Ok - I should preface by stating that; after playing around with my Foxwell NT510 Elite in an effort to clear, re-set and re-calibrate the Steering Angle Sensor on my pre-facelift '04 R53.
The procedure below seems to have worked for me. So far (150 miles since) so good...

Most may already be familiar with navigating and working an OBDII reader. In this case the - Foxwell NT510 is what I'd used and documented the steps I took...so bear with me..

In the first few segments; I illustrate how I checked the current status of my Angle sensor as it relates to my R53.

1_If you have SAS/DSC faults or lights lit on the speedo - Don't clear them (the fault codes) yet.
2_Drive the car on a flat surface with the front wheels perfectly straight and align the steering wheel as perfectly straight as possible.
3_ With the Foxwell NT510 Elite plugged into the OBD port; set the key in the second position (engine off / not running).
4_Set the Foxwell to Mini, scan or enter your VIN. Select Yes(F3) when VIN and Model are acknowledged. Data is then read and loading.



5_On the "Main Groups" screen > Select: "Diagnosis" from the list. and select "Quick Scan" on the next screen and hit Enter. Let it scan for faults.







6_When the Quick Scan is complete, Go ahead and clear the faults





7_After clearing the faults, Press the BACK button on the Foxwell navigation pad > "Are You Sure to exit" will display > select Yes(F3)
8_The screen will revert back to "Diagnosis". Select >"Control Modules" press Enter on the key pad and then select > "Chasis" and press Enter...





9_Select "Steering Angle Sensor" and press Enter > On the next screen select> "Live Data" hit enter





10_ Select "General" and press Enter. The next screen select "Steering Angle" by pressing the Enter button and then OK(F3)



11_The next screen will show the current Steering Angle of your steering wheel (which you can adjust by nudging the wheel Left or Right to achieve as close to 0.0 as possible).



Now that we've checked the current status of your steering angle, We'll move on to re-Calibrating and the locking in the Angle Sensor to 0.0...

12_Press the BACK button on the navigation key pad several times until you get back to the "Main Groups" Screen which will display three categories = 'Diagnosis', 'Service' and 'Special Functions'
13_ Select "Special Functions" the screen will load data...



14_After loading, There will be another set of categories; select> "Steering Angle Sensor" ....



select Steering Angle Sensor again in the next screen and press Enter. The screen will load data



15_After the data is loaded it will display a screen "Steering angle sensor matching" , Do you wish to carry out steering angle sensor matching? -
MAKE SURE YOUR WHEELS AND STEERING WHEEL ARE PERFECTLY STRAIGHT and select YES(F3)



16_ In the next screen you will be presented with "Set wheels precisely straight ahead" and hit YES(F3)



17_ The scanner will run it's routine in the background for several seconds...



...the screen will change showing "steering angle #" and a dialogue rectangle in red "NEXT"
18_Wait a few seconds and then hit the Enter button on the Foxwell's navigation key pad.





19_"Service Function Is Finished" > YES(F3)



It has been said or written that the Foxwell NT510 does not have the capability of re-setting or re-calibrating the Steering Angle Sensor ----
Although I'm fairly satisfied that it has worked for me....so far.
Let me know if it worked for you or not.

Thanks!

 

Thank you for posting this. 👏👏👏

 

that foxwell scanner seems like it works well. @bump32 do you have the same scanner or did you have success with a different model?

 

I have the same scanner but I just bought it and only plugged it in one time just to make sure it worked. Haven't had time to get back to working on the car. I will eventually, post my results too.

 

Just thought I'd share an update after resetting my Steering Angle Sensor fault/and exstingusing the constant annoying flat tire & DSC warning lights on the clock. I've driven my Mini a little over 1,200 miles since then...

The good news:
I've only had the flat tire & DSC lights come up on the clock twice. Once after making a very sharp right turn and the second time when first starting the car. In both circumstances simply recycling the ignition extinguished the lights and haven't come back on in at least 1,200 miles. So I'm confident that my alignment is correct by only .04° off (due to play in the steering knuckle...?). The car drives perfectly straight / no drifting/wandering or unusual tire wear.

The bad news:
Running a routine OBD scan at one time, still showed a fault within the SAS ("Internal"). But the warning lights on the clock never come up.
Regardless; even though I enjoy driving the car without having those annoying waring lights come up as they did before the reset; It's only obvious that sooner or later I'll have to crawl into the footwell and deal with either try cleaning or installing a new Sensor.

But 'til then - Let the good times roll baby!

 

Update with regards to my SAS error.
As I noted in the other thread... I was able to read the angle on my old OBD reader and set the SAS to 0 degrees and re-installed it onto the steering column (at 0)
Since then, I've had no error lights come up on the dash so I haven't even bothered with the new OBD / Foxwell.
So far so good.

 

That's awesome!
So; removing, dissembling, cleaning, adjusting the contacts and replacing the SAS @ .0° with the steering wheel straight may actually work in some cases as an alternative to new replacement sounds very encouraging.
Definitely worth the effort.
I'll give it a try when I go to pull mine.
Thanks for the update @bump32 !

 

What do I do if my FW NT510E scanner is reading -1440 for the sensor angle?

 

Yep - That happened to me too after trying to do the manual SAS procedure by clocking the wheels left and right a few times. That totally messed everything up and subsequently got a SAS reading from my Foxwell -1440.
The fix for me:
Go ahead and set your wheels and steering wheel straight and then clear the/any fault codes. You can then recheck your Steering Angle position using the Foxwell. With any luck the angle will show correctly. From that point (if you wish), you can move on to the procedure I posted above.

Good luck!

 

Well it is not showing correctly, so it's likely the SAS needs to be taken apart and cleaned and see if it reads correctly again.

 

Try taking your Mini out for a drive around the neighborhood and see if that helps/changes the reading.

 

It's my mother's R53 Cooper S so tomorrow I'll be riding shotgun with the scanner watching the live data and see if there's any hint of life from the sensor. If not I'll still do the disassembly and clean and try the recalibration again if it does read a different value, if not then I just have to get a replacement.

 

Sounds like a good plan.

 

We shall see how it goes, slowly trying to crunch out all the dang gremlins that have been persistent for the past, however long she has owned that car, since like, 2022? Had to tear apart most of the interior, excluding the dash because of a loose moon roof drain tube and loose antenna mount, repaired some wires and reloomed the lower front right interior harness with color coded vinyl electrical tape, thankfully the BCM didn't fry.