Engine management warning light on - BMW M6.

[Schermerhorn]

I am hoping this is something small and can be sorted out quickly.

This morning I went out in the garden and saw that my car was covered in frost, so I cleaned some of it off and decided to start the engine. All the lights went out except the handbrake (not yet released) and the yellow engine management light.

Now, it read -1C outside so I thought it was something to do with the temperature and the engine playing silly buggers, so I let the car warm up for 5 minutes and took it on a small drive hoping the engine would warm up to operational temperature and the light would go out. It didn't so I thought I'll try the old trick of turning it off and then turning it back on again to see if it cleared (works on Vauxhalls) and it remained on.

Now, I know I do not drive it every day but I do drive it on weekends for lengthy periods of time and it was 100% fine, pulled fine and everything worked as it should. However, this is a bit of an annoyance, I've had the car less than 2 months now, done less than 600 miles and the car is playing silly buggers again.

I took a picture this morning. I am hoping it is just the cold weather and it clears itself after a little blast but even so, I've had older, less advanced cars that have been started and driven in -12C and no lights came on. Surely, a car of this calibre should be able to put up with a little sniffle and drop in temperature.

Should I drive the car again to see if it clears itself or...take it back to the dealers (again) and have it diagnosed and fixed. Looks like this 2 year warranty is going to come in very handy!

[budgie smuggler]

Schermerhorn said:

I am hoping this is something small and can be sorted out quickly.

This morning I went out in the garden and saw that my car was covered in frost, so I cleaned some of it off and decided to start the engine. All the lights went out except the handbrake (not yet released) and the yellow engine management light.

Now, it read -1C outside so I thought it was something to do with the temperature and the engine playing silly buggers, so I let the car warm up for 5 minutes and took it on a small drive hoping the engine would warm up to operational temperature and the light would go out. It didn't so I thought I'll try the old trick of turning it off and then turning it back on again to see if it cleared (works on Vauxhalls) and it remained on.

Now, I know I do not drive it every day but I do drive it on weekends for lengthy periods of time and it was 100% fine, pulled fine and everything worked as it should. However, this is a bit of an annoyance, I've had the car less than 2 months now, done less than 600 miles and the car is playing silly buggers again.

I took a picture this morning. I am hoping it is just the cold weather and it clears itself after a little blast but even so, I've had older, less advanced cars that have been started and driven in -12C and no lights came on. Surely, a car of this calibre should be able to put up with a little sniffle and drop in temperature.

Should I drive the car again to see if it clears itself or...take it back to the dealers (again) and have it diagnosed and fixed. Looks like this 2 year warranty is going to come in very handy!

Seeing as you have a warranty, I'd start there first but it might also be useful to get yourself an OBDII bluetooth reader from amazon or ebay just to check what the codes are that it is reporting. Mine cost about £6 plus £2 for a phone app to work it.

[BMWS]

This looks like a handy bit of kit - where do you plug it in? Is it simple?

[Schermerhorn]

I was thinking that also, but I'm not sure how good or reliable these cheap OBDII port readers really are.

[budgie smuggler]

BMWS said:

This looks like a handy bit of kit - where do you plug it in? Is it simple?

The OBD port is usually in the footwell or thereabouts, like this (except my one has no wires hanging out):


And yes it is simple, plug it in, pair as normal with a bluetooth device like a handsfree, and run the app on the phone/laptop.
The Torque app is quite good too for use while on the move, it shows how much torque/power you are outputting, various temperatures not normally displayed, fan speeds etc.

This is a set up for a Prius, so it has ICE & electric (HV NIMH) but you get the idea:

Schermerhorn said:

I was thinking that also, but I'm not sure how good or reliable these cheap OBDII port readers really are.

Some good, some not as much. Check the reviews on Amazon.

