Very strange fault ...

jayware33

Member
Fife
Hi, hope everyone is well.

My service light came on so, I taken it to D&G (as BMW are miles and miles away and needed my car for work on Monday). They done an oil and filter change and topped up the brake fluid. They then hooked the car upto the laptop to reset my service light. Restarted my car to see if it worked and then the red airbag light came on, the engine management light was on and the electronic handbrake didnt work. They spent 3 hours on it and couldnt fix it saying "we have never seen this before".

I then get a call to say "our mechanic has just went to start your car again, after it laying for a couple of hours and all the lights have gone back out but your service light is still on so, we're not going to touch it again just incase it breaks again".

So, my service light is still on and they dont want to touch it saying I have an "intermittant electrical fault". I think they've done something to screw up my car and now I'm worried the lights will come on again or they aren't telling me something.

Any thoughts, anyone heard of this before?

PS. Up until this point, this has never happened so, seems odd that when they hook it up, it starts malfunctioning.

Thanks.
 
This is why you don't buy a high mileage car (I'm assuming yours is). My e89 might be slightly older but because I bought it at only 11k miles so far I've had almost no problems. Also I'm pretty sure they could have reset the service components via the idrive.

I think you have to bite the bullet and take it to the stealers :tumbleweed:
 
imported said:
This is why you don't buy a high mileage car (I'm assuming yours is). My e89 might be slightly older but because I bought it at only 11k miles so far I've had almost no problems. Also I'm pretty sure they could have reset the service components via the idrive.

I think you have to bite the bullet and take it to the stealers :tumbleweed:

Well that's bloody helpful to the OP . NOT. 'I'm alright Jack' :thumbsdown:
 
imported said:
This is why you don't buy a high mileage car (I'm assuming yours is). My e89 might be slightly older but because I bought it at only 11k miles so far I've had almost no problems. Also I'm pretty sure they could have reset the service components via the idrive.

I think you have to bite the bullet and take it to the stealers :tumbleweed:


36K miles is NOT high millage car. For info, I have managed to reset the service interval myself. I dont have teh iDrive system however; some button combinations and ignition starts as shown in a YouTube video has helped me get the service interval reset.

It now says next service due in 26K miles or 2017. Oil change due in 18k miles and nbrake fluid July 2017. Sounds about right. :)
 
My last e89 did 135,000 miles without fault. I expect my current one to do similar. Your car is not high miles. Sounds like the garage either screwed up or were just unlucky. Suggest that they split the bmw bill? It will just be a reset I guess, but they should share the pain. It seems fair?
 
Imported... Helpful as ever..

Op.. Depending on what diag machine they use. It can cause a glitch in the software... This will then reset after so many ignition cycles..
 
Thanks for the support and quick responses.

Whatever it was seems to have reset and the air bag and EML are now not on and I managed to reset the service light myself. So, it has gone. Suppose if it was something genuinely wrong the lights would still be alerting me. I think I'll put it down to a glitch which has resolved as the car now is back to normal. Taking it to BMW is just money and travel arrangements. I will let them know thought and see what they suggest.

Thanks again.
 
jayware33 said:
Thanks for the support and quick responses.

Whatever it was seems to have reset and the air bag and EML are now not on and I managed to reset the service light myself. So, it has gone. Suppose if it was something genuinely wrong the lights would still be alerting me. I think I'll put it down to a glitch which has resolved as the car now is back to normal. Taking it to BMW is just money and travel arrangements. I will let them know thought and see what they suggest.

Thanks again.

sounds good. If it seems ok, no warning lights then it'll be fine.
 
imported said:
This is why you don't buy a high mileage car (I'm assuming yours is). My e89 might be slightly older but because I bought it at only 11k miles so far I've had almost no problems. Also I'm pretty sure they could have reset the service components via the idrive.

I think you have to bite the bullet and take it to the stealers :tumbleweed:
No one said his car is "high mileage".
Because you bought your with 11k miles doesn't mean that you won't get problems. Hardly used cars can have their own problems. Often a "used" car can be less problematic than a low mileage, used once in a while, used for popping to the shops car.

What an unhelpful, pointless post.
 
Just a quick question.......it wasn't this symbol?

Only reason I ask is that you get this when you have 'increased battery discharge' so basically the battery is going flat.

I would have thought that they would have at least put it on diagnostics to tell what the issue was if it was that symbol as it can be a multitude of things and they all use the same symbol.

Could it be that you actually need a new battery and didn't actually need a service? It would certainly indicate that if it's back on again.
 
Hi Angie4m.

It wasn't that symbol. It simply said "service" in yellow. Then when he hooked it to the diagnostic, all the lights came on and the handbrake wouldn't work. He started the car several times and then he said "it just magically all fixed itself but the service light is still on". I later managed to self reset that through holding the odometer reset button for 5 seconds while turning on ignition.
Also, reply to previous poster, they did test the battery and said it was ok. Also as the lights have went off, it would suggest the battery is ok? :driving:

Just has me concerned that they damaged my car in some way and screwed up the software / ECU. then again, no lights are displaying anymore. :headbang:
 
My elec handbrake stopped working and bmw did a " reanitialise" on it so far so good but it's in today as dash lights , blower , green roof, parking sensors , lights work only intermittently .?
Never had these problems with my former E 85 roadster !!.
 
Back
Top Bottom