Hi all,

as usual winter woes, its always when it’s nasty out my car wants attention! (No garage, Canada). Anyway I’ve had the trio of lights come on. They go off at every start up and then come back on after various amounts of time.

My concern is prior to the lights coming on there is a lot of noise behind the dash/foot well area. And jittering in the brake pedal. Basically feels like abs is going 90.

I’ve had one alarming exp, the brake pedal felt hard while the actual braking was non existent. Had to pump the brake and it overcame the abs feedback and slowed the car.

once the tmps/abs/traction lights come on braking is back to normal, and no noises or weird pedal feedback.

1) anyone experienced this, pointers to solution appreciated.

2) can I remove the abs fuse for now until I have a chance to fix it? It would be safer in my mind to not have this unknown amount of time for the system to recognise there’s an issue and basically light me up from the start.

Background:
it is a R52 S 2006.
Was not driven for ages due to covid and work from home, driving weekly again. Wondering if crusty bits from disk brakes could be affecting the sensors??

cheers.

 

As with anything electronically controlled on these cars (which is everything), and to help others weight in would first check:
>battery - resting voltage 12.6V and would pull it in any case and have it tested before anything. Also clean up the terminals / posts. These cars HATE low voltage / weak batteries.
>grounds - the big one attached to the passenger / right side upper engine mount bracket especially; others are listed in Bentley
>signs of water intrusion in fuse panels and inside the car especially around foot wells, battery compartment
>OBDII codes

Also
>brake fluid level / condition. side note - how cold does it get up there? DOT4 turns into jelly at -40F/-40C, probably not it unless you live in the Yukon or something
>thorough visual inspection above/below for leaks / corroded lines etc

 

@Daftlad yes I was a bit remiss in the details. My car is currently in a shell of ice (Ice rain). So tomorrow I’ll pull codes etc. I’m in Ontario it’s cold but not that -40 cold.

i suspect it is an abs sensor/wheel hub but was checking in here in case there’s other odd things than can occur.

for now, fwiw: fluids were all checked recently and topped up. Brake fluid was fine. Brake pads are good but disks had good amount of rust initially due to sitting. That’s long gone, but symptoms started around that time. Will check battery none the less but car starts like a champ every time and in -10 and lower so don’t suspect battery.

separately tpms was coming on alone. Put that down to softer winter tires, topped up air but they were all within .5 to 1psi max.

 

Here's what I went through regarding ur same issue. The search button in the top right of the forum brings up 100x posts with ur same problem. You'll find exactly what you looking fir with it..
ice may have built up and unplugged a sensor or the hubs are bad causing the tone rings to not correctly read the wheel sensors.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...-info-plz.html

 

FWIW - My cure for extinguishing the dashboard DSC trifecta was a simple and common problem with these cars = replacing left wheel speed sensor.
May or may work in your case...

 

Finally got a break in the cold weather.

battery after testing 3-4 days below freezing: 12.04v, after startup 13.98v, engine started from cold on 3rd cycle.

fluids all fine inc brake fluid.

scanner suggests front right wheel sensor and or wheel hub. must be why the abs is pulsing like crazy, getting some funky readings.

so I’ll probably replace both, but assuming it’s the ring more than the sensor. If the sensor was faulty likely just not send signals rather than send abs into frenzy.

here are the error codes:



Silver lining it’s all related to front right wheel and also no engine codes .

 

DSC and TMPS without ABS (not a Trifecta). I wanted to slot this in here for those who might be looking. my son spun and rear left hit the kerb hard.
Had DSC and TMPS come on sold without ABS and could not clear.
Reading posts on Trifecta I look off rear left and front left (just in case of Murphy's law) and did a visual on wheel speed sensors. Connected , cleaned and reconnected blue plugs. Did not want to attempt the sensor at that stage due to fear of snapping the bolt as is common.
had wheels alignment previous to kerb hit. brought that car back for realignment. It was out.

Had realignment done. Hard press on the type pressure reset on center handbrake and errors disappeared .
Long winded way of saying DSC and TMPS lights on solid , with No codes (important) was wheel alignment

R50, 2004 70,000 miles , Stamford Connecticut

 

Thank to all for the help. Just following up to close out in case this comes up for anyone.

tldr it was the hubs/tone ring…. I think 99%

so this winter was almost the end of my mini. But I’ve saved her and on the path to full restore. She’s driving again. I’m chasing panel rust now.

after this post I pulled abs fuse (engine bay) as the abs code would always clear then act crazy until the sensor tripped the dash lights. Effectively short cutting to having no abs.

then my brakes went. Canadian road salt had caused a hole to form in rear break lines. Got them replaced (since have seen the ***** job mechanic did on them for $600 - crooked, left old lines in place). I usually do my own work but was out of town and stranded with no brakes so was all in a rush.

then a week later I heard a knocking from front right wheel. Again out of town but wife was there with 2nd car so had mini towed 300km thank you CAA coverage.

so she was put up on jacks for several months while I worked away on her. The knock was the bearing. Totally shot 130k. Further inspection, the lower control arms didn’t look good, and the CV’s were not much better. You know that outer tie rod looks a bit rusty too. And then of course how is the sub frame…. Not so good.

at this point I was a bit dismayed. As was my wife as it meant I needed her car for work every other week. What started as a new wheel hubs turned into a restoration. Maybe for another post.

