Phenomenon01

Hi everyone,
My brake pad wear indicator has been coming on and off intermittently over the past year and decided to tell the dealership to take a look during my annual service and inspection.

They told me that harness which plugs into the brake pad wear sensor is corroded and needs to be repaired (re-spliced?)

Dealer quoted me around $250 CAD for parts and around $720 for labour ($970 CAD + Tax All In). (Labour rate at my dealership is $185.00 per hour).

Does this sound reasonable? How on earth does water / moisture make its way into the connector itself? Should I get this fixed at an independent shop?

Thanks,

Blakard

Since its not warranty work..why pay the dealership? See if you can find a Indie that has a specialty in wiring.. You don't want a hack job. Seems expensive. When I did my brake job I just had my Indie VCDs the code out... it wasn't corroded, my pads didn't have the plug-in so the light went on

142 guy

In the service manual, the pigtail on the plug that connects to the wear indicator appears to be rather short. This could make splicing a new connector on difficult so I expect that they are playing it safe and installing a complete new section of the wire harness to the sensor. Depending on where the other end of that wire harness ends up, they might have to remove a lot of stuff to get at it.

Although the connector terminals are corroded, it is probably salvageable as long as the actual wiring pigtail is intact. If you are game to do this yourself, get a small cup, fill it with 10% cleaning vinegar and soak the plug in the vinegar for 10 minutes. Use something like the smallest GUM Dental Proxabrush to clean inside the actual electrical terminals. Do the soak and brush exercise until the metal on the terminals is clean. Dry the plug and then pack the electrical terminals and the area around the plug mating face with Gardner Bender Ox Gard grease, or Penetrox or something similar. The Ox Gard will enhance the electrical connection and its grease base will help shield the electrical terminals from future water ingress.

If you do not want to do this yourself, an independent shop may be prepared to do it.

SMac770

Dealership is going to replace the entire wheel well harness, which has to be run to the relevant control module plugs. 8K1972251 and then whatever rev letter for the components presents on that vehicle config (wheel speed sensor, brake wear sensor, level sensor, adaptive damper).

An example for vehicle with just wheel speed and brake wear at the front left: https://parts.audiusa.com/p/48617724/8K0972251C.html

B9, not B8. So the only p/n is 8W0972251. But we see it's the same scenario: https://www.ecstuning.com/b-genuine-...ess/8w0972251/

LightningTruck

Isn't that a weather tight connector?
Makes me wonder if the car was in a saltwater flood.
$1,000 dollars is insane. I have a solder iron, the repair wouldn't cost me a dime.
.

A4Audi4Fun

According to the SSP 970563, many of the wires in the B9 are now aluminium so soldering is not an option - think replacement/crimping extensions is the only way now.

drgertol

Left front and right rear wear sensors are connected in series the BCM J519:


I suspect the the plan was to replace the wire harness from the T2fd connector back to Connections B477 & B478, which probably requires removing trim panels, hence the high labour charge. Maybe find this connector pigtail at a wrecker and (re)splice -- or code G34/G37 out of the BCM ? --g

Phenomenon01

Thanks, I have a feeling that this is what they plan on doing.

Phenomenon01

I highly doubt it, it has a clean title and there is no salt water around, only the Great Lakes. I am surprised that it got corroded though.

SMac770

It's the by the book plan. It's not necessarily the only option. Whether or not that part price is reasonable, I don't know. I updated my prior post with the actually correct p/n for B9. But it's the same price structure as B8. Around $140 USD msrp, but still at least $120 from others.

As for the plan, part of the issue is you don't know how far up that wire the corrosion runs. And given you live up north, a sealed cable path is probably better than one with splices along it exposed inside the wheel well.

Looks like the brake wear sensor connections are spliced (but up the line, not in the wheel well). Black wire to B477 to J519, brown wire to B479 to rear pad sensor. Then the wheel speed sensor connections, for the front left, are direct to the ABS control module. Red wire to pin 7, yellow wire to pin 24.