The ol' E46 problems

ADT · 19 Apr 2016 at 23:55

Hi,

Car in question is a 2004 e46 330ci convertible.

Last week I had the front bushes changed, new front tyres and tracking done on the same day. The day after, on the M1 I suddenly hear a beep and my dash has lit up like a Christmas tree (picture below).

When searching on the internet, many have advised to get the steering angle sensor reset after getting tracking done. I did that using Edibas Tool32. Made 2 journeys that day and the lights did not come back on.

Car has been sitting at home since, so today I took it out. Drove about 25 miles on the M1 again and the same happened again. Reading the ECU for fault codes with the lights on and off gives no errors.

What I have noticed is that the lights will only come on when I turn the steering wheel to a slight angle to the right (at a certain degree). Switching the car off and back on turns off the lights but as soon as you have to steer and hit that angle it comes back on. Only happens if the car is moving.

Any ideas?

Scania · 20 Apr 2016 at 00:18

Rather than resetting the steering angle sensor I'd replace it.

Had the same problem with my old e46 325i Touring, lights would come on, have it reset and they'd be back on anywhere between 5 - 150miles.

Again, I hadn't codes showing but went with my garages hunch, it did the trick.

http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=917397

DIY guide here, I found it too much faff though so got the garage to do it.

ADT · 20 Apr 2016 at 00:26

Scania said:
Rather than resetting the steering angle sensor I'd replace it.

Had the same problem with my old e46 325i Touring, lights would come on, have it reset and they'd be back on anywhere between 5 - 150miles.

Again, I hadn't codes showing but went with my garages hunch, it did the trick.

http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=917397

DIY guide here, I found it too much faff though so got the garage to do it.

Thanks for the reply Scania, I was hoping there is another way around this. I have seen that tutorial before and I don't think I can hack it myself.

If you don't mind me asking, how much did the labour set you back? It looks like a long winded process

Scania · 20 Apr 2016 at 01:05

Off the top of my head (sold the car and don't have the invoice any more) I don't think I got much change from £250 for the job - the part wasn't expensive,but it's a bit laborious to do, again,from memory, perhaps more but £250 springs to mind.

I'd phone around and get some quotes, you may be pleasantly surprised.

Atari · 20 Apr 2016 at 01:10

Had this on a mates M3 and I diagnosed it to be the steering angle sensor being out. He just had it aligned and resetting the sensor didn't work. He got it realigned and it's not shown up again.

Gibbo · 20 Apr 2016 at 09:58

Had this on the M3 when I changed steering racks it also causes the DSC to play up as well as the car things you have steering angle on straight ahead.

I did the full BMW reset procedure using the software that comes with the £30 cables and it sorted it all out, has never come back.

Gaygle · 20 Apr 2016 at 12:37

Who did the tracking and did they do it right. The only thing I'm thinking is that if the steering angle sensor doesn't agree with that of the other yaw sensors or accelerometers, it may throw up a fault.

I've just noticed that you haven't found the fault code. This will be job number 1. Use INPA or DIS and there should definitely be a fault logged.

ADT · 20 Apr 2016 at 18:23

Appreciate the replies. I had the tracking done at ATS Euromaster in Park Royal London. They initially refused to track it due to play being still there at the front wheels. At the minute I don't really have to do investigations to why there is still play so I asked them to do the alignment anyways without the 30 days guarantee. I won't be able to sort it out for another month so I didn't want to ruin my new tyres.

Gibbo said:
Had this on the M3 when I changed steering racks it also causes the DSC to play up as well as the car things you have steering angle on straight ahead.

I did the full BMW reset procedure using the software that comes with the £30 cables and it sorted it all out, has never come back.

What procedure did you use?

I tried doing the sensor recalibration using INPA following http://www.bmwfanatics.co.za/showthread.php?tid=56824 but for some reason the compensation routines option was non existent and I kept getting language errors.

