E36 M52 Diagnostics

[bababa]

Hiya,

I was driving a few days ago, when all of a sudden the ABS light and the ASC-T light on the dashboard came on together. I waited until I found a layby, pulled in, turned the engine off and on again and the fault seems to have gone (and not recurred).

So I was doing an oil service today and used the Peake Research tool to reset the oil service interval lights, and decided to pull the codes while I was at it to see if I had a dodgy wheel sensor or something.

I was given Table 11 Code D4 which reads "VANOS mechanically stuck". Sounds horrible! But the car has been running seemingly fine since forever.

So is it odd that there wouldn't be a stored fault for the ABS error? And if I'm reading the code right, does it suggest I may have some expensive bills ahead?

[Frances The Mute]

Vanos? Hmmmm.

The lights would indicate that an ABS sensor is going open circuit. Something like INPA would identify which one is at fault.

[Slurms]

Yeah never heard of the Vanos system causing ABS or Traction warning lights to show up.

Probably as mentioned a duff ABS sensor..

[4rephill]

+1 On the vanos fault not causing the ABS & ASC warning lights to come on.


If the warning lights coming on is an intermittent fault, chances are it will not show any fault codes.

I've got this exact problem at the moment and have had BMW investigate it. While they had the car there were no fault codes registered, no warning lights on, no faults found with any of the wheel speed sensors - all were reading correctly, the ABS and ASC+T control units were functioning correctly, the line pressure were in tolerance and a test drive showed that both the ABS & ASC was working correctly.

Two days later whilst coming home from work the ABS & ASC+T warning lights came back on.
The next morning on the way into work they switched themselves off after 20 yards of driving and then on the drive home they came back on again.
The cars been doing this to one degree or another for the last week.

I'm suspecting an intermittent break in a wheel speed sensor cable somewhere but until the fault becomes permanent it's going to be hard to track down.

[TheEnd]

I see this vanos code more often these days, it is quite common.
With a laptop hooked up, I can activate the vanos solenoid, and hear the change in the engine note, so I know the vanos does move, but still the code will come back.

You may find the Peake reader can't access the ABS controller, and get the ABS codes, but other bits of kit will do.