Can anybody shed light on this intermittent fault i am having with my 2006 3 series. Every so often i get a warning triangle with an exclamation mark, the abs and break warning lights all displayed on my dash. This only occurs for approx 30secs and then they all extinguish. No effect on performance or any other running of the vehicle. Sometimes its even displaying the tyre pressure warning light ?

Any thoughts would be gratefully received

Needs fault codes read. BMW specialist should be able to do it for a fair price (ie, free probably), dealer will charge in excess of £70.

Possible causes?

ABS wheel sensor (likely due to intermittent nature, cheap).
Brake switch (see above).

Yaw sensor (unlikely) as is steering wheel angle resolver.
Hydraulic control unit – possible, but unlikely due to intermittent nature.

Given the host of problems with the E90 and E87s, my guess would be either an ABS wheel sensor (there are four of them) which is a cheap fix or possibly the ABS pump (HCU)…which isn’t.

My 1 Series had this fault and it was the HCU…

Pretty sure I had this and it was the expensive fix. Was a few years ago now but BMW part funded the repair as it was a common problem. Car was out of warranty but had been serviced on schedule through the dealers.

What effect if any will it have if i leave it as like i said it isn’t having any impact on the running or drive of the car ?

If it’s a developing brake problem, you may well have an impact, but not related to the cars performance. Why would you risk it?

You need a new bonnet.

That’ll fix your light shows.

Cheers Derek

Not sure about BMW but for Toyota Corolla the sensor is about £125 per sensor.

Get it check out as it could be anything.

When my ABS light started flashing I got the mechanic to check it out and I was told it was the sensor problem. Cost me a new sensor plus mechanic labour cost.

I was going to suggest a BMtechnic cable and software to diagnose it yourself but they appear to have just gone out of business. An alternative could be this app along with the appropriate Wifi dongle to plug into the car.

http://www.ivini-apps.com/free-diagnosis.html

If the lights are the orange ones outside the car on each corner, they’re not actually something you need to worry about. Although rarely seen in use on BMWs, their purpose is actually to signal your intended direction to other road users. Other marques seem to have fewer problems with these troublesome accessories.

dont be bitter zokes, one day you might have a nice car too 😈

I hope it isn’t your ABS pump as mine went in my 5 series a couple of years ago and cost over £700 to have it replaced!

dont be bitter zokes, one day you might have a nice car too

I have one ta, it’s got heated seats and evrifink. (It is also a bit better than a 3 series 😉 )

Do you have to have your sense of humour removed to drive a BMW too?

I like the idea of the app to read the fault codes. How would i connect to the car with a wifi dongle ?

Sounds like an indicator fault(?)

It shows the indicators are working?

zokes – Member
I have one ta, it’s got heated seats and evrifink. (It is also a bit better than a 3 series )

Do you have to have your sense of humour removed to drive a BMW too?

Think you missed my obvious joke reply, it worked in getting a rise anyway 😉

You have to tell us now whats better than a 3 Series??? 😆

j5kol – Member

I like the idea of the app to read the fault codes. How would i connect to the car with a wifi dongle ?

Bluetooth to you phone etc??

from my experience it will be the ABS sensor. and as soon as you have it fixed another one will go 🙂

You have to tell us now whats better than a 3 Series???

Well, the humble mondeo has been touted to be on several occasions by many a motoring journo. 😆

But no, I don’t drive one of them any more, as neither are much use for driving to the middle of absolutely nowhere in Outback Aus to camp under the stars with only a platypus for company. There is a once-British company that specialises cars that do go pretty much anywhere in comfort though. I drive one of those.

Goog’s Lake and Camp by Mark-Farrell, on Flickr

Check your battery, when they get low on modern cars it can start lighting up warning lights even though it’ll still start the car.
something to do electrickery doodaa wotsitmathingyness..

My ‘05 e90 has gone electricity bonkers recently. I’ve lost the heater fan, cruise control and now it’s shouting at me that I have a flat tyre (I haven’t).

My ‘05 e90 has gone electricity bonkers recently. I’ve lost the heater fan, cruise control and now it’s shouting at me that I have a flat tyre (I haven’t)

A dying battery can cause all sorts of weird electrical behaviour in some BMWs. It’s certainly worth checking out before delving into replacing anything else.

For the OP, I’d bet on an ABS wheel sensor.

Dongles are great. Plug into car socket and bingo.

I use a wifi OBD2 plugged in and use either my phone or laptop to check or clear codes.

Only bought wifi as my iPhone 4 had Bluetooth 2.1 and I wanted data fast and reliable data during when you drive.

Would recommend Bluetooth 4.0+ for newer mobiles/readers as it is quick and doesn’t need a static address set up on your phone.

Mine cost a tenner through Amazon/China 3 years ago. Cheaper now.

Oh dear @Zokes you’d have to be a long way from home to convince me a LR is better than a BMW. Which in the outback it may be, but most of us don’t live/go there.

INPA is what you need.

Why not start with the simple things, have you got enough brake fluid, are the pads worn thin, and the wear indicator wires are now contacting the discs.

After that go down the line of code reads, and don’t forget to back the code read with some live data, the code is not the be all and end all, it’s just a hint, sometimes it’s bang on, othertimes it’s what else it can be showing, but has not the intelligence to work out that’s what is wrong.

Oh dear @Zokes you’d have to be a long way from home to convince me a LR is better than a BMW.

Well, I am, so it is, so ner 😛

Given that I commute by bike, and MrsZ commutes by bus, it does actually spend a reasonable percentage of its driving time nowhere near tarmac. BMWs aren’t much use for that, not even the ones that drive all four wheels.

But back on topic, my old pug 306 threw similar errors, and always an inexpensive ABS sensor fixed them. Same for my old mondeo. I have to say as someone else said above though, the law of sod dictates that as soon as you change one, another one goes shortly after.

Read the codes… Store the codes and clear them..

Drive for a hour and re-read them.

Your peeing to the wind checking other things first.

You could have a maf issue which is causing the traction control light to trigger..

Sorted it yet ?