Search the Community
Showing results for tags 'Active Steering Fault'.
Found 1 result
-
My 550i has for a few months now been throwing active steering failed messages. When you go on these forums there is a lot written about these sorts of issues especially it would appear for the E60 and E61. I can't believe some of the suggested fixes and it has been a surprise that having posted dozens of cries for help someone did not follow up with what the root cause was and more important what the fix was. I am sure there is more than one issue and more than one fix but surely in this day and age we can do better. So not wanting to be like the rest I thought I would share my story and confirm so far my successful end outcome be it that it may still be too early to get overly excited about the fix. I won't bore you with a novel only point out the behaviour I experienced - It started after driving back from Taupo, the next day when driving to work. It self cleared within a KM down the road after I stopped and restarted the car. -It next appeared again after another longer drive home the next day when starting the car. Again reset a KM down the road following the same procedure. Around two months had passed since the first time this occurred and took me to around end March this year - Third appeared with a few weeks and this time I hadn't been driving any distances out of the ordinary. From this point forward I was getting the fault at least once a week. At this time I started to investigate on the WWW forums what this was about. -Basically over time the fault was becoming more regular but still corrected itself after driving stopping and restarting. I tried some of the myths on sties such as put the key in the car but don't start up. Turn the wheel all the way to the left, then to the right and then back to the centre. Start and drive forward. Turn off and wait a minute. Start up and the issue will be sorted. Some suggested the same procedure but wait up to 30 minutes. Some suggested doing the same but with the engine running. I tried them all and nothing worked. -When my car developed a new spin on the fault where I put the key in to start the car and saw my steering wheel start to turn itself to the left. I starte the car and got the same fault message but now the steering wheel was offset to go straight. At this point I suspected the root issue was my angle sensor. When it reset it self I notices a shuddering in the steering wheel as it re-centred itself while I was driving. At this point I sort help -Taking it to the local mechanic who has always been good at fixing any concerns I have had with other cars got the faults off the car being 6137 - Motor Position Sensor Failure. Then 614A - Motor Position angle not inialized and then OEA3 which I can't recall what it said but basically more of the same. My mechanic recommended replacing the Angle sensors. A cost of $1500. At this point I realised that I need an BMW authorised expert to give me there opion as I know a witch hunt when I see one. - I took my car in Wellington based on a mates advise who also happens to be member of this community to First European Cars. They took the codes and got different error codes and descriptions than my mechanic and it seems to be down to using actual BMW devices vs OBDII devices which are not necessarily giving us the best data. This lead the them to recall another customer who had the same issues and symptoms and the fix was a wheel re-alignment. That customer had recalled hitting a large pot hole and when the alignment was checked found the wheels off by more than .30 each side. When reset and the active steering reset/calibrated the issue was resolved. I cant recall hitting anything that would make my while alignment go out but it was worth a try. And what do you know. My alignment was out on the left by -0.28 and the right by -0.36. This procedure was then performed on my car and since yesterday I have not so far touch wood had the fault appear. So I will drive around for a week and let you know if this was truly the cause and fix to my issue. Got to say it is better to spend $80 for an alignment than $2000 for a replace of parts that may not be broken? It I have saved that money then I may just see what performance improvements I can make. Activating the true sports mode in my 550i will be the first act.
