How to disable warning lights
 

My 2004 R53 is almost due for its 2-year mandatory inspection and I'd like to avoid any hassles.
My airbag warning light is on but I'm almost certain it's either due to the circuit or it's the passenger side and is not something I want or need to spend $1000 to fix right now.
Also, I've had (and posted about) the 2 warning lights associated with the wheel sensor on since I bought the car almost 2 years ago.
I've tried everything to get them turned off to no avail but am relatively certain it's related to the run flats being replaced with regular rubber and not an actual problem.
Is there any reasonably easy way to disable these lights without affecting the car's ability to operate normally?

Thanks in advance.

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I had an air bag light on in my R53 for a while.....I got tired of looking at it......I could not clear the code by disconnecting the battery .......so until I bought the Schwaben scanner from ECSTuning.....what I did was remove the plastic gauge face from my speedometer and get a piece of black electrical tape and a pair of scissors to make a little black circle to go over the light that is on......take your time.....it worked great....after I finally got a circle cut out, installed, and the gauge clear face and ring put back on....you could not tell it from the other circles. Once I got the scanner and cleared the code, it never came back

Now, with that said.....are these inspection people smart enough to tell if the lights are supposed to come on when the key is turned to on and engine is not running?? If they don't see them come on, will they flag you??

Bryan (my two cents worth)

PS: Have you done the reset procedure for the TPMS light in the speedometer? The other yellow light in the tach is telling you that an ABS sensor may be bad

The airbag situation was covered by a safety recall #15V-205 some time back. I had mine replaced with no problems since. It's worth checking in to, I can't verify any more than that. Contact your nearest dealership and provide your VIN number.
I'm +1 with A383 on the ABS sensor.

His car is an '04....not sure if they had the passenger side seat mat issue back then....I just had my '06 replaced under the recall, but at 'Brick says, give the dealer your VIN and see if there is a recall on your car for the air bag

Bryan

Thanks for the info! Yeah, I've tried all the tips and suggestions for the TPMS light. Nothing has worked. I even bought a cheap OBII diagnostics tool which didn't show anything. Now wondering if it's worth it to plop down $150 to get the NT510. I guess there's no real harm in trying to visit the local dealer and see if the airbag is under recall.

Not sure about how closely the shops check the lights. I've got a friend who is helping with the inspection so I'm hoping if I at least give him plausible deniability he'll let it slide. I've actually heard it's not that difficult to go through the inspection process on one's own, so I'm looking into that too.

The cheapo OBD II diagnostic tools will not read or reset any trouble codes or lights except the "check engine light". My Snap On scanner couldn't do it. I would strongly recommend the 510 scanner if you plan on working on your car yourself. I will admit, the scanner is a bit tough to figure out for the first few times you use it. There's no real "instruction" manual to guide you through the process of getting and clearing codes, but it does the job for the Mini

Let us know what happens with your inspection, if all else fails, try the little electric tape circles

Bryan

In an R53, the wheel speed sensor is used for TPMS, ABS and DSC. A faulty sensor can trigger both of the warning lights.

Once an airbag warning has triggered, it will not reset by itself, even if the error condition has been fixed. An airbag warning must be reset using a diagnostic or airbag reset tool like a B200. You should try resetting it and see if it turns back on. If it comes back on, you need to read the error code for information.

Correct. And from what the previous owner told me, the problem first presented when he switched from run flats to regular tires. Apparently one of the sensors was damaged. The problem is how to determine which one (cheaply) and then fix it (also cheaply).
Remember, I'm in Japan where everything is more difficult to determine and much more expensive to repair.

As far as the airbag light, "you ought to try resetting it" is pretty common sense, but as I indicated, more difficult done here. Also, the B200 tool doesn't seem to be available from many of the obvious sites now, i.e. Amazon or eBay.
Is there a newer tool that does the same thing? Or if I got the NT510 scanner tool does that have the capability to reset it or do they each perform separate functions?
Again, thanks to everyone for the input. Growing up on a farm, I was always used to being able to suss things out and fix them myself, but living here has made that much more difficult. Homes don't have garages and most people do not DIY.

