My '09 Sport with 20k on it suddenly began to make the "worn brake pad indicator" noise but intermittently, and the noise didn't really stop when I pressed on the brakes. I'm good on brakes--I usually go several years before needing new pads or shoes, and so I was puzzled. This wasn't adding up. I took the car to Bay Ridge Honda at about 10:00 p.m. (service is open there until midnight). The agent at first gave me a hard time, figuring that I was just some guy who rides his brakes, but I managed to talk a technician into going for a test drive with me. He too was puzzled--the noise was intermittent but very loud when it was happening, and didn't go away completely when I hit the brakes. They put the car on the hoist and took apart the caliper and there it was: my $50 pebble, pressing the sensor against the rotor. They were good about it and only charged me for one-half hour labor, but at $100 an hour--well, you already know the damage. So if you get these symptoms, I suggest just taking it to the shop around the corner where they'll be able to pluck the pebble out for much less than that. I've saved the pebble as a souvenir.

Btw, I thought I might as well bring the mileage-meter Service Bulletin with me on the chance that I could get the computer flashed. They were reluctant to do so, probably (and understandably) because it was so late in the day, and demanded that I show them gas receipts with milage written on them establishing that there was indeed a problem. Under the circumstances I let it drop, but I'll have the receipts ready when I go in for my State inspection in February--you might want to bring them along when you go in too.

 

The ABS sensor, or am I missing something.

 

I don't know the details, but basically the pebble was pushing the "sensor" that indicates that the pads are worn against the rotor, so that I was getting the worn-pads noise even though the pads are still in great shape. I don't think that it had anything to do with the ABS.

 

Pebbles usually get stuck between your dust shield and the rotor and sound just like a brake pad indicator. I have had it happen on just about every car I have owned.

Just pop them out with a screwdriver.

 

Luckly that hasn't happened to me, but if it does I'll just fix it myself.

 

Thanks--I'll keep that in mind in case it happens again. The mechanic claimed that he had to take the caliper apart to remove the pebble in this case, but I didn't actually see him do it, so who knows. He did, however, give me the pebble, and I know where it came from--they're working on the street here and at the end of the day they put down temporary asphalt full of pebbles that stick to your tires and then sprinkle down from the wheel well and land on the calipers.

 

Pebble in dust shield = $0 + basic knowledge.
There is no "sensor". There is a little metal tab that sticks down and scrapes on the rotor when the pads get worn down. Kind of like fingernails on a chalkboard, except the fingernail is a piece of sheet metal.

 

^he's right. it's really just an indicator, not a sensor. that's probably where the confusion is coming from.

 

Fair enough, and thanks for the information. Keep in mind that, in my case--and perhaps it's true as well of several others on the forum--I lack the equipment and the location to do this kind of thing myself (at best I'd be using the Honda jack and crawling around under the car on a NY street). So the post was really directed at those, like me, who are at the mercy of mechanics.