What does this warning on dash mean?

[DeanoBlado]

So on Wednesday night while driving home the traction control, ranflat indicator and handbrake sign popped up on the dash, it been there ever since. Every time i start the car it pops up.

The car is booked in today, just curious what causes this?

Any insight?

 

[Marchant-320d]

I had this on my e46 after a bad wheel alignment went to do the wheel alignment at a SuperQuick and it was storted I believe it is the steering angel sensor. Mine was off center but have heard of them going bad but this is rare.

 

[DeanoBlado]

I had this on my e46 after a bad wheel alignment went to do the wheel alignment at a SuperQuick and it was storted I believe it is the steering angel sensor. Mine was off center but have heard of them going bad but this is rare.

Interesting, i did replace all four tires 3 weeks ago with wheel alignment etc.

 

[Marchant-320d]

I also changed wheels and did alignment but the person doing it didn't look like he knew what he was doing. is your steering wheel off center?

 

[DeanoBlado]

It most likely is, will BMW be able to sort it or will i have to take it to get done myself?

 

[Marchant-320d]

I think they might do a diagnostic on it and will then most probably do a wheel alignment. If the alignment does not work they will replace the steering angel sensor.

 

[Lizzard]

Same thing happened to me but in my case it was the steering angle sensor .......long story.

Your car works like this, you have 4 wheels, each equipped with an abs sensor and then you have your steering wheel which also has a sensor in it, steering angle sensor.

These 5 sensors works together to tell the car that you are going straight when the steering wheel is dead center or that you are going at an angle (like in a turn on the road) which if it detects that you are doing this at an unexpected timeframe (like driving at 10° for like an hour) the ecu will throw out an error. Those lovely awesome stupid lights you were describing on the dash. It is a stupid design in my honest opinion, really stupid as f%^& I know when I am going straight or make a turn.

Anyway, long story short. Your steering wheel is only allowed -5° and +5° off dead center when the car is going straight. anything more than that you will have those xmas tree lights. Might be the reason why it took a while after doing the alignment that it picked it up (remember the explain above about cornering).

Hopefully an alignment from the right guys will have you sorted, oh and you need to reset the steering wheel angle sensor everytime you do an alignment, next time request this from the wheel place.

 

[Marchant-320d]

Correct Lizzard.

 

[kilotango]

same issue i had after alignment. i took it back to get realigned.. and then took it to another place after that because the lights wouldnt go off. i had to recalibrate using GT1/DIS finally.. then was sorted.

 

[Marchant-320d]

I think I did a manual re-calibration (turning steering wheel from lock to lock) after wheel alignment was done can`t remember.:hammerhead:

 

[DeanoBlado]

Got the car back, it was indeed as said above, BMW said the steering sensor lost its configuration and they had to reprogram it.

Anyway car is sorted, well kinda. Since you guys mentioned the off center steering wheel i immediately noticed the off center steering wheel on my why home. Now what do i do? do i go to an alignment shop to get it sorted?
Will this issue happen again when they correct it?

Or should i just go back to BMW.

 

[Marchant-320d]

I would call them and tell them that the steering wheel is not center and hear what they say.

 

[Lizzard]

You most probably will need to go back to the guys who did the alignment to tell them to fix it so that your steering wheel is dead center. They can do that, weird that they had the steering at an angle when they were working on your alignment :hammerhead: .

This will trigger the steering angle sensor again and you will pay for that again, which year model is your E90 320D. It takes like 2 minutes on the laptop to reset this, just curious how much bmw charged for this. Took him longer to fetch his coffee in the lounge then to reset your sensor :RedNo:

 

[DeanoBlado]

You most probably will need to go back to the guys who did the alignment to tell them to fix it so that your steering wheel is dead center. They can do that, weird that they had the steering at an angle when they were working on your alignment :hammerhead: .

This will trigger the steering angle sensor again and you will pay for that again, which year model is your E90 320D. It takes like 2 minutes on the laptop to reset this, just curious how much bmw charged for this. Took him longer to fetch his coffee in the lounge then to reset your sensor :RedNo:

didn't cost me anything. i'm still on MP. Will phone them this morning and here what they say.

 

[Marchant-320d]

Did you get sorted.

 

[Sabretooth tiger]

didn't cost me anything. i'm still on MP. Will phone them this morning and here what they say.

In this case, why not just let BMW do your alignment? Always used to have mine done by BMW, at the dealership.

 

[DeanoBlado]

Forgot to upgrade this thread

The error came back after two weeks so took it back, the actual unit was faulty and was replaced. Car was kept over night because of the reprogramming etc.

All sorted now. Had awesome service from JSN.

 

[Lizzard]

Do you know which unit it was? Glad it is sorted now

 

[DeanoBlado]

yes, the whole steering angle unit behind the steering wheel. I think it also controls the DSC

 

[Lizzard]

That sensor gets dust sometimes and then creates this problem, I should know had it BUT a little wipe with a tissue and alcohol soft the problem for me.