The B200 has apparently been superseded by the B800, which appears to be readily available. Even if it isn't able to clear the error, it should retrieve a code. Don't know about the NT510 capabilities.

Thanks! Yep, found it on Amazon.jp for $20. Ordered and on its way.

So, thanks for the tip on first the B200 and subsequently the newer B800.
Arrived today, follwed instructions, and voila! No more airbag light. :)
Now, wondering if I should drop $150 on the N510 to see if I can clear anything else and possibly get those 2 last nagging lights to go out.

I'm needing to do this on my 05 , the B800 says it will only work up to 03 ..

Hopefully it will stay off, but it may come back on again if your airbag still has a problem. The airbag light is unique in the way it "sticks" once it turns on. For your other warning lights, they would have turned off by themselves if a problem was no longer detected. It's unlikely that you can simply clear the warnings but you can get an error code.

'03 only refers to BMW models. The same electronics continued to be used on MINI through the 1st generation.
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ml#post3986286
If the overhead passenger occupancy light is also on (a common problem with the passenger sensor mat — see this), the tool won't clear it.

Yeah, as far as the airbag, I'm really only concerned about it being off long enough to pass the inspection.
Regarding the other 2 lights, I think one or more of the TPMS sensors are faulty. It probably occurred when the run flats were being swapped for regular rubber.
The previous owner said he was able to get it passed even with the warning lights on since it is easy to determine if the tire pressure is correct. He had to equip the car with a flat repair kit but he claims that was all that was required. Fingers crossed.

a GEN1 car does not have TPMS sensors (as used today) unless cars for your location are different.

the pressure monitor uses wheel speed as the input, aka the ABS sensor. You are seeing ABS and TPMS warnings because a wheel speed sensor is not working.

IF the problem WAS a TPMS sensor, these are easily defeated by cutting the sensor off, splicing the two wires together and resetting the system. Not so with a wheel speed / ABS sensor ..... this must be replaced.

Gotcha. Sorry, I'm sure I was told that awhile back but my memory failed me again. So.....wheel speed / ABS sensor.....where is it located and how easy/difficult/expensive is it to replace? And I guess I would need a decent diagnostics device (NT510?) to determine which is/are faulty?

I guess this is what I need? Can I replace these myself? Difficulty level? Required tools?

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There should only be two sensors, left front and right rear, at least that's what is on my car. The front is easy, rear is a bit of a pain to get to the electrical connector. It's located in front of the wheel up in the body opening. You will need to remove tire and then follow the wire from sensor to connection. You will probably end up breaking the plastic clip that holds the connector to the body as I did, part is about $5 from dealer. A couple wire ties will be needed also.

Bryan

And if they're both replaced the lights should go out I guess. For $20 it seems like a no-brainer. I'll order both and see how it goes. I'll replace the front first and hope that does the trick. Doesn't look like there's any difference between them but I'll check to be sure. Thanks!

Cheers!

Yes. Easy to replace. Just need a wrench.

Oh I'm good at wrenching. ;)

OK, my bad...I was thinking about the brake pad sensors to turn the warning lights on when the pads are worn down, there are two of those.....there are 4 ABS sensors on the car, one at each wheel....the biggest issue is after you take the little bolt out and then the sensor may be stuck in the hole that it goes into.....some penetrating oil may help here....I had one on my '06 that I could not get out when I was changing the front hub.....so I had to be careful as not to break it

The sensor connectors for the rear wires are still a pain to get to.....so just be prepared for that

Bryan

The front sensors are in a well where debris and water can sit, it causes rust around the sensor. I had to drill mine out- If you need to do so, be sure that you don't drill any farther through than is necessary (I used the new sensor as a gauge and put a drill stop onto it), as you can ding the back of the Hub and cause THAT to throw a wheel speed sensor light as well. My Schwaben diagnostic was able to read which wheel sensor was inactive making it easier.
Another tip was to grease the new sensor length (not the end of it) when you put it in to keep water from causing rust again.
HTH,

So I also used to have those two lights on. When I got a wheel alignment, it went away! maybe it might be that...

wait... i also did took the brake pad sensor out of the brake caliper and zip-tied it to the side... So basically, it is connected to nothing! Both on my front left and rear right... try this first... maybe it work...

