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Power steering light on dash

Discuss problems you have had or are having with your Z4
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Russ59
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Power steering light on dash

Post by Russ59 » Sun Mar 22, 2020 2:31 pm

Last week my power steering light came on, so obviously no power steering, I turned engine off and back on again and the light went out👍 This has happened a couple of times but now the light doesn’t go out at all, so now I’m stuck. I’m not that technically minded to start stripping the steering column down, certain things yeah but not something this complex.
Is there a make do fix or is it going to cost me a lot of £££’s ??
Just when I was thinking of selling😩😩😩
2005, 3.0l Toledo Blue, sports seats, sports suspension, ZHP, MFSW,4 clear spot rear lights, clear side repeaters and third brake light , 19" AXE EX14 wheels, DIY carbon badges, interior parts gloss black wrapped, rear spoiler

Lowzed
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Power steering light on dash

Post by Lowzed » Sun Mar 22, 2020 5:18 pm

same as, i think the car knows its being sold

ive had the codes read and it comes back as a open circuit on the instrument cluster module

which is strange, just trying to get to the bottom of it my self

if i clear the code and turn the car off (so car hasn't moved or steering touched) wait ten minutes and the light is back on and code is back.

firebobby
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Power steering light on dash

Post by firebobby » Sun Mar 22, 2020 9:06 pm

My car did this last year and it turned out to be the ECU on the motor. I removed it and sent it away to ECU testing, they did there magic and once re fitted...my steering was back to normal :thumbsup:
BMW Z4 30i 2003 auto 107's Whippy Toledo Blue
Beige M sport seats, wood dash
Toyota MR2 NA 1995
Triumph GT6 1972 (project)
Land Rover Discovery 1994 TDI (Tow car)
Mini 1000 1981

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Tamir
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Power steering light on dash

Post by Tamir » Mon Mar 23, 2020 7:40 am

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=119340
I've had this issue for a while, hope you can maybe find some help in my EPS failure topic. ^
2004 BMW Z4 3.0i M54B30
BLACK

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Russ59
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Power steering light on dash

Post by Russ59 » Mon Mar 23, 2020 11:30 am

firebobby wrote: Sun Mar 22, 2020 9:06 pm My car did this last year and it turned out to be the ECU on the motor. I removed it and sent it away to ECU testing, they did there magic and once re fitted...my steering was back to normal :thumbsup:


How much was the cost of repair??
2005, 3.0l Toledo Blue, sports seats, sports suspension, ZHP, MFSW,4 clear spot rear lights, clear side repeaters and third brake light , 19" AXE EX14 wheels, DIY carbon badges, interior parts gloss black wrapped, rear spoiler

firebobby
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Power steering light on dash

Post by firebobby » Mon Mar 23, 2020 9:51 pm

Russ59 wrote: Mon Mar 23, 2020 11:30 am
firebobby wrote: Sun Mar 22, 2020 9:06 pm My car did this last year and it turned out to be the ECU on the motor. I removed it and sent it away to ECU testing, they did there magic and once re fitted...my steering was back to normal :thumbsup:


How much was the cost of repair??
I think it was around the £300 mark. I had no power steering and the sports button didn't work.
You can remove the motor without taking the column out, if it is the ECU ?
BMW Z4 30i 2003 auto 107's Whippy Toledo Blue
Beige M sport seats, wood dash
Toyota MR2 NA 1995
Triumph GT6 1972 (project)
Land Rover Discovery 1994 TDI (Tow car)
Mini 1000 1981

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Russ59
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Posts: 1670
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Location: Mansfield Woodhouse

Power steering light on dash

Post by Russ59 » Mon Mar 23, 2020 10:30 pm

firebobby wrote: Mon Mar 23, 2020 9:51 pm
Russ59 wrote: Mon Mar 23, 2020 11:30 am
firebobby wrote: Sun Mar 22, 2020 9:06 pm My car did this last year and it turned out to be the ECU on the motor. I removed it and sent it away to ECU testing, they did there magic and once re fitted...my steering was back to normal :thumbsup:


How much was the cost of repair??
I think it was around the £300 mark. I had no power steering and the sports button didn't work.
You can remove the motor without taking the column out, if it is the ECU ?
My mechanic uses that company and they aren’t far away from us, he rang them when I dropped the car off to him this morning and they said what the problem was
But who knows now when it will get done after Boris’s speech tonight 😩😩😩
2005, 3.0l Toledo Blue, sports seats, sports suspension, ZHP, MFSW,4 clear spot rear lights, clear side repeaters and third brake light , 19" AXE EX14 wheels, DIY carbon badges, interior parts gloss black wrapped, rear spoiler

firebobby
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Power steering light on dash

Post by firebobby » Mon Mar 23, 2020 10:50 pm

Russ59 wrote: Mon Mar 23, 2020 10:30 pm
firebobby wrote: Mon Mar 23, 2020 9:51 pm
Russ59 wrote: Mon Mar 23, 2020 11:30 am

How much was the cost of repair??
I think it was around the £300 mark. I had no power steering and the sports button didn't work.
You can remove the motor without taking the column out, if it is the ECU ?
My mechanic uses that company and they aren’t far away from us, he rang them when I dropped the car off to him this morning and they said what the problem was
But who knows now when it will get done after Boris’s speech tonight 😩😩😩
Its a bit fiddly to get the motor out, but it will come out on its own. They had it back t me in less than a week, and you get life time guarantee on the repaired ECU.
BMW Z4 30i 2003 auto 107's Whippy Toledo Blue
Beige M sport seats, wood dash
Toyota MR2 NA 1995
Triumph GT6 1972 (project)
Land Rover Discovery 1994 TDI (Tow car)
Mini 1000 1981

tomjonesBT33
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Power steering light on dash

