yesterday my brake light was on even though my e-brake was not up.

I check the fluid and it was low, topped it off, and the light went away.

well today the light came on again and the fluid is nearing the low line in the reservoir again. I don't have any visible leaking anywhere, does that mean it's time to replace rotors and pads?

 

take off the wheel and inspect them, only way to know for sure if they need to be replaced

 

is there any indicator to when that needs to happen? a level in the pad, or some markings on the rotors? other than just being obviously pretty worn lol.

 

there is a wear indicator. it may look a bit different, but same principle

 

Could be something other than worn pads and rotors as well. When you put the car up on jackstands and pull the wheels, carefully inspect the brake lines and fittings for any sort of damage. With that much seepage off your master cylinder, the problem shouldn't be too hard to track down.

 

Thank you. i wont be able to have it up on stands until a week and a half from now, but when I do, I will fully inspect everything (lines, rotor wear, etc.)

 

I wpuld do before then, not saying it will happen, but what if you lose your brakes

 

Per your advice I just jacked up the suspect side, and the caliper is leaking at what appears to be where the brake line connects to it, and it had a quarter turn of tightness left to go in it, and what appears to be one of the guiding pins, but it was dead tight. It could easily be sprayed onto the guiding pin from the line though.

Edit:
also, if the whole caliper is bad I'm considering going ahead and getting a brake kit, but will kits for the 2006+ z fit an '03? (whole kit, rotors, calipers and pads)

 

Before you go spending anything more, check to see if that brake line fitting continues to leak after you carefully tightened it up. A quarter turn is a helluva lot of looseness in a hydraulic system and can result in a significant leak. Also check each of the other corners to see if there's any other loose brake fittings or damaged lines. After that, bleed the entire brake system with a good quality DOT 4 fluid and see if that brings the brakes back.

 

thanks. I'll also check the washer if it still leaks. I promise you that none of the other corners are leaking lol.

 

update. it was the loose bolt, hasn't leaked a single bit since i tightened up a little.
thanks for the help