E46 Assorted Warning Lights
Discussion
Hello, I am getting various warning lights coming on on the dash of my 2002 E46 325i. Does anyone have experience of this or would I have to take the car in BMW? Worried that it would be an electrical issue which will cost far too much to troubleshoot so any tips on what to check would be greatly appreciated!
1. Warning light for defect rear light (the yellow "car" light with a red rear light symbol), comes on pretty much every time the car is driven and hardly ever turns off although sometimes it does. Have checked all lights to be working at all time, including fog, reverse, license plate..
2. Tyre pressure warning (yellow), comes on and goes off pretty much all the time, not that the light flickers but it stays on/off for say 5-10 minutes intervals. Tyre pressure measured to be spot on across axles, tried the reset functionality by pressing the button etc.
3. ASC (I think thats what it is called) yellow light in center of dash comes on in yellow in combination with the handbrake warning light in red. Only happens very occasionally. Sometimes it goes out after turning the engine on/off, but other times it lingers on until after a few restarts after driving a few miles. Havent been able to test whether the ASC is actually working.
Also, yesterday for the first time the key fob stopped working, I couldnt lock/unlock the car. After five minutes of opening/closing all doors, locking/unlocking manually etc the remote started working again.... major shortcut?
I tried to search for similar problems but didnt find what i was looking for?
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
Thanks for your help!
1. Warning light for defect rear light (the yellow "car" light with a red rear light symbol), comes on pretty much every time the car is driven and hardly ever turns off although sometimes it does. Have checked all lights to be working at all time, including fog, reverse, license plate..
2. Tyre pressure warning (yellow), comes on and goes off pretty much all the time, not that the light flickers but it stays on/off for say 5-10 minutes intervals. Tyre pressure measured to be spot on across axles, tried the reset functionality by pressing the button etc.
3. ASC (I think thats what it is called) yellow light in center of dash comes on in yellow in combination with the handbrake warning light in red. Only happens very occasionally. Sometimes it goes out after turning the engine on/off, but other times it lingers on until after a few restarts after driving a few miles. Havent been able to test whether the ASC is actually working.
Also, yesterday for the first time the key fob stopped working, I couldnt lock/unlock the car. After five minutes of opening/closing all doors, locking/unlocking manually etc the remote started working again.... major shortcut?
I tried to search for similar problems but didnt find what i was looking for?
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
Thanks for your help!
Lights - check all the bulbs are 100% and if necessary replace all bulbs on that side, mine occasionaly comes on but the lights still work
Tyres - do you have the same tyres all around and are they equally worn?
TPS - it's a bit fiddly. If it's on red then you have to prses and hold the TPS button till it clears, then stop the car, press and hold the TPS button till it lights up yellow, then drive steadily until the light goes out. But I do seem to remember that having mixed tyres or unevenly worn tyres can cause issues with TPS/DSC etc.
Tyres - do you have the same tyres all around and are they equally worn?
TPS - it's a bit fiddly. If it's on red then you have to prses and hold the TPS button till it clears, then stop the car, press and hold the TPS button till it lights up yellow, then drive steadily until the light goes out. But I do seem to remember that having mixed tyres or unevenly worn tyres can cause issues with TPS/DSC etc.
Edited by john_p on Wednesday 1st July 12:56
john_p said:
Lights - check all the bulbs are 100% and if necessary replace all bulbs on that side, mine occasionaly comes on but the lights still work
Tyres - do you have the same tyres all around and are they equally worn?
TPS - it's a bit fiddly. If it's on red then you have to prses and hold the TPS button till it clears, then stop the car, press and hold the TPS button till it lights up yellow, then drive steadily until the light goes out. But I do seem to remember that having mixed tyres or unevenly worn tyres can cause issues with TPS/DSC etc.
Hi John, thanks for your reply. Did you mean that even after replacing all bulbs, the warning light still comes on occasionally?Tyres - do you have the same tyres all around and are they equally worn?
