XSeries-forum

Yep definitely worth a shot.
The plot thickens ...... took the car the other day to have the trackign checked by my local tyre places as they have a four wheel drive tracking measurement kit which not all garages have (my local Kwik fit for example can't measure 4 wheel drive tracking)
Anyway they said the front was out alignment slight - I saw the display on the machine,a nd they reset it and I have the printout showing the before and after.
But ....... today I noticed that the steering wheel was off centre (as mentioned in an earlier post in this thread) - I got out to check if the wheels were straight or not. One was but the other was visibly turning to the left.

How can the tracking be 'right' if the wheels are pointing in different directions?

Smee

all i can say is - tracking needs to be set to decimal point accuracy measured in degrees, whereas any visible alignment issue must be way more than a few degrees.

so if what you noticed is in fact correct you're talking about a massive alignment issue where your tyres would be shot in a few miles!

anyways, to summarise what i think you should do:
1. get your alignment fixed (can't be so complicated?). the car certainly should be driving straight with the steering set straight.
2. get the steering angle re-calibrated (needs a bmw tool). that should hopefully fix the 4x4 amber warning.
3. if that doesn't sort it, get the steering angle sensor replaced - that should sort out the 4x4 amber warning.

Thanks
I will take my car to a different garage to do the tracking. However the plot thickens a little more. Yesterday I thought Id run my scanner 1.40.0 and see what it threw up - it showed up dozens of old/no longer present errors, errors that didnt seem to make sense (lioke 10 errors related to the radio?) plus steering angle sensor and ABS.
I cleared all the old errors except Steering Angle sensor and ABS (as I want the garage to be able to see those). Disconnected scanner and switched on engine. No difference still 4x4 light on. Went out later to take if for a drive and hey presto the light had gone off!

Drove for about half an hour . Stopped for diesel then switched back on again and it had gone out ! Drive for another half an hour and parked up for an our. Came back out and light still off - all good. Go out in it this morning and the bloody light is back on again !!!!!
Aaaaaaargh !
Dont you just love intermittent faults ..........?
Smee

sounds exactly like what i experienced, and wrote before..


[quote="jaynana"]
i've had this problem. light started coming intermittently and going off. or would stay on but not come up the next time i started the car. eventually it stayed on!

turned out to be the Steering Angle Sensor.

usual remedy is to re-calibrate the steering angle sensor.

that didn't work, then replaced it.

[/quote]


if you're in or around london i can suggest where to go as well.

Tracking now sorted (again) . Light still on. Re-calibrated steering wheel sensor . Light still on. Going into garage on next week. Will report back on findings.

Smee

If you are near west London I have full bmw work shop facilities in Hounslow and Hayes
Jason Bw 07831103030

I haven't got round to doing this yet (quoted circa £250 supply and fit) - can anyone tell me precisely what the 'steering angle sensor' actually does (apart from measure the angle of the steering obviously !!!)

Thanks

Smee

[quote="smeeagain"]
I haven't got round to doing this yet (quoted circa £250 supply and fit) - can anyone tell me precisely what the 'steering angle sensor' actually does (apart from measure the angle of the steering obviously !!!)

Thanks

Smee
[/quote]

Well I had this problem and it was tracking related. My interpretation of it is that the steering wheel angle sensor detects which way you are heading or intending to head and is measured in relation to which way the wheels are actually trying to send you

Obviously if the steering wheel is DEAD centre then the sensor reads this as you wanting to go dead ahead. If the wheels are pointing left then that creates a conflict and if like mine did the car gives up trying to guess what the car is doing and fails the DSC. Mine then went into rear wheel only mode. Key out would clear then a drive would throw it again

In my case the wheels (ignore the steering wheel) were aligned properly. The problem was that for the car to progress straight the steering wheel would be at 5 past the hour and the steering wheel sensor thought I was trying to turn right, albeit a little to the right. I think this had come about when a track rod end had been changed prior to me buying the car.

I guess the sensor could have been told what straight ahead looks like i.e. 5 past the hour but the steering wheel would havebeen forever cockeyed. I presume also for this to work the reset might have had to be done with the steering wheel at 5 past too

I chose the simpler option, get it tracked with the steering wheel straight ahead also. The problem never returned. The fault I believe was reported as "implausible steering angle"

my 2p worth

I am not an expert and this post is just an account of my past issue. It may or may not help

Could also be faulty DSC pressure sensors....
But mostly due to tracking issues i have found that it can ping the Steering Angle Sensor.

[quote="smeeagain"]
I haven't got round to doing this yet (quoted circa £250 supply and fit) - can anyone tell me precisely what the 'steering angle sensor' actually does (apart from measure the angle of the steering obviously !!!)

Thanks

Smee
[/quote]

It feeds into many systems
Gearbox - Don't excessively change around bends...
Engine management - ties in with gearbox.
DSC - Knows if you are turning and then adjusts grip accordingly.
ABS - knows that fronts may need modulating differently...
Suspension (i believe but cant remember why??)

plus others..

so basically I really should get it fixed?

Yup

[quote="Raj"]
Just try this to re-calibrate the steering angle sensor:

Start car, turn the steering wheel full lock to the left, then full lock to the right, then back to the centre. Turn off car. Then restart engine and see if that's worked after a quick drive.
[/quote]

Raj your a genius mate, I was getting worried as i had the 4x4 light on and the dsc button did nothing  after battery swop, and it doesn't tell you n the handbook how to solve it.

Thank you