cytamen 1 Report post Posted July 7, 2008 Hey, New to the forums and to being a BMW owner... Bought my car today and while on the motorway at the damned timed ramp signals... I put the car in neutral and rolled down every few seconds until I got to the lights. I noticed that the ABS light and traction control lights had come on.. I also noticed the speedo stopped working and the fuel consumption was dead too. I got off the motorway and turned the car off for about a minute, then back on. Everything worked fine. 20 seconds later, same thing. This keeps happening. Any ideas? I don't want to pay the servicing bastards $120 to check something that takes two minutes! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nobimmer 694 Report post Posted July 7, 2008 exactly the same thing happened to mine! Would love to know what it is Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mark 178 Report post Posted July 7, 2008 A tired battery will play havoc with the electrics... check that it's running at it's full 12 volt capacity. Also, it could be your instrument cluster having a spaz...may need replacing. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tonylauno1 7 Report post Posted July 7, 2008 I got an e39 with the tv so the instrument cluster actually displays every message in writing rather than a pic of a car to tell you which door is not closed or which bulb has blown. Went to get the dead pixel fix on the e39 instrument cluster, and it turns out a chip controlling the error display is faulty. The mechanic recommended getting the other chip which controls the speedometer fixed too as he said from experience you can't replace one without the other. Both of these chips were remanufacturer with 2 year warranty at $1000. The other alternatives were to buy a new instrument cluster which would required a BMW Technician to reprogram which would cost probably twice as much. This was the problem on my car anyway. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Huttey 0 Report post Posted July 7, 2008 Sound like mine, removed ABS pump and sent it to I have covered this before in previous threads. If the ABS is coming up with speed sensor faults, drive the car with the scanner and check live data. If all 4 speed sensors are reading properly and within a 2km speed range at 30kph, the fault is in the circuit board in the ABS control unit. This is very easy to check by an experienced person. Also make sure that tyres sizes are correct, these can also give an ABS fault. Also to confirm its not the sensor, swap them and recheck. There are DIY info on the internet to do this. If you are not comfortable doing this yourself. Get a local brake specialist to take it off for you and send it to Rob: Powerstop Engineering Unit 3 2 Wilrose Place Tauranga Ph. (07) 5788909 Approx $370 Rob will repair the circuit board, flush the pump, check activation, clear memory fault codes and give a 12 month warranty and he does a very neat job too. You cant tell its been apart. All this in two vdays, pack safely when you sevd. Then get the brake specialist to refit it and bleed the brakes for you All done and not too painfull $$$$Sound like mine, removed ABS pump and sent it to Hope this helps Cheers Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jochen 4 Report post Posted July 7, 2008 Hey, New to the forums and to being a BMW owner... Bought my car today and while on the motorway at the damned timed ramp signals... I put the car in neutral and rolled down every few seconds until I got to the lights. I noticed that the ABS light and traction control lights had come on.. I also noticed the speedo stopped working and the fuel consumption was dead too. I got off the motorway and turned the car off for about a minute, then back on. Everything worked fine. 20 seconds later, same thing. This keeps happening. Any ideas? I don't want to pay the servicing bastards $120 to check something that takes two minutes! Can happen with a poor / bad earth on the engine bay RHS earthing block. I've seen a youtube video showing these symptoms and how they go away when the earthing is improved - the video showed the user connecting the ABS pump unit to the ground point with a clip lead - either fixing the ground on the ABS pump, or fixing the ground of the ground point. With the clip lead connected, the problem went away. Here's what to do: 1. Locate the engine bay wiring loom earth on RHS, front (close to air filter) on the wall where just under where the guard is bolted. 2. Undo the bolt, check all connections for cleanliness and make sure nothing is corroded or oxidised. Clean up if necessary. Of course, do all this with the battery disconnected! 3. Also check the wiring loom connector on the ABS unit - again look for poor grounds, bad connections, corrosion etc. If you find the right-hand earthing point is not good, then at the same time you should check the left-hand earthing point for the same reasons. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
*Glenn* 854 Report post Posted July 7, 2008 I'm a "servicing barstard"....so I wont comment on this one Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mtk540 3 Report post Posted July 8, 2008 I had a similar problem with the dashboard on my E39 - speedo and tacho didnt work, some OBC functions didnt work, and a few display lights stayed on. On advice from other BS members I simply disconnected the battery for 10 minutes. Everything was OK after that apart from losing the memory on the OBC functions. Can't hurt so give it a try. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jochen 4 Report post Posted July 8, 2008 I simply disconnected the battery for 10 minutes. You mean you re-booted the car :-) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
