Brake Light Circuit
 

I jusy bought a 1995 325I (Xmas day) and it doesnt have an owners manual. I was driving it last night and the Brake Light Circuit light cam on. Checked the lights and everything OK. I had rear tires put on yesterday and was wondering if they may have hit something.
Rick

ncdiver40, There is a brake pad sensor on one of the rear disc calipers if for some reason this was shorted to the rotor the pad warning light will come on. An easy way to verify it is to disconnect the sensor cable attached to the caliper creating an open which is another way of telling the system things are fine and danny. If this is a Brake Circuit Failure-or check error (and it could be intermittent as in my case. Here's what I think your looking at to fix this problem. You may need a new brake pedal switch (about $20) The old one might be a little hard to remove so don't worry about snipping a piece of it off here and there (you'll know what I mean when you try to remove it). Why the brake pedal switch? I thought that you'd never ask, when I replaced mine I wanted to know why it failed so disassembly was required. It seems that the engineers in Bavaria undersized some of the electrical wiring and the circuit gets heated on one side more than the other get and pits the contacts (similar to points in a distributor), also the copper leads for this side of the circuit turn blue from the high demand put on them. The other side of the circuit is fine probably because the wiring is twice the size as the bad side.
mcanales

Brakes are something that you don't want to mess with. The lamp is either a failed switch (as mcanales pointed out), or an actual problem with the brakes. I would assume the latter for safety's sake. Jack the car up using our tech article:

http://www.pelicanparts.com/bmw/techarticles/E36-Jacking_Up/E36-Jacking_Up.htm

and remove the wheels. Take a look a the brake pads and sensors to make sure that you have ample brake pad material left on them.

If you don't, you might want to go back to the person you bought the car from. If it's a dealer, and if they were located in CA, it would be illegal to sell a car with less than 50% or so brakes left...

-Wayne

I agree with Mcanales and Wayne

Simply jack up the the car, and check the brake linings. If you cannot determine if the senor is gone or not, disconnect them and see if the lights go out.

Let us know what you find out!

-Wayne