I have a 2001 BMW 330i. The car has been a dream since the beginning but lately issues have risen to the surface. Today, when I turned off the ignition all the dashboard lights remained on. The keys in hand, lights off, nothing else on, but the dashboard was lit up light a christmas party. I recently recharged my battery, a problem, I think, caused by the cold temperatures. Other than that I have not noticed anything wrong with my baby. Please advise!
Your BMW is now ten years old.
Let the games begin!
By the way, one post is sufficient.
BMW repairs like this start with TSB searches, progress to module reprograming. The e-46 of the year you describe is prone to wire chaffing issues. I once had one where the left blinker would blink on it’s own and another with an air bag light caused by wire chafing for the passengers “head level airbag”. E-46 is one of my favorite BMW’s but they do have issues. I will look for TSB’s for you but my source (EBSCO) is really poor in regards to availability of BMW TSB’s. Lots of “file not found” messages.
No TSB’s but BMW uses the cluster as something like a data storage/exchange point. I would get it re-coded and see how it goes. Perhaps a tech more current could be more helpful
Thank you for your replies. I should have prefaced my question stating that I am a female with very little car repair experience. Can you explain “TSB” and “EBSCO” and “progress to module reprogramming”.
When I go to see a tech and ask him/her to “recode” what am I asking specifically?
Thanking you in advance.
TSB is a Technical Service Bulletin. BMW calls them “Service Information”. Think of both of them as a gathering of known problems with a car and a way (usually the best) to fix it. TSB’s can be good as they CAN save time but a mechanic must be sure he does not pass up the obvious and go for the fix in a TSB.
EBSCO is an online source of TSB’s. Many people have a way to log on to the EBSCO site and look for TSB’s. I can log on to EBSCO because I am a registered student at a now infamous Community College in Tucson AZ.
My approach would first be an inspection for something obvious (loose wire,that kind of stuff). If the car passes the inital visual inspection I would re-code (re-code is how BMW says “re-program”) the instrument cluster. Not all shops have the ability to re-code a instrument cluster. At times this is Dealer only, unless you find a large, current independant BMW specific shop.