In short I pulled the subframe, stripped it back. Found only one bad area, had about a 2x1” section removed and welded on new steel. Then por 15 the sub frame, crash tubes. Looks new. Steering pump pressure line replaced. New fluid and clamps while at it. New tie rod outers, control arms, cv axles, ball joints, poly bushings (psb) for control arms, sway bar, steering rack. New engine mount lower. Reconditioned the sway bar.

and of course why I’m only 99% sure the OG issue was the abs tone ring on the hubs. Because of rust I couldn’t remove the abs sensors without drilling them out. So new abs sensors too.

good news. I have no dash lights. She’s driving lovely. And the actual underbody is rust free due to a lovely rubbery paint I don’t know why is not present on the sub frame too.

while I was at it I replaced the rotors with brembo anti corrosion, and Bosch pads all round. It was good to swap the winter tires out with summers during aug!!!

I have noted the rear sub frame also needs attention. It’s not as bad as the front was but I think im going to spray wool wax or the like under the whole car. Focus on the panel rust on the lower doors/boot(trunk) and the tackle the rear sun next year. May do the next gen aluminium trailing arm upgrade while at it.

big shout out to modmini YouTube vids. Bentley manual and rockauto. Plus some other sources. Could not have done any of this at home without. Fwiw mini dealer quoted me $150 for one abs sensor. Amazon 40 for all 4. Cv axle 1 of the $1000 local store $600 while rock auto was much more competitive. Probably spent 1.5-1.8k cad. Car wouldn’t have been worth having a dealer fix it or for me to do it buying parts locally which is unfortunate but is what it is.

Here’s a couple pics.



Discovery

Sub frame Removal

Yikes, thank you Canadian road salt.

Crash tube refurbished - por 15. Top coated after for uv protection.

Steering knuckle got some love too. Meta prep / zinc treatment prior to por-15.

Final sub frame re-assy.

Lifting back in place. Cv axles and hubs installed prior.


moral of the story this Irish lad learned the hard way living in Canada - under coat your car, always!!!!

 

Hoo boy that's a lot of scale. Well done sir. Car is looking great!

Surprised it wasn't even more.

 

Ha! Yeah the sales guy knew it too. He said you can probably get an aftermarket one for $50. He was surprised it was all 4 of them for $40.

I was in there for a M16 banjo bolt. One of the steering rack banjos never tightened up just sheer broke. I could only get that part at a mini dealer, and ironically that bespoke bolt and 2 crush washers came to a very reasonable $20, meanwhile $150plus tax for a single abs sensor which is supposed to be a consumable part SMH. 🤣.

 

Something to mindful of when it comes to the vehicle speed sensors (VSS). BMW products are VERY finicky and require BMW specific VSS. I, too, tried the cheap aftermarket thinking that this was a simple match them up and plug and play. I was wrong. They did not work. (This was for my E39) I ended up having to source some used VSS from the junk yard and they worked perfectly.

SO, do not be surprised if the aftermarket ones you have sourced do not work. I currently have a set from ECS (I think URO brand) that were like $28 a pop. Not installed yet so I am not sure if they will work or not. Once I install, I'll be letting folks know. Worth a shot as the BMW parts are NOT cheap.

 

Which is to say, insanely / insidiously overpriced. Because BMW.

 

they work. All dash lights cleared the moment the sensors were back in. OBD-II is happy. YMMV but FWIW this is my 2nd set of aftermarket sensors never had an issue, other than getting them out of the steering knuckle.

I got my ones on Amazon, from the tried and true well known brand: XINHAN AUTO PARTS $44CAD delivered 2x front and 2x rear abs sensors, so $11 a pop. They would have to be faulty 15 times each before matching bmw.

 

just curious how many miles did you get out of the first set?

 

New owner of a 2004 R53, 114k and presenting with trifecta

scanner reads bad left front sensor, so I found this discussion of replacement sensor quality informative.

Looking at eBay, there’s the expected $50/4 deals, as well as $150ea Bosch sensors.

There’s also “Delphi” and “Hella” brand sensors at around $100 per axle pair. This seems reasonable, and hopefully avoids the cheap junk.

anyone have experience with these brands?

Great forum, and thanks!
Marc

 

I can’t say. As you can see in tbe pics above while I had the subframe out I stripped and treated any rust with por-15 system. Part of that required the sensors out from the steering knuckles. My bearings were shot (~140km) so I do believe it was the tone rings not the sensors. The aftermarket sensors may have lasted longer, but I needed them out from the knuckles and that required drilling due to rust.

regardless I’d say they lasted 50-60k kms to that point.

 

per pair? Not the worst but if going aftermarket it’s a bog standard magnetic sensor and a wire.

check out rock auto. Anything with a heart is the highest selling with least returns. Delphi is common brand. As said I’ve mine on, they’re easy to replace (plug and play). The cheapo ones I got on Amazon look and feel and fit the same as mini/Bosch and would have to fail 10 times before I’d be worse off. YMMV.

FWIW: I don’t cheap out where it counts. Specifically for this type of generic wire and magnetic sensor it’s kind of hard to screw it up if you’re making it even half assed. Not much to them.

 

Good food for thought…will report back on my adventures in online merchandise!

 

You must be a doctor / medical professional, either that or you watch BMW Doctor Dean's YT channel

Also our vendors on this board. Many offering free shipping for a very reasonable purchase minimum as well as lifetime replacement for many parts that break / wear out down the road. Electronics are the weak link of any car but in particular of these cars. Would generaly avoid the cheapie no-name stuff on Evilbay and Slamazon (although...we've all done it, in a pinch, and lived to tell the tale) in favor of OEM quality products sold by ECS Tuning, Outmotoring, and Pelican. Factory or better quality without the ridiculous stealership prices.