Tried DIS and that wasn't playing well either. It would not connect to the car no matter what.

I'll read the ECU again for any errors and post them on here

Gibbo · 20 Apr 2016 at 18:27

ADT said:
Appreciate the replies. I had the tracking done at ATS Euromaster in Park Royal London. They initially refused to track it due to play being still there at the front wheels. At the minute I don't really have to do investigations to why there is still play so I asked them to do the alignment anyways without the 30 days guarantee. I won't be able to sort it out for another month so I didn't want to ruin my new tyres.

What procedure did you use?

I tried doing the sensor recalibration using INPA following http://www.bmwfanatics.co.za/showthread.php?tid=56824 but for some reason the compensation routines option was non existent and I kept getting language errors.

Tried DIS and that wasn't playing well either. It would not connect to the car no matter what.

I'll read the ECU again for any errors and post them on here

INPA did not work for me, had to do a full reset using DIS software, but as to where it is in the software I cannot remember, being months since I used INPA/DIS as the M3 has being nothing but reliable, hope it stays that way, fingers crossed.

slick rick · 20 Apr 2016 at 18:31

ADT said:
Tried DIS and that wasn't playing well either. It would not connect to the car no matter what.

I'll read the ECU again for any errors and post them on here

Its been a very long time since I used DIS, but did you use the DIS head emulator when trying to connect?

ADT · 20 Apr 2016 at 18:40

Gibbo said:
INPA did not work for me, had to do a full reset using DIS software, but as to where it is in the software I cannot remember, being months since I used INPA/DIS as the M3 has being nothing but reliable, hope it stays that way, fingers crossed.

Was it this procedure by any chance?
https://youtu.be/UZ7BGA2rR-s

I wish the damn thing would appreciate the new parts I bought for it, should have just let it be

slick rick said:
Its been a very long time since I used DIS, but did you use the DIS head emulator when trying to connect?

I bought my cable from BMcables and it came with a full software suite. I believe that BMcables have set it up that way? Not entirely sure to be honest

slick rick · 20 Apr 2016 at 18:48

ADT said:
I bought my cable from BMcables and it came with a full software suite. I believe that BMcables have set it up that way? Not entirely sure to be honest

I am not familiar with the BMcables solution, but if your are using a K+DCAN cable, I think you had to run IFHSrv32 from the EDIABAS folder, then run the diaghead emulator and finally the DIS virtual machine.

My memory is hazy but it was something like that!

Gaygle · 20 Apr 2016 at 19:03

slick rick said:
I am not familiar with the BMcables solution, but if your are using a K+DCAN cable, I think you had to run IFHSrv32 from the EDIABAS folder, then run the diaghead emulator and finally the DIS virtual machine.

My memory is hazy but it was something like that!

Some software doesn't require this. I know Cable Shack's software doesn't - it should just work if it's a one click installation.

I suggest you follow the instructions on BMcables website. Have you changed the VMNet ip address?

slick rick · 20 Apr 2016 at 19:09

Gaygle said:
Some software doesn't require this. I know Cable Shack's software doesn't - it should just work if it's a one click installation.

I suggest you follow the instructions on BMcables website. Have you changed the VMNet ip address?

Ah right, that is fair enough, I obviously did it the old fashioned way as it was a long time ago!

ADT · 20 Apr 2016 at 19:19

slick rick said:
I am not familiar with the BMcables solution, but if your are using a K+DCAN cable, I think you had to run IFHSrv32 from the EDIABAS folder, then run the diaghead emulator and finally the DIS virtual machine.

My memory is hazy but it was something like that!

The copy that they supply is easyDIS 1.0. I have run IFHSrv32 but the diaghead emulator is nowhere to be found so I assumed this copy doesn't need the diaghead emulator running :/

Gaygle said:
Some software doesn't require this. I know Cable Shack's software doesn't - it should just work if it's a one click installation.

I suggest you follow the instructions on BMcables website. Have you changed the VMNet ip address?

