"BRAKING FAULT" (beep beep) - R26

[Noodle999]

Had this once the day I got the car, decided to ignore it unless it happened again but now it has...

First occasion, last Thursday was braking from about 60mph to 5mph over about 150yds down a sliproad, then exited the junction turning left without needing to stop, cue ear-piercing double beep and "BRAKING FAULT" on the display. This quickly cleared and the display returned to "NO MESSAGE AVAILABLE" and plugging in the laptop found no codes to read. Checked fluid level, fine, checked pads, look fine, didn't happen again until...

Second occasion, yesterday braked from about 70mph to a stop at a roundabout on a dual carriageway, over about 100 yards... remained stationary for about 10 seconds then pulled out onto roundabout and as I did BEEP BEEP... "BRAKING FAULT" again. Again it cleared, and there were no codes for the laptop to read.

Any ideas at all? I had a 2.5 hour journey home with the car on Thursday without any problems, and I've covered over 100 miles since without any problem apart from these two occurences, at no point has there been any problem with the car's ability to brake :S

It seems to happen when I proceed on after braking, could it be that the car is sensing the brakes not releasing properly or something similar to that, but they then do release fine, hence the fault clearing? Any info would be much appreciated! :approve:

 

[Riad]

The megane ECU normally logs the fault if its shown a message on the dash

Heard of this problem before and its just the fluid that need topping up but you said you have checked this get it into a dealer if its still under warranty mate

 

[Noodle999]

Cheers for replying Yeah I thought that but there's no fault logged, laptop says no codes at all

Fluid is just under max, didn't want to put any more in... yeah it's under warranty until May so unless I can pin the cause down to something simple or non warranty e.g. pads then I'll be taking it in don't worry!

 

[mark_sport172]

My mate in his R26 had the same problem, and took it to renault, who told him the brake fluid was low, and advised him his front pads where also getting low.

 

[Noodle999]

Cheers Mark... those were my thoughts as well, but the fluid isn't low, and pads "getting" low shouldn't start triggering apocalypse-style 90dB beeps and warning messages, mine look like they've got a good 5000 miles left in them :S

What I don't want to do is take it into Renault and be told it's not warranty in their opinion even if it's their over-zealous warning at fault, and be charged for the priveledge of finding that out.. which let's face it we know is possible with Renault

I've double-checked that there are no fault codes to read with the laptop, but it's just an OBD II interface I'm using, I think to comply with that standard a car must only display faults currently present, that are causing the car to display the MIL, whereas Renault CLIP may display more in the way of historical data?

 

[iimushroomzii]

If the pads are low, the fluid will be low, simples.

 

[Sean6545]

There wont be any faults with your laptop because you are not speaking to the ABS/ESP ECU. Thats where the fault will be stored.

 

[.Stevo.C.]

My brother had this on his 225 cup and turned out to be the brake pads needing replaced.

 

[GM-330ci]

IIRC the CLIP will show past faults as well as current where as your OBDII reader will only show present faults. Best get it into Renault if it's still under warranty.

 

[Noodle999]

Cheers guys, yeah that's what I'm planning to do... the fluid was just below max, the pads have at least 5000 miles left in them.

I thought that would be the case with OBD II vs CLIP, at the moment my money is on brake fluid level sensor personally... I'll take it into Renault and see what happens

 

[mini-valver]

You dont need a CLIP machine to read an ABS code dude. Take it to any decent garage that use a half decent diagnostic machine (Bosch KTS etc) and that will show it and cost you far less than what Renault will want.

 

[Adamski16]

I had the same problem in my R26, and topping up the fluid did the trick- mine wasn't low either, but just below max- just a bit seemed to sort it and haven't had any more problems.

After talking to Renault about this one of the lads suggested its because the brake reservoir is the same size as the one on the standard car, despite the larger calipers using more fluid, so you see a bigger drop in fluid (enough to give you a warning) with just a bit of pad wear- seems reasonable to me!