electrical connection on the kingpin

ButterFingers

ButterFingers

Active Member
hi there,
today I removed the front wheel bearings, inner and outer , cleaned them, greased them with a tool to force grease into the cage and reinstalled the same.
Q: whilst doing this job I found a small electrical 2 pin plug attached to the king pin shaft.
what is this for?
it has 2 open pins with nothing attached to it , except an earthing wire to the caliper backing plate.

Peter
 
Hi, That's the for the brake pad wear sensor wire to plug into the vehicle. When the pads wear down the wire earths on the disc and puts the brake warning light on. Low brake fluid level and operation of the handbrake will also illuminate it. The earth wire is to ensure a proper earth to the strut because of the rubber bushes in the suspension.

Colin
 
thanks Colin for your reply.
I dont see any loose wires hanging about in that area, my 2 plugs are bare without anything attached. I wonder where they have gone?
Peter
 
Think they plug into the wires that are attached to the brake pads. Not all brake pads have the wires .looks like that's what you have
 
Some brake pads come with wires and a plug that will plug into your pins. You may find that you do not have a functioning brake warning light as the circuit is broken. You can test by either pulling on the handbrake or removing the top of the fluid reservoir and letting the float switch make contact. I think that the circuit needs to be complete on all wheels in order for the light to work.
I lost the wire out of one of my pads as it came unplugged and then got caught and ripped off. The warning light would not work, so I fitted a double bullet sleeve onto the pins to complete the circuit until I get new pads, it was the perfect fit.
Double Snap Connector Sleeve
 
Hi there, thank you all for your informative replies, Ilearn something new about this car every day...
cheers
Peter
 
Hi, The circuit route is a feed to the warning light bulb on the dash and from there it gets its earth through the fluid level float switch, the handbrake switch or finally through any one of the pad wires. The pad wires are glued in to the pad material and when they wear down sufficiently they earth on the disc completing the circuit to light the bulb.

Colin
 
looked under the car today in a moment of madness (very hot 44 deg c) and guess what I found at the rear inboard brakes........ another of those little 2 pronged terminals for brake wires to be attached.
alas nothing in sight and by previous reports wires need to emerge from the brake pads ( very small brake pads might I add for a heavy-lump of metal like the 3.5 rover) I thought that they were for the hand brake but seem to be for the main braking system?
so recapping, similar electrical connection as on the front brake calipers found on rear inboard brakes..........hmmmm
Peter
 
All as it should be as everyone has already said. Some brands of pads just don't have wires , or they have lost them somewhere along the way. It's very easy to spot if the pads did have wires, there'll be a hole or small piece of severed braided wire sticking out.
Handbrake is incorporated into the rear calipers, they are part of the car you'll no doubt become well acquainted with sooner or later ;)
Jim
 
corazon said:
Some brands of pads just don't have wires , or they have lost them somewhere along the way.
Click to expand...

Series 1 V8 don't have the warning light system so no wires in the pads.

The hand brake switch is the check for the entire pad warning light system. The low fluid system is separate apart from the warning light.
 
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