TPS - it's a bit fiddly. If it's on red then you have to prses and hold the TPS button till it clears, then stop the car, press and hold the TPS button till it lights up yellow, then drive steadily until the light goes out. But I do seem to remember that having mixed tyres or unevenly worn tyres can cause issues with TPS/DSC etc.
Edited by john_p on Wednesday 1st July 12:56
Tyres - they are all the same (Pilot Sports) and appear to be equally worn.
TPS I was wrong, the light was yellow, not red. See image below:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2085/3678389898_ea0...
Would yellow indicate that the system is still malfunctioning?
Regards
Lights: This sounds like an issue that I had and it was fixed using the method below.
Hopefully it helps you.
Stolen from another forum.
Basically if you look at the rear offside connections to the light cluster in the boot you will see that one of the contacts has burned out, this is the earth contact for that cluster. You need to run your own earth wire from somewhere close ( i used a nut or screw head near by) and fit a female spade end on the earth wire and just slide it onto the male spade connector on the thin metal plate which is the cluster. You can't miss it because it just looks like a spade connector which is out of place. Basically you’re replacing the earth to the cluster which is inadequate.
Hopefully it helps you.
Stolen from another forum.
Basically if you look at the rear offside connections to the light cluster in the boot you will see that one of the contacts has burned out, this is the earth contact for that cluster. You need to run your own earth wire from somewhere close ( i used a nut or screw head near by) and fit a female spade end on the earth wire and just slide it onto the male spade connector on the thin metal plate which is the cluster. You can't miss it because it just looks like a spade connector which is out of place. Basically you’re replacing the earth to the cluster which is inadequate.
Allanv said:
Lights: This sounds like an issue that I had and it was fixed using the method below.
Hopefully it helps you.
Stolen from another forum.
Basically if you look at the rear offside connections to the light cluster in the boot you will see that one of the contacts has burned out, this is the earth contact for that cluster. You need to run your own earth wire from somewhere close ( i used a nut or screw head near by) and fit a female spade end on the earth wire and just slide it onto the male spade connector on the thin metal plate which is the cluster. You can't miss it because it just looks like a spade connector which is out of place. Basically you’re replacing the earth to the cluster which is inadequate.
Thanks, I will have a look to see if the earth is ok! Hopefully it helps you.
Stolen from another forum.
Basically if you look at the rear offside connections to the light cluster in the boot you will see that one of the contacts has burned out, this is the earth contact for that cluster. You need to run your own earth wire from somewhere close ( i used a nut or screw head near by) and fit a female spade end on the earth wire and just slide it onto the male spade connector on the thin metal plate which is the cluster. You can't miss it because it just looks like a spade connector which is out of place. Basically you’re replacing the earth to the cluster which is inadequate.
Maybe worth checking all the wheel sensors are OK as this is probably a common part to the DSC/ABS and TPS ?
I thought yellow TPS meant it was disabled (or perhaps, has disabled itself) and red meant a faulty tyre warning (red warnings mean stop immediately!)
Maybe worth investigating with a code reader or taking it to an independent with one!
The earth thing is a good idea, I'll check that on mine too.
I thought yellow TPS meant it was disabled (or perhaps, has disabled itself) and red meant a faulty tyre warning (red warnings mean stop immediately!)
Maybe worth investigating with a code reader or taking it to an independent with one!
The earth thing is a good idea, I'll check that on mine too.
I won’t quote my own post but I forgot to add something.
When I checked my earth wire it was indeed burned out but the instructions I had at the time (I could not find the post on the BMW forum) suggested I cut the original earth and patch into it. So stopping the original earth from shorting even more than it had already.
To me and the guys on the BMW forums it is a design flaw and causes the errors you see regarding brake lights and indicators.
When I checked my earth wire it was indeed burned out but the instructions I had at the time (I could not find the post on the BMW forum) suggested I cut the original earth and patch into it. So stopping the original earth from shorting even more than it had already.
To me and the guys on the BMW forums it is a design flaw and causes the errors you see regarding brake lights and indicators.
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