More warning lights, yay!

Chrissyg

Member
Afternoon all,

Having taken the Zed out yesterday for the first run of the year (and what a day for it!), I stopped to grab a bit of shopping. About a minute after leaving I get the usual warning beep noise and the dash light up like a Christmas tree and the speedo stopped working (as in, showed 0mph even when moving) - whether connected or not it happened immediately after I ran over a plastic punnet - the sort that might have plums/peaches in from the super market but it feels unlikely that could damage any sensors (front drivers side wheel)?

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Ignore the exhaust one, that was there before and comes and goes - it's the others I need to get sorted sooner rather than later. I didn't get a chance to plug in my laptop and look at the fault codes and am away from the car for the next week, so thought I'd ask on here for some assistance! As the speedo isn't working, it feels like a wheel speed sensor has failed?

Thanks in advance!

Chris
 
So many owners seem to report problems when they have not driven their cars for substantial amounts of time i.e. left in hibernation over winter. Seems they need to be driven on a regular basis AND a decent distance to get the least incidents. Or maybe just coincidental??
 
mac27040 said:
my guess is bad battery

I'd agree with this as a potential issue or possibly the alternator. I had something very similar on my previous car when gradually more and more warning lights came on until I gave in and pulled over. Turned out that the alternator had packed in and was causing all sorts of electrical funny business!
 
Don't know about the zed but on the E46 the rear offside abs sensor also does the speedometer. I had this sensor fail (relatively cheap to replace) and lost speedo and also the miles you dive won't be recorded. With these sensors and the issue you posted above though it's best to plug it in as it can be a multitude of issues. Could be you wheel angle sensor. I believe this can be reset by turning the ignition on and turning the steering to complete lock both ways but you might want to google that as I can't remember the exact procedure. Good luck in getting it fixed anyhow.
 
Great, that's some good initial feedback guys, thanks.

I'll get the battery on charge this weekend (it was new in May '15!) and see how I get on. Strange it was fine for 15 miles first and there's no reduction in engine turnover speed from the starter motor, but start with the simple bits and then get plugged in and see what's going on.
Will also get the front end jacked up and check the cables as it's possible that the sensor just got knocked in the wrong way by the plastic box as the lights coming on on the dash and running that over coincided almost at the exact same time.

Any more thoughts, please post up! I'm keen to have a few things to try when I get back so I can enjoy this weather with the roof down!

Chris
 
I had a very similar issue with my previous E93, same lights almost and it turned out to be the DSC module was faulty after hitting a fire hose across a road. Had to be replaced, my regular Indy did say that they are not the most robust bit of electronics on the car and many had tried to get BMW to cough up out of warranty as it is seen as a vital component which should not really fail.
I didn't have the time to try it but maybe you have.
 
Just took my supra out of the garage at the weekend been in there six months looks like my alternator has gone battery won't hold a charge and I'm getting lots of warning lights.
 
the electrics on these z4s are really sensitive.... any sort of battery alt issue sends things going crazy.... mine was doing some strange stuff when the battery died... 2 times... :x :x
 
Just for the record, charged the battery, read the fault codes (quite a few, but the main one being a low voltage error) and have cleared them which seems to have worked nicely one the short drive I did after.

Need to take it for another, longer drive to confirm it's all good! Would appear these things really do need to make sure the battery is good.
 
So, the problem is back again and didn't take long to appear at all (maybe 10 metres?).

Seems to be a wheel speed sensor fault when I do a quick pull down of the fault codes. Am I right in thinking the wheel speed sensor/ABS sensor is on the rear left wheel? Think I'll get a new one from eurocarparts and have a go replacing it as it looks likely that's at fault.

Can anyone point me in the direction of the right part?

Cheers!

Chris
 
You have wheel sensors on all 4 wheels. Try pressure washing your wheels as that can help.

Have you recently changed our rotated your tyres? Does the car track straight on a straight road? The problem is that the car doesn't think it's driving in a straight line when you are.

This could be a sensor, bad geometry, bad tyres or similar.
 
Hi Ed,

Thanks for the reply. I've not done anything with the car whatsoever, I've just taken it for a 15 mile drive having not used it for approx 12 weeks, which went fine until I left the supermarket! Car tracks straight yeah.

I think the fault code was suggesting the rear left, so I'll focus my attention on that corner initially (hence my first last post) and see if a clean up jobby helps.

Tyres are 2000 miles old and had a full hunter alignment when I did the tyres.

Any more help would be great!

Chris
 
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