BMW E39 2003 530i, PDC and INPA

[TonyNorton600]

Hi all you experts,

I know I'm not alone in having this PDC problem, continuous beep for 5 seconds when pressing the PDC button, and no activity from the sensors.
I have followed all the suggestions on previous posts on this subject. My problem is, however, slightly different in that I do not hear any clicking at any of the sensors, front or back.
Even after taking all the recommended steps, start engine, reverse a short way, turn off engine whilst in reverse, ignition on, still no beeping!

The failure has been, up to now, intermittent, but is now pretty constant.

The fact that I get no sound from any of the sensors suggests to me that the problem is pretty basic, perhaps a fuse blown, or similar. But which fuse, and where? Or am I on the wrong track altogether?

I'm now going to get the WD40 and spray round each sensor in the faint hope, (it did rain last night), that the good old 'cure all' may do some good.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Tony Norton

[TonyNorton600]

Hi,

I forgot to ask, would it be worth getting hold of the IPNA software and cable?

Tony N

[naturalaspiration]

It surely will. Speculating in the dark I would look at PDC control unit as a possible suspect or lose/oxidised connector (not very likely). If the fuse was gone I would not be expecting any sound coming out of the PDC at all. The unit is above the battery. As to fuses just open the (two) fuse boxes and you se there which is which. All written. One in the glove box, another above the battery - I think...

[d_a_n1979]

One or a few sensors that are duff can send the whole lot mad...

This seller does front and rear sensors: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PDC-Parking-Sensor-Fron...

They’re cheap enough to replace the whole lot, but I’d start by replacing the front & rear outer sensors (easy to do as the covers just clip off); hopefully that will help the issues.

[TonyNorton600]

Thanks again Dan, i'm going to buy one of the cheapo testers on the market and see what that comes up with.

[d_a_n1979]

TonyNorton600 said:

Thanks again Dan, i'm going to buy one of the cheapo testers on the market and see what that comes up with.

Probably not a lot Tony; even Carly for BMW didn't help me with a previous PDC issue and that's c£100 for both the app and dongle!

It's either INPA/NCS or, as I said above...

However, I'm not an INPA user myself as I'm not that savvy when it comes to stuff like that

[helix402]

In my experience non genuine BMW pdc sensors never work. If you don’t want to pay new prices there are plenty of cheap used ones.

As always, diagnose first!

[d_a_n1979]

helix402 said:

In my experience non genuine BMW pdc sensors never work. If you don’t want to pay new prices there are plenty of cheap used ones.

As always, diagnose first!

Never ever had any issues on all E39s and E38s... I wouldn't recommend them otherwise, nor would I advise buying 2nd hand ones as they tend to be duff already...

The ones I linked to have been used by lots of other folk over on the 5 forums and FB pages, no issues to report of and they come with 2 years warranty. So doubt they'd sell them and warrant them for that period if they were crap

Horses for courses...

[TonyNorton600]

Hi Guys,

thanks for all your comments. My PDC is now fully sorted. It went like this: -

Bmw Scanner 1.4.0 - £15

16 pin extension lead (because the cubby hole is too small to allow direct fitting of the scanner). - £6

Replacement new PDC Sensor - £10

Scanner and lead hooked up to an ancient Viglen laptop with Win XP Pro. No cost, stock item.

Total cost £31.

I'm more than happy with that.

Thanks again!

Tony N.

[naturalaspiration]

So one duff sensor made all of them go quiet? Never had that happen before and I did change a few - in case one sensor stopped working it would invariably be the case of only that one being silent - others clicking happily.

[996Type]

I’ve just had same issue on 7 series 2008 Model (last shape before 2009 model upgrade).

I had one sensor going mad on the rear for a few weeks with false full readings then the whole system stopped working so I’m thinking it’s related now.

If I switch this sensor or a new one from link above, is there a requirement to reset the system or will it just work again (if that is the actual issue)? If I just remove the potentially bad one would the system work again do you know??

Thanks

Edited by 996Type on Thursday 30th May 20:52

[996Type]

Just done the click test and the suspected sensor is dead......

[naturalaspiration]

It's plug and play - no coding.

[TonyNorton600]

Hi, the only thing I did, in addition to the detection and replacement of the duff sensor, was to clear all errors. I think the list you get includes all old unrelated errors that have been seen to in the past. When I had done this there were no reported errors anywhere.