Unfortunately the website does not give any instructions. I have merely just installed the software on my PC. The information online is all over the place so I haven't understood what I need to do exactly to get it to work.

I haven't changed the address so I'll give that a try

ADT · 23 Apr 2016 at 23:10

Just an update.

Plugged the car in again and read the codes using INPA. There were about 3 codes under DSC MK60 :/

What I have done is clear the codes as I'm not sure whether these are new or old. I will plug the car back in to read the codes and post them on here tomorrow after work.

I have also found that the steering angle sensor was out by 1.something degrees so I have reset that. Fingers crossed that solves this issue

I have 2 questions:

1- How safe is it to drive with the DSC off? Especially in the rain at NSL speed?

2- Is the steering angle being about 1 to 2 degrees out enough to trigger the problems I am having?

mrk · 24 Apr 2016 at 00:40

Your lights are the exact same ones that lit up for me when my DSC pressure sensors flagged up on the ECU. This was also within 24hrs of having a new steering wheel fitted (re-trimmed) so I initially thought wtf the bloke broke something.

Diagnostics revealed it was the DSC pressure sensor 1, then later number 2 flagged up as well. Replaced both and have never seen the issue again since.

So for me it was pure coincidence the two were so close together.

I'd recommend running an OBD diagnostic (edit* which you've done via INPA it seems from above!) and seeing what errors are logged, clear them all, drive the car for a day and once the lights come back, re-run the diagnostic and see what the ECU has logged.

Regarding your questions, as long as you're not on tyres that are nearly bald, then I can't see it being a problem. My indy could not book me in for weeks so I was driving around with no DSC or ABS for that period and there were no issues with traction. Just don't drive like you're on a track or motors meet?

As for the steering angle sensor, I reset mine in DIS/inpa (can't remember which) and that still didn't cure the problem. My angle sensor was slightly out though, but not enough to trigger the warning. This was before running a full diagnostic of course.

While the PC software did a diagnostic, I found teh carly for BMW Android app to provide more detailed descriptions of the error codes as opposed to just a code and sensor name.

ADT · 26 Apr 2016 at 23:26

mrk said:
Your lights are the exact same ones that lit up for me when my DSC pressure sensors flagged up on the ECU. This was also within 24hrs of having a new steering wheel fitted (re-trimmed) so I initially thought wtf the bloke broke something.

Diagnostics revealed it was the DSC pressure sensor 1, then later number 2 flagged up as well. Replaced both and have never seen the issue again since.

So for me it was pure coincidence the two were so close together.

I'd recommend running an OBD diagnostic (edit* which you've done via INPA it seems from above!) and seeing what errors are logged, clear them all, drive the car for a day and once the lights come back, re-run the diagnostic and see what the ECU has logged.

Regarding your questions, as long as you're not on tyres that are nearly bald, then I can't see it being a problem. My indy could not book me in for weeks so I was driving around with no DSC or ABS for that period and there were no issues with traction. Just don't drive like you're on a track or motors meet?

As for the steering angle sensor, I reset mine in DIS/inpa (can't remember which) and that still didn't cure the problem. My angle sensor was slightly out though, but not enough to trigger the warning. This was before running a full diagnostic of course.

While the PC software did a diagnostic, I found teh carly for BMW Android app to provide more detailed descriptions of the error codes as opposed to just a code and sensor name.

But it's an M SPORT ENIT have to rag it around corners

I have carly as well but scanning it using that didn't show any DSC errors

Just an update, following the re-calibration that I have done 3 days ago I have had no light come back on

I have done about 150 miles since then, fingers crossed that this is the end of it

Scania · 27 Apr 2016 at 01:02

I used to turn off DSC on my BMW's all the time,especially when it was wet, if your not confident in driving it thus in poor conditions just back off a bit, you won't suddenly fly off the road backwards unless your asking for it.

Glad it seems resolved.