Driver Aid failure - damn snow!

TheBazman

Hi all

driving home from work today in Dublin (absolute ice rink) which was scary. RWD is no fun in heavy traffic in conditions like that. Anyway coming up a little slope to a roundabout and there was a queue of cars slipping all over the place unable to get up the slope. I got out and helped them push along with a couple of other lads. Eventually the couple of cars in front of me go after leaving what I thought was enough time to get up without having to stop. However just my luck that the car in front stopped as another car came onto the roundabout - and I stopped and couldn't get going. And typical when I jumped out to encourage a few lads to give me a push.....eerie lack of volunteers. In fairness Murphys law most of the car drivers behind were women. So I had to spend a couple of minutes trying my best to get going in vain before eventually a couple of lads appeared on the scene. However before this I had tried getting up with no acceleration which didnt work. I also tried turning off the traction control (DSC on BMW's) which obviously led to a lot of wheel spinning.

The result of this is that my dash is now lit up like a Christmas tree with errors
about ABS/Traction control failures...Please refer to a BMW garage etc... see pics below.

Anyway am I banjaxed? Will this have to go to a garage to be fixed or will all be okay when I sit in tomorrow (he says hopefully!). Also assuming it is just the driver aids that are gone I presume I can just drive away with extreme care in the mean time?

Cheers

Muckie

Heard of this happening to a fair few cars recently.
The systems in question have being stressed out.
Best bet is to see what the car starts like tomorrow.

Anan1

Have you tried turning off and restarting the engine? Might it just be that the ESP is deactivated? Although I don't like the sound of that message.

alexlyons

I'd suggest getting it checked. the old man has a bmw and stuff comes up about brakes, tyer pressure, and half the time its just the computer going nuts, but the other half is the brakes needing replacement etc..

BTW, noticed a few people getting stug and easing on the clutch to try get grip but no joy, and then abondoning. it happened to me, no grip, but if ya give it a bit of acceleration (not to much now!) itl eventually melt the ice and you'll get grip. wanna be careful of flooring it and rocketing forward!

just for kicks, saw some lad in an 07 passat (i think) stuck today, had a few lads sticking stuff infront of his rear wheels to give him grip. only problem... his front wheels were spinning.. front wheel drive car, epic fail! for the record, i couldn't stop as i was off to rescue the ol' man as he was sliding everywhere and didn't fancy killing himself!

btkm8unsl0w5r4

Similar thing happened to my wife's BMW. Was the battery in the end, the cold weather plays havoc with them. Had DSC and ABS, 4x4 systems and airbags lights flashing. Changed battery end of problem.

JHMEG

Disconnect the battery momentarily. These are most likely phantom errors. ie the computer doesn't know there's ice and the wheels were spinning etc.

TheBazman

Cheers folks - yeah it was a nightmare

I tried stopping and restarting after a minute or so and it was the same. I'll have a check again later on. If its still there I'll probably have to bite the bullet and ring the dealers.

copacetic

I had a similar error in the past and it was due to leaking brake fluid from a damaged caliper, as noted see what happens tomorrow but check the fluids also.

TheBazman

just had a check there - still the same way. I'll check fluid levels but I would imagine its related to all the wheel spinning etc given it happened at the same time and I was messing about with the DSC switch

Johnny Utah

I don't think it's a serious problem at all, but it would probably be better to get it checked nonetheless.

(I have read on another BMW forum of people with similar problems, who disconnected the battery for a few minutes and the warning lights disappeared when the battery was reconnected. Probably best to get it checked though.)

copacetic

TheBazman wrote: »

just had a check there - still the same way. I'll check fluid levels but I would imagine its related to all the wheel spinning etc given it happened at the same time and I was messing about with the DSC switch

most likely but no harm having a quick check in case the cold and the spinning/throwing ice around has broken a connection. seems unlikely but you never know..

mickdw

Seeing as these tracton control systems compare wheel speeds among other things, it is possible that the car read your rear wheel speed as being many multiples of the front wheels (when you were spinning your wheels). It would attempt to slow the rear wheel by cutting power etc but if it still was recording a huge difference between front & back wheels over a long period, it might assume that there was a fault and turn off system.
Perhaps if you get a chance to drive in normal conditions, it will reset itself.
A quick reset at the dealer is worst case I would think. Having said that, there is a control unit fault in 3 series 2006 models I think which causes the same fault as you have and that is a €2000 fix if bmw dont cover it.

Victor_M

Bazman, sounds like we had a very similar journey home tonight, lots of laughs at the M3 burning it up and going at 0.05 Mph, don't worry about the warning lights, I had this last Jan with the snow and like yourself thought I'd wrecked the car, the lights will stay on if you just turn the car off and back on again, but they will most likely be gone in the morning.

On a seperate note I had no problems until I had to stop, crawling along was no problem getting going again was the problem, I found a lot of people driving selfishly tonight breaking lights and cutting out of side roads in front of other cars in order to keep inertia/momentum, I had adjusted my route home to minimise hills, lights & traffic I was doing grand until I got to Blanchardstown I nearly got out and assaulted a few drivers on the way home for pure ignorance, I had 3 instances in a short distance around the blanchardstown SC where I had to 'slam' on and stop due to our friends pulling out in front of me without stopping to avoid having having to stop themselves or out of a lack of patience and/or understanding of the rules of the road:mad: (rant over)

TheBazman

I think ill just ring the dealer in the morning. Bloody hassle.

TheBazman

Sounds similar Victor. Absolute nightware. At one stage I was fully stopped for a minute or so and while I was still sitting on the brakes the bloody car started sliding.

Victor_M

mickdw wrote: »

Seeing as these tracton control systems compare wheel speeds among other things, it is possible that the car read your rear wheel speed as being many multiples of the front wheels (when you were spinning your wheels). It would attempt to slow the rear wheel by cutting power etc but if it still was recording a huge difference between front & back wheels over a long period, it might assume that there was a fault and turn off system.
Perhaps if you get a chance to drive in normal conditions, it will reset itself.
.

I'd wager that this is exactly what is going on, the car will realise after a short drive in the morning that the car is actually fine and reset the warning lights.

TheBazman

Victor_M wrote: »

I'd wager that this is exactly what is going on, the car will realise after a short drive in the morning that the car is actually fine and reset the warning lights.

Hopefully assuming I can get to a road in the morning which I can drive on "normally"

TheBazman

Sat in this morning(in -12.5 degs!). Errors still there, however after 200 metres or so they all disappeared and traction control now working fine.
Cheers all

macrubicon

The ABS/TC sensors etc are prone to getting covered in snow and ice thrown up esp. if the wheels have been spinning a good bit and in the 5 series.

Once they thaw or vibrate out the errors normally clear.

If it hangs on it might be worth a reset of the system.

sogood

TheBazman wrote: »

Sat in this morning(in -12.5 degs!). Errors still there, however after 200 metres or so they all disappeared and traction control now working fine.
Cheers all

Sometimes when the computer gets upset like this, it's possible to clear and reset the system, especially on older BMW's at least, by disconnecting both battery leads and short them out by connecting them together. That is, the LEADS, NOT THE BATTERY TERMINALS!! Anyway, leave them connected together for about 5 minutes and it often works wonders, with a noticeable improvement in overall performance, especially with sluggish or troublesome gear changes on automatics. I have done this myself and it really works!

TheBazman

Cheers lads. All fine for the moment anyway