Post by tomjonesBT33 » Wed Mar 25, 2020 9:38 pm

Same thing happened to my '04. Also turned out to be the EPS ecu. I bought a used EPS from fleabay and fitted it. Difficult space to work in, but it can be done without removing the steering column. Also required reprogramming the newly fitted EPS with my car's VIN. Total cost to me was $77USD, but I did all of the work myself including the coding.
2004 Z4 2.5i
2006 Z4 M Roadster
2017 X1 xDrive28i

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Tamir
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Power steering light on dash

Post by Tamir » Thu Mar 26, 2020 12:10 pm

tomjones20194 wrote: Wed Mar 25, 2020 9:38 pm Same thing happened to my '04. Also turned out to be the EPS ecu. I bought a used EPS from fleabay and fitted it. Difficult space to work in, but it can be done without removing the steering column. Also required reprogramming the newly fitted EPS with my car's VIN. Total cost to me was $77USD, but I did all of the work myself including the coding.
firebobby wrote: Mon Mar 23, 2020 9:51 pm
Its a bit fiddly to get the motor out, but it will come out on its own. They had it back t me in less than a week, and you get life time guarantee on the repaired ECU.
What are the symptoms when it's the ECU faulty? Does it make any sense if the power steering works only when the engine temp reaches ~90~ degree Celsius?
2004 BMW Z4 3.0i M54B30
BLACK

tomjonesBT33
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Power steering light on dash

Post by tomjonesBT33 » Thu Mar 26, 2020 4:18 pm

with mine, I was not able to communicate with the EPS module via INPA or any of the standard BMW tools when the error light in the dash game on. I got an IFC-0009 error or something like that, which mean the ecu is not responding. Also mine had intermittent error for a few days before the error light came on and stayed on.

If you can definitely correlate your unit’s intermittent behavior with temperature, then it’s possible that you have a bad connector or cable going to the Ecu. Temp could cause an intermittent open/closed circuit if there is a slight break in the wiring. There have been a couple of thread about this before.
2004 Z4 2.5i
2006 Z4 M Roadster
2017 X1 xDrive28i

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Russ59
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Power steering light on dash

Post by Russ59 » Thu Mar 26, 2020 5:28 pm

Mine isn’t heat related, engine can be hot or cold and the light now stays on, it was intermittent to start with but then just stayed on.
2005, 3.0l Toledo Blue, sports seats, sports suspension, ZHP, MFSW,4 clear spot rear lights, clear side repeaters and third brake light , 19" AXE EX14 wheels, DIY carbon badges, interior parts gloss black wrapped, rear spoiler

tomjonesBT33
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Power steering light on dash

Post by tomjonesBT33 » Thu Mar 26, 2020 7:26 pm

Russ59 wrote: Thu Mar 26, 2020 5:28 pm Mine isn’t heat related, engine can be hot or cold and the light now stays on, it was intermittent to start with but then just stayed on.
Try connecting to the EPS with INPA. If you get a communication error the EPS is bad.
2004 Z4 2.5i
2006 Z4 M Roadster
2017 X1 xDrive28i

User avatar
Russ59
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Power steering light on dash

Post by Russ59 » Thu Mar 26, 2020 8:46 pm

tomjones20194 wrote: Thu Mar 26, 2020 7:26 pm
Russ59 wrote: Thu Mar 26, 2020 5:28 pm Mine isn’t heat related, engine can be hot or cold and the light now stays on, it was intermittent to start with but then just stayed on.
Try connecting to the EPS with INPA. If you get a communication error the EPS is bad.
Mine is in the hands of the mechanic I use, I’m having it rebuilt at ECU testing.
2005, 3.0l Toledo Blue, sports seats, sports suspension, ZHP, MFSW,4 clear spot rear lights, clear side repeaters and third brake light , 19" AXE EX14 wheels, DIY carbon badges, interior parts gloss black wrapped, rear spoiler

firebobby
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Power steering light on dash

Post by firebobby » Thu Mar 26, 2020 10:20 pm

Tamir wrote: Thu Mar 26, 2020 12:10 pm
tomjones20194 wrote: Wed Mar 25, 2020 9:38 pm Same thing happened to my '04. Also turned out to be the EPS ecu. I bought a used EPS from fleabay and fitted it. Difficult space to work in, but it can be done without removing the steering column. Also required reprogramming the newly fitted EPS with my car's VIN. Total cost to me was $77USD, but I did all of the work myself including the coding.
firebobby wrote: Mon Mar 23, 2020 9:51 pm
Its a bit fiddly to get the motor out, but it will come out on its own. They had it back t me in less than a week, and you get life time guarantee on the repaired ECU.
What are the symptoms when it's the ECU faulty? Does it make any sense if the power steering works only when the engine temp reaches ~90~ degree Celsius?
Symptoms on mine were... no PS, the light on on the dash and no sports button.
BMW Z4 30i 2003 auto 107's Whippy Toledo Blue
Beige M sport seats, wood dash
Toyota MR2 NA 1995
Triumph GT6 1972 (project)
Land Rover Discovery 1994 TDI (Tow car)
Mini 1000 1981

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