E90 318d ABS Warning Light

[mrgrinche]

Driving my 2008 318d on motorway today and suddenly abs, tyre puncture light and stability control light up the dashboard. The car seemed to go into limp mode and I pulled in and shut it down. I started up a couple of times and the lights still came up. After 10 minutes I started the car up again all seemed okay although I didn't think the brakes were as firm as they normally were when depressing the brake pedal? Also my car did have Non Run flats on it up to last week when I had four part worn continental run flats put back on car. I did this because the car has no spare wheel or jack or nowhere to put them. Also the road noise with the tyres I had was awful and it sounded as if I bearing was gone. These noises disappeared when the run flats were put on.



Anyone have any idea what my problem is?



Thanks



G

[Jedilai]

A lot of this sounds like one or more of the wheel speed sensors is at fault - that would knock out your abs (and stability control which is the same thing really). run flat/tyre indication also works of relative wheel speeds as a low pressure tyre has different circumference (not pressure itself) so that's 3 in a row.

You will need to get a fault code reading to be sure. Its not a complex thing to fix if it is this and is a common problem on many cars.

Hopefully not a faulty module as ££ wise modules are lots and wheel speed sensors are cheap and easy to fit I think.

Is your battery healthy? control modules hate low battery voltages - maybe a long call if its not the wheel sensor

On my last audi the wheel speed sensors hated heavy rain and the car would occasionally throw up errors until the rain cleared.

2 more points added:
- you will need to clear the fault codes hence the errors not going away
- the run flat/puncture indication does not care if its run flats or not. Just that all wheels have similar diameter compared to the reset point e.g when new tyres fitted.

Edited by Jedilai on Monday 11th May 07:29

[mrgrinche]

Jedilai said:

A lot of this sounds like one or more of the wheel speed sensors is at fault - that would knock out your abs (and stability control which is the same thing really). run flat/tyre indication also works of relative wheel speeds as a low pressure tyre has different circumference (not pressure itself) so that's 3 in a row.

You will need to get a fault code reading to be sure. Its not a complex thing to fix if it is this and is a common problem on many cars.

Hopefully not a faulty module as ££ wise modules are lots and wheel speed sensors are cheap and easy to fit I think.

Is your battery healthy? control modules hate low battery voltages - maybe a long call if its not the wheel sensor

On my last audi the wheel speed sensors hated heavy rain and the car would occasionally throw up errors until the rain cleared.

2 more points added:
- you will need to clear the fault codes hence the errors not going away
- the run flat/puncture indication does not care if its run flats or not. Just that all wheels have similar diameter compared to the reset point e.g when new tyres fitted.

Edited by Jedilai on Monday 11th May 07:29

Thanks for the answer I will try and get the codes read from an independent and see where I go from there.

[anonymous-user]

As often as not this fault indicates failure of the ABS/DSC module, especially at the age your car is.

Fingers crossed it is just a sensor but I wouldn't bet on it.

[mrgrinche]

mrgrinche said:

Thanks for the answer I will try and get the codes read from an independent and see where I go from there.

Got this sorted today. It turns out that both rear drive shafts were corroded and causing the Traction control/ABS to kick in all the time. Thankfully I was able to source these drive shafts from a scrap yard for £100. Turns out they would have cost around £1000 from BMW for these parts.

Thanks all for the suggestions

[Amomann1]

Can someone help with this. What could these mean? Dtc does not work at all too.

[justinio]

Amomann1 said:

Can someone help with this. What could these mean? Dtc does not work at all too.

Hold the DTC button on the dash for 5 seconds. Do the lights go off and does the car drive normally? (careful, you wont have traction control).

If so, it's likely the reluctor ring on one (or both) of the driveshafts (same issue as OP had). The driveshafts corrode, and cause the reluctor rings to swell, which throws up ABS/DTC errors (due to the ABS sensor not getting a good reading from the reluctor ring).

Another thing to look for is, get under the car, have a look at the rear wheel. At the end of the driveshaft, near the wheel, you'll see a silver ring going around the driveshaft (with notches cut out of the ring). Spin the wheel, and see if any of the ring is shiny. If it is, it's because the ABS sensor is making contact with it, and it (and probably the ABS sensor) is buggered.

If you are handy with spanners, the reluctor rings are about 3 quid each on eBay, and ABS sensors are 20.