ABS and Traction Control lights on

Well, if it helps, I installed my repaired unit today.

Now, for me, ABS and Brake pad wear lights extinguish as they should, but the DSC light stays on. Apologies if this is an attempt at a bit of a hijack but I have a question for anyone that knows...

...when I bought the car, the purchaser gave me a spare control module, telling me that he'd tried a swap over with another faulty unit from a 728i, and this was currently on the car. The unit in the box was allegedly the original unit, which I sent off for repair. Now I'm wondering whether I've actually repaired the unit from some guy's 728i, and my original unit is sitting unrepaired in the kitchen. What do you think?

Also... if this is the case, how to I recode the repaired unit to match my car? They DO have the same part number.

Andrew Rolland wrote: Although I'm sure on 5 owner had a fault with a connection or a broken wire which indicated a fault but the wheel sensor was o.k. as was the ABS unit, but I think it was a struggle to find the fault though.

It was me! Sorry guys, seem to be a bit late to this party!

I had a similar problem, diagnostics pointed me to a sensor, replaced that, then I read about the ABS module, got
it refurbed, took it to a main dealer, they couldn't pinpoint after several hours looking. In the end it was a broken
wire!

Full tale of woe and how to blow several hundred quid here:

clicky

Thanks - great to have such a quick response!

So it's quite easily doable. Maybe I'll be ok, or maybe I'll have a pig of a time finding the problem. Who knows. :)

Hi again,

I got a call from the place where i sent my Abs module off to today. They couldn't find any fault with my unit.

The guy on the phone suggested it may be a wiring issue. I assume he meant the wires going into/out from the sensors??

I was so hoping i'd get the module back and i could re-install it and the problem would be solved. No such luck!!!

Hello again,

Still haven't got these pesky lights to go out on my dash yet.

I had the wheels off and had a look at the sensors for myself. Are they the black ones or the longer blue ones?

I assume the are the blue ones as i don't have a black one on the front drivers side.

I've had a sensor replaced on the front offside (passenger?) but if it is the blue one it didn't look anything like new!! it was really dirty and when i opened it up there was a little water inside and also small bits of dirt.

I cleaned it out and got all the wheels back on but......you guessed it, the bloody lights are still on!!

Re Stuganderson

It must be your ABS ECU, I had mine repaired at BBA for £125, never bothered changing any of the sensors, fault cured. BBA sent a letter back with my unit stating that wheel sensor faults can be thrown up even when they are all ok, ie: the fault is with the control unit.

Stuart, the abs sensors are fitted to the inside of the front hubs and are virtually at the centre of the hub.  On the nearside front the sensor is located at the 9 o'clock position.  The front sensor is mounted to the hub so that the shaft of the sensor is parallel to the line of the front axle. The nearside rear sensor is positioned at 7 o'clock and is mounted so the shaft of the sensor is positioned radially to the hub.  Or is it 3 o'clock and 5 o'clock....  you know what I'm getting at.

The wire is either black or grey, I think you must be confusing the brake pad wear sensor wire.  Both wires are joined to their respective looms in the same box mounted on the inner wing.  The brake wear sensors are only fitted to the nearside front and the offside rear wheels.

Andrew

this just happened me last week. rev counter started hopping and then giving up and then shoot up again hopping away. the engine would give a couple of coughs. fuel guage was all over the place and the mpg guage did not work at all. after the engine would cough the brake pedal would go mental, abs and sensor lights would illuminate and then it would run ok. didnt like that coughing business. all this would happen every so often from startup. i replaced the ns rear sensor coz i knew that it was the only one which wasnt replaced recently. all ok since. it seems that when one sensor fails the rest are approaching failure like as if they are wired in series. if you end up replacing one at a time at the dealers, it becomes big bucks with labour and all each time in a relatively short space of time.may aswell replace all at the same time but getting back to rev counter problems there still could be intermitting failure on the ns rear sensor.  

had a peep at the battery Andrew - it is a (BMW) battery - could it be the original? - didn t see a date on it. the car is a 2000 model. i dont think the battery is supposed to last 9 years. come to think of it - ive noticed a brighter headlight beam when revd.

Cheers

j