loosen it with every trick in the book we gave up. Going to mechanic tommorow to loosen the nut, buy a new pin screw and try again...

Hopefully the pin screw does not cost too much in the dealer.

Post by **flashzoom** » Fri Dec 09, 2011 8:32 pm

EX35_bernard wrote:So I've been having the same issue for about a couple of weeks now. Moderate to heavy acceleration then brake emerg light comes on, after a couple of seconds the lane departure warning light, wheel slip light and vdc light all come on. Sometimes just the emerg brake light comes on. So I read this thread and decided to check the pads.

The rear pads are about 5mm (outboard) and 4mm (inboard) and the rotors about 6mm on one face (outside to middle). Brake fluid is between MIN and MAX lines. Front pads and rotrs are way thicker and didn't bother to measure. CAr is about 55,000kms.

It seems like my pads and rotors are still ok, should I just fill the brake fluid reservoir a bit then to prevent it from "sloshing" around?

Thanks in advance.

i actually been having the same issue the past 2 weeks. exactly the same.
I went to the dealership trying to have them check it, but they told me its the break fluid. i told them, its alsmost to the max. but they said, it needs to be top off a little bit. cus infiniti cars are sensitive like that, and other places won't know how to do it. only infiniti knows.
so i am going to give that a try and see what happens.

Post by **rubystar88** » Sat Dec 10, 2011 12:59 am

Add me to the list... just happened to me today....42,000 miles on orig. rear pads~ getting low...will explore this more and report back.

Post by **EX-KAT-35** » Wed Feb 01, 2012 8:19 pm

Hello everyone and happy 2012.

Glad to see a lot of people are still active on here.

I am also a victim of the rear brake "phenomenon".

Dashboard lit up like a Christmas tree.
Started gradually around 32k miles Now @ 36k.

Dealer fixed the problem but mentioned that I needed REAR brakes ASAP and that I had 1-2 mm of brake pad left.
They also fixed the front end shimmy problem I had in some form since 2009.
I reported it to them then and they wanted to give me several hundreds of $$$ of front brake job stuff.
Funny now there is a TSB I got the front brake pads and rotors done under warranty at no additional cost to me.
Dealer wanted $431 or $481 to install rear rotors and pads.
My friend said I should pass bcs he just checked my brakes and there was waaaay more then 1-2mm of pad left back there.

could the dealer be trying to scare a girl into spending money??? NOOOO!!!
I started back in 2010 saving for a higher quality BBK my friend found me since there was quite a bit of front pad left.

I am currently going a road less travelled with my brakes.
No more spongy pedal here.

In other news I finally wore out my 19s and last weekend I got the "proper" sized tires on there with the correct 703mm rolling diameter front and rear with my staggered setup. 12k + miles and rolling strong on the staggered setup no hicups here.

New tires are 245/45 and 275/40 Yokohama Advan S.4 A/S

Post by **XIS** » Sat Feb 04, 2012 7:43 am

Hi - a much nicer and friendly / helpful post.

one thing for sure, your EX looks VERY nice with those wheels. VERY nice!

Post by **CDNicecube** » Tue Oct 15, 2013 6:25 am

I am bringing back to life this old tread. But yes, it happened to me yesterday. But for me, it is only the foot brake /"Parking Brake" warning light that lights up under hard acceleration.

I had purchase a set of rear (and front) Akebono pads a while back..... Any suggestion on rear disks?

Ice

Post by **XIS** » Tue Oct 15, 2013 9:52 am

Funny - it happened to me last week also. Not only does the brake indicator come on, but it disables the stability control too and it stays off till I re-start it. Brakes are probably wearing down but they still looked OK

Added some brake fluid (just a little was needed) and the problem / symptom is gone.

Post by **CDNicecube** » Tue Oct 15, 2013 12:49 pm

XIS,

I was thinking of doing the same (adding brake fluid); yet, before I do, I'll check the pads /fluid level first.

Steve the tech posted earlier that adding fluid might not be the best approach as it will "hide" the pad/disc wear (apparently having the light turn on during hard acceleration is a function designed to tell us the pads are wearing thin).

What kind of fluid does it take? Any dot3? I don't have the manual handy with me atm.

Brake indicator comes on during hard acceleration

Brake indicator comes on during hard acceleration

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