Edited by budgie smuggler on Monday 20th January 09:53

[Schermerhorn]

Slippydiff said:

Your car has a full BMW AUC warranty, call BMW assistance, tell them you're concerned the car has a light on the dash and you concerned about driving it back to the dealers for fear you'll do some irrepairable damage.
They'll send someone out to you (at a a time to suit you), THEY can plug THEIR diagnostics in and tell you what's wrong (if anything) and whether the car is safe to drive. They'll also make out a written report of which you get a copy and BMW assistance/warranty get a copy. Simples.

Slippy, sounds excellent! Is the assistance a free of charge service?

[BlackPorker]

That's the emissions warning light (or CEL). Probably the thermostat. Take it to a dealer, they'll read the code and fix it under your warranty for free. Simples!

Edited by BlackPorker on Monday 20th January 10:41

[JMBMWM5]

Could well be a sensor (O2) in the Down Pipes, just take it in, nothing to worry about.

[pscl227]

I had this exact same issue last year with my M5 v10 when it went cold, was my O2 sensor and was in and out of the garage in a few hours.

[ChrisMCoupe]

Could be the battery was a little cold and low this morning. My engine fault light came on and BMW just said battery was low of juice.

Having said that, my bloody light came on over the weekend so will also be taking it in to BMW

[wattsm666]

I had one come on and it was much more, it was an oil pump issue. Sorted under warranty

[contractor]

the intermittent yellow eml light on mine turned out to be the oil lines on mine. 5 grand warranty job IIRC.

[Schermerhorn]

The light has gone out when I re-started the car and took it out for a little drive again over lunch time. It could be something to do with the cold weather and has just cleared itself (I hope!) or could be the start of something bigger and more expensive. I am hoping the first!

As it stands currently I'd feel like a wally taking it down and saying 'well the light did come on but now it's off....please have a look for me'

I'll keep an eye on it every day to see if it manifests itself again, if it does it's straight down to the dealership.

Breathing a sigh of relief....partially!

[R5YUP]

Schermerhorn said:

As it stands currently I'd feel like a wally taking it down and saying 'well the light did come on but now it's off....please have a look for me'

The cars record the fault codes as I understand it - so they should still be able to pick it up, even though it's gone out!

Cheers

[t8cmf]

Schermerhorn said:

The light has gone out when I re-started the car and took it out for a little drive again over lunch time. It could be something to do with the cold weather and has just cleared itself (I hope!) or could be the start of something bigger and more expensive. I am hoping the first!

As it stands currently I'd feel like a wally taking it down and saying 'well the light did come on but now it's off....please have a look for me'

I'll keep an eye on it every day to see if it manifests itself again, if it does it's straight down to the dealership.

Breathing a sigh of relief....partially!

Can I suggest you put a battery charger on your car for a day or overnight. These cars are very sensitive to low battery conditions and throw up all sorts of warnings. The cold weather coupled with your relative low miles in 2 months will be killing your battery.

[JMBMWM5]

t8cmf said:

Can I suggest you put a battery charger on your car for a day or overnight. These cars are very sensitive to low battery conditions and throw up all sorts of warnings. The cold weather coupled with your relative low miles in 2 months will be killing your battery.

This is a good idea, I put mine on once ever two weeks regardless of use.

[deanuk75]

Get it booked in to the garage at a convenient time so they can pull the fault codes off it as others have said.

My M5 had something similar, light would come on for a bit, then go off. Resulted in the VANOS solenoids being replaced under warranty.

[barchetta_boy]

That's the emmissions light isn't it, not the engine management light, which IIRC is the letters "EML" in a rounded square and is much more worrying... the light you have is probably just an O2 sensor. Drive it to your dealer, they'll fix it.

[Schermerhorn]

The light came on again this morning. I've booked it with my local BMW garage for this dinner time. Hopefully just an O2 sensor like folk on here have mentioned and not a big job to get fixed under AUC warranty.

[JMBMWM5]

Schermerhorn said:

The light came on again this morning. I've booked it with my local BMW garage for this dinner time. Hopefully just an O2 sensor like folk on here have mentioned and not a big job to get fixed under AUC warranty.

Let use know what is was.