ABS and DSC Lights on Amber on the BMW

25. May 2010 · Write a comment · Categories: Cars · Tags: , ,

I’ve started getting this problem which at first happened intermittently during a long journey (1 hour plus), and is now happening almost every journey. A beep, followed by both ABS and the DSC light being illuminated orange.

Using carsoft to interrogate the ABS/DSC unit returns the following:

5E21 – Pressure sensor 2 accident recognition.

There are 2 sensors in the master brake cylinder. The prressure sensor from BMW is nearly £150 inc VAT, but I found one on Ebay German for €14 and €12 shipping to the UK. Will fit and report back….

The ECU also reported:

4252 and 4262 which are glow plugs cylinder 5 and 6, so I will check the wiring, again.

UPDATE: I fitted the cheap sensor I found on German Ebay – lost a bit of fluid so re-bled the brakes and the light has gone out 🙂

Winter Tyres on the BMW

11. January 2010 · Write a comment · Categories: Cars · Tags: ,

We’ve had a lot of snow recently (a lot as in compared to the last few years, not compared to other countries), and the BMW has been less than useless.  Living in a hilly area I found my girlfriend’s Alfa GTV much more successful than the BMW, even with 150kg’s of dead weight in the boot!  So, considering options – 16″ won’t fit – shame as the alloys and tyres are cheaper, so the smallest that will fit are 17″ alloys to clear the front brakes. Looking at winter tyre sizes:

Original sizes: 225/40/18 (front), 255/35/18 (rear) on staggered wheel set up.

I am looking at getting some other 17″ alloys off of the bay and fitting some winter tyres, probably in 225/45/17 size, as the narrower the better:

Size comparison (front):

Size Diameter (mm) Circumference (mm)
225/40/18 614.7 1931.14
225/45/17 634.3 1992.71
235/45/17 643.3 2020.98

Size comparison (rear):

Size Diameter (mm) Circumference (mm)
255/35/18 635.7 1997.11
225/45/17 634.3 1992.71
235/45/17 643.3 2020.98

So the 225/45/17’s look the best nearest size. Now to try and find someone who has some stock, and a spare set of rims….

Fault Codes on the BMW

16. December 2009 · Write a comment · Categories: Cars · Tags: , ,

Smoking on startup, poor mpg.  Read the fault codes with Carsoft:

4BC2 – Air mass meter

4BC7- Air mass meter

4BA0- Air mass meter

4222 Cylinder 2 : Activation interrupted

4242 Cylinder 4: Activation interrupted

4252 – Glow spark cylinder 5

I am currently trying with the MAF disconnected to see if it improves MPG.  3 failed glow plugs might explain the smokey start up!  Apparently they are also used when the engine is running.

A quick scour of the web and I was able to fill them all, bar the Activation Interrupted ones.

This post has a bit more information – calentadores – in Spanish means heaters.  So glow plugs again.

So I replaced the glow blugs.  Using a PDF on Beru’s website (they make the originals) they give the breakage torque, so using a torque wrench set below this I was able to get them all out successfuly, using plenty of plus gas.  No smoking / rough running at start up now 🙂

Using External Alarm on SPA Oil Pressure/Temp Gauge

01. June 2009 · Write a comment · Categories: Cars · Tags: , ,

I noticed the oil temperature got quite high when I was stuck in traffic – it sat at 92C, wich would be fine when moving as the pressure would build up, but when it’s idling the pressure is only 1 bar.  The size of the cooler make no difference when stuck in traffic and going nowhere.

So I decided to look at using the external alarm on the SPA gauge to drive a relay to drive some fans mounted behind the oil cooler.

I used 2 x 5″ server fans, one was 1A, the other 0.9A.  They shift a reasonable amount of air, so we will see if it is enough.

The relay was one I found on some old wiring loom, it switched at 105 Ohm.  The max load on the outputs for the gauge is 100mA, so a couple of resistors were used.  The pins are correct for my relay, so don’t go by the numbers, match up the relay diagram to your pins.

Circuit Diagram for External Alarm on SPA Gauge

VEMS Wideband O2 Gauge

27. May 2009 · Write a comment · Categories: Cars · Tags:

I’ve had a Vem’s Wideband & EGT Gauge for a while now, which has worked fine as a wideband logger.  I fed the RPM input into it but occasionally it keeps dropping out, intermittently which although annoying does not cause much grief in the log files.

We tried hooking up the pressure sensor signal to it, and enabling the dial in the software MegaTune – which although appears basic is incredibly flexible.  It does require us to work out the calculation for the analog input.  I have not finalised it yet as I may change the resistor used on the input line (the display switching button also uses the input line – a bit weird once you know).  If I change it then it will affect the values and I will have to calculate all over again.

Doing the calculation is easy – I know the sensor is linear and I have the voltage:pressure calibration points, so it is just a case of calculating the input value to display something meaningful.

I also made the mistake of putting on the latest firmware (2009-04-30) – avoid this, and the previous one (2009-03-??) and stick with the firmware dated (2008-02).  The latest didn’t allow the gauge to boot properly, it hung on counting up warming up the O2 sensor and displayed FF’s and FU’s.  Then you can’t apply the previous firmware.  The trick to get out of this was to switch on the gauge and immediately start the firmware update.

Alfa GTV 2.0 TS

02. March 2009 · Write a comment · Categories: Cars · Tags: ,

I picked up a rather cheap Alfa GTV 2.0 TS the other week with a knocking bottom end.  Before even looking at it I decided to pull the engine out (last weekend’s job), this weekend I stripped it down.

The pictures show erm, why it was knocking on heaven’s door: More »

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