Hmmmm...the plot thickens. Not sure I wanna start playing eenie meenie minee mo. Lol
Also not sure if I'm ready to spend $150 on a diagnostics device and then more on the sensors. What to do......

Thanks! I'm leaning towards getting the Schwaben just because it would be good to have.
The replacement procedure is starting to make me apprehensive though as this is Japan and I don't have a nice garage with all the fixings.
Thinking for the time being I'll see if I can get it to pass inspection with the lights on. If I can then I can do the repairs sometime over the summer. If it doesn't then I'll need to do it sooner. Hehe

Well, this isn't my brake pad sensor light. That was on a little while ago but I replaced all the pads and it went out. This is the ABS sensor.
Can't imagine a realignment would make a big difference as, A. it doesn't feel out of a alignment, and B. as old as this car is and with the run flats being replaced with regular rubber, I'd say there's a much better chance one or more of the sensors is no longer working.

This will have absolutely zero to do with the functionality of the ABS system or the sensors within.

I don't believe that's entirely true. First of all, it's very possible that one of the sensors may have been damaged during the swap. Secondly, depending on the dimensions of the replacement rubber it could certainly set off the sensors.
As mentioned, I was told by the previous owner that the problem presented at the time the tires were changed. I have no reason to doubt him as he's a friend.
In any event, I think it's clear (not absolutely, as I don't like to speak in absolutes) that the problem lies with at least one of the sensors.
So my choices are to either start replacing them one by one and hope it's the first one and not the last one, or drop around $150 on a diagnostics tool that can identify exactly which it is.

No. The TPMS system, as explained already in this thread, uses the ABS sensors to detect a ~10% rotational difference. At that point a TPMS light is illuminated. If anything else was done while simply swapping tires, whoever caused the fault should never touch a wrench again, or at the very least hit the books and learn a little first.

Swapping tires from runflat to not-POS will not, and can not, directly affect TPMS on these cars. If the reading wasn’t reset / renormalized after swapping the tires and properly setting the tire pressures, see point 1 about finding a competent mechanic / source of information.

It wasn't actually explained to that extent, and while I might agree that if the problem occurred during the swapping of tires the "mechanic" should have caught it, I was told this by the previous owner so I do not know the whole story, as explained already in this thread.

It still sounds like I have at least one bad sensor, as already mentioned, since the standard method of resetting the lights using the button next to the parking brake didn't work. So I guess since you haven't really added anything to steer me in a different direction, I'll go with my aforementioned plan and either start replacing them one by one or get a Foxtrail NT510 and see about either resetting the codes or identifying which sensors are bad.

Dude, get the scanner. It will come in handy many more times and help you learn to troubleshoot your vehicle.

Wait, it's been two weeks and you haven't scanned it yet? Get NCS Expert and start poking around.

Regardless, swapping tires doesn't intrinsically have any ability to cause a functional failure of the TPMS system, which was somehow mentioned as a possible cause.

Oh yeah, that sounds like great advice for a newbie. Lol

As mentioned way back in the beginning of this thread, I do not have a scanner/diagnostics tool.
The Foxwell NT510 seems pretty user friendly. NCS Expert not so much.
While at some point I'd certainly be interested in learning some of the coding aspects available, for right now my only concern is getting my car to pass the mandatory 2 year inspection as mentioned numerous times.
I've still got about 6 weeks til it has to be done so I'm not in a huge rush. Just trying to weigh whether it would be better to bite the bullet and fork out close to $150 on a diagnostics tool which will probably only confirm what's wrong but not actually fix anything,
OR start replacing ABS sensors starting with the easier ones in the front and hope I get lucky and find the right one sooner rather than later. Not sure how NCS Expert and "poking around" really helps. Perhaps you could expound on that.