Hi all,
I've been troubleshooting an amber "check engine" light since the purchase of my Z4 (2007, E85, 2.0i). Just to be clear, this is the light that has the shape of a engine, not the EML. When reading the codes I get a "catalyst converter" error. Fine, potential causes could be sensors, the catalyst itself, amongst other things. Because the car was (and still is) covered by the dealership warranty I took it back, reported the fault and had the car returned to me 3 days later. I was told that it was taken to a garage, sensors were taken off, cleaned, the error cleared and for me to report back if it would return. It didn't came back for a few weeks...or so I thought!
A few weeks ago I made this post -- https://z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=109822&p=1587954#p1587954 -- as I found this "miraculous" fix too good to be true and because it seemed to me that the light was still there, but just a very dim version of it. Feedback on the post from some of you guys was that it seemed normal, just feeding from other lights, etc, so I've been driving it worry free as the car is actually running perfectly with no other symptoms.
Unfortunately, the reason for my paranoia with the light has been confirmed, and after having a reader plugged in for errors two days ago at my request following some work on the suspension, the reader picked up exactly the same code as before, despite the light not displaying its full bright version as it would normally in such a situation. The confirmation came after resetting the error, driving the car around for 50 miles displaying a full pitch black dashboard and the dim version of the light coming back this afternoon!
My question is...how is this even possible?? Is there a way of somehow programming the ECU to display a dim version of the dashboard lights to hide a problem? I really need your expertise/experience on this so I can make a case with the dealership, as the way I see it this constitutes fraud! It could even be the case that they're not aware of it and the garage where they to took the car is to blame, but either way I want to make a case of it! I could use some knowledge on the issue to allow a more informed complain/discussion.
I appreciate any help/contribution!
I've been troubleshooting an amber "check engine" light since the purchase of my Z4 (2007, E85, 2.0i). Just to be clear, this is the light that has the shape of a engine, not the EML. When reading the codes I get a "catalyst converter" error. Fine, potential causes could be sensors, the catalyst itself, amongst other things. Because the car was (and still is) covered by the dealership warranty I took it back, reported the fault and had the car returned to me 3 days later. I was told that it was taken to a garage, sensors were taken off, cleaned, the error cleared and for me to report back if it would return. It didn't came back for a few weeks...or so I thought!
A few weeks ago I made this post -- https://z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=109822&p=1587954#p1587954 -- as I found this "miraculous" fix too good to be true and because it seemed to me that the light was still there, but just a very dim version of it. Feedback on the post from some of you guys was that it seemed normal, just feeding from other lights, etc, so I've been driving it worry free as the car is actually running perfectly with no other symptoms.
Unfortunately, the reason for my paranoia with the light has been confirmed, and after having a reader plugged in for errors two days ago at my request following some work on the suspension, the reader picked up exactly the same code as before, despite the light not displaying its full bright version as it would normally in such a situation. The confirmation came after resetting the error, driving the car around for 50 miles displaying a full pitch black dashboard and the dim version of the light coming back this afternoon!
My question is...how is this even possible?? Is there a way of somehow programming the ECU to display a dim version of the dashboard lights to hide a problem? I really need your expertise/experience on this so I can make a case with the dealership, as the way I see it this constitutes fraud! It could even be the case that they're not aware of it and the garage where they to took the car is to blame, but either way I want to make a case of it! I could use some knowledge on the issue to allow a more informed complain/discussion.
I appreciate any help/contribution!
