M6 fixed.....No broken again??

M6 fixed.....No broken again??

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666 SVT

Original Poster:

1,052 posts

239 months

Sunday 26th April 2015
quotequote all
Had the M6 back for two days following my spring and tyre failure last week and was driving to work
this morning when the radio and headlights cut out for a second and I then got ABS control module failure,DCS,Hill start assist etc etc error. Error stayed for around ten seconds then went out. Happened 3 times on my 22 mile journey.Anyone had similar issues ?
Col

Schermerhorn

4,342 posts

188 months

Sunday 26th April 2015
quotequote all
How is your clutch? When my clutch failed I got

Reduced power warning in idrive
DSC failure
Transmission Error

As soon as I got it fixed it drove like a brand new car.

666 SVT

Original Poster:

1,052 posts

239 months

Sunday 26th April 2015
quotequote all
At the moment mine seems to just be ABS and associated bits that rely on the ABS sensors such
as DSC and hill start assist.Nothing on the warning so far that mentions gearbox anyway.
Just took it out for a blast now and the warnings never showed? Will see what it's like at
5am Tomorrow on the same journey to work as Today?

AW10

4,422 posts

248 months

Sunday 26th April 2015
quotequote all
My guess based upon my own experiences withe the same errors - voltage regulator. When the regulator starts to fail it allows voltage spikes to occur and some of the car's electrics shut down to protect themselves. It's a £60 part that can be installed from underneath without removing the alternator. Fiddly and you can't see all of what you're doing but it can be done.

Best way to diagnose the problem is to connect a voltmeter to the cigarette lighter socket and see if there's a voltage spike occurring when the warning lights pop up. I was seeing17-18v spikes - not good!

666 SVT

Original Poster:

1,052 posts

239 months

Sunday 26th April 2015
quotequote all
Thanks for that, I've got a meter in the garage i will dig out and test it with.
Cheers, Col

666 SVT

Original Poster:

1,052 posts

239 months

Sunday 26th April 2015
quotequote all
So just driven home and can now add servotronic steering failure to the list? Also this time when it glitched it caused the idrive screen to reboot back to the BMW logo screen? Turned it off and on again and all working again.

t400ble

1,804 posts

120 months

Sunday 26th April 2015
quotequote all
Battery \ voltage related

666 SVT

Original Poster:

1,052 posts

239 months

Sunday 26th April 2015
quotequote all
Yep seems likely. Battery seems to be putting out decent voltage but as somebody already mentioned it could be the voltage regulator/Alternator. Oh well back to the dealer again.

jcolley

183 posts

125 months

Sunday 26th April 2015
quotequote all
Did the engine go into limp mode and reduce redline to 4000 RPM?

666 SVT

Original Poster:

1,052 posts

239 months

Sunday 26th April 2015
quotequote all
Nope it drove fine apart from the heavy steering, P500 still available no problem. Seemed to be some sort of spike that cut the headlights for a second and rebooted the idrive screen. Just popped down to the shops in it and it ran fine with no warnings present. See what happens in the morning?

666 SVT

Original Poster:

1,052 posts

239 months

Monday 27th April 2015
quotequote all
Well drove into work this morning which is around 25 miles and everything was fine? This car is starting to remind
me of my TVR Tuscan, And not in a good way.

666 SVT

Original Poster:

1,052 posts

239 months

Monday 27th April 2015
quotequote all
Had the car on the diagnostic machine this afternoon and it showed several power spikes of over 18 volts?
So new Alternator going on Thursday.

AW10

4,422 posts

248 months

Monday 27th April 2015
quotequote all
The alternator is probably fine - just the regulator needs replacing. The regulator isn't available as a separate part from BMW but can be bought through a good auto electrician. There's a good DIY on m5board.

The auto electrician I spoke to commented that he sees quite a few of them being replaced far earlier than a conventional regulator would be - the regulator is controlled by one of the car's ECUs (presumably via the CAN bus?) and as it lives in a harsh environment (hot and vibration prone) they don't last that long.


666 SVT

Original Poster:

1,052 posts

239 months

Tuesday 28th April 2015
quotequote all
Yep the Indy that I take my car to said they could send it out for repair which would be a couple of days but I
decided just to get a new one as I can't take the car in until Friday and need it back the same day. I will be happy
enough if this fixes it ?