I'm a MINI specialist and have been fixing and repairing MINIs for 6 years.

We had a car come in with the widely reported Red Steering Lock symbol



Our mechanic had the first look at this issue and wasn't able to find the fault. We both separately read various reports on this forum about what the cause might be and I thought as a lot of the stuff we read was wrong and recommends replacing expensive components I thought it would be a good idea to post up the solution in our case.

To cut a long story short, in this case I tracked this fault down to water in the connector to the ABS/DSC unit.

It's important to point out though that if you are reading this and you think the solution will be the same in your case... I wouldn't depend on that being true.

The reason your problem might not be the same is due to the way modern vehicle electrical systems work. A 'bus' system where control units sit on a common circuit used by multiple systems is different to the old-style systems in older cars where common bus systems aren't used. Bus systems use common wires between... say for example, front and rear of the car, to transmit computer data signals rather than traditional current, voltage and resistance as in traditional circuits. The advantage of this is not having to run individual cables for every device on the car. That reduces cost, weight and in theory it's more simple - isn't it?

So if you have a problem with the data signals not transmitting properly between control units this is like the equivalent of old fashioned problems where a faulty ground wire would stop a light cluster from working or something like that. Except the difference is that with a fault on a bus system all systems on that bus are potentially effected. In this case our problem was with water in a connector for a braking system giving us a warning symbol on the dash for a problem with the steering system.

What the symbol actually means is that the car is secured by the security immobiliser. Not a fault with the steering system as so often assumed.

So how do you resolve a fault like this?

The car was brought to us on a recovery truck as it would no longer start. We had to push it into the workshop. It also couldn't be connected to the diagnostics gear as the systems were not responding to diagnostics.

Although the diagnosis and repair process took at least 3 hours it can be summarised and having found the fault I can strip out all the guesswork on my part which took up all the time. You could fix this fault in 30 minutes if you knew exactly what the problem was.

You can't repair this fault without access to proper BMW specific diagnostics gear. Simply finding the connection problem and clearing the water wouldn't fix it.

1. When the car won't really talk to you it is necessary to manually identify the car to the computer as automatic detection won't work.

2. Under service functions and in the CAS (car access system) section you can reset the ELV error counter. Once you've done that the red steering symbol is cleared from the display, the car will crank-over but won't start. Critically, diagnosis is now possible so I started the diagnosis process again and the computer was able to automatically identify the car and start reading faults from the cars systems. At least 10 faults were identified with different systems.

3. Having so many faults coming up made me suspicious. When you think about it, it's obvious. It does not make sense for many modules to all become faulty at the same time so it must be some common cause effecting all systems together. So I looked at the faults being displayed to find one I could logically work through. A fault with the left front wheel speed sensor was the perfect fault to start troubleshooting.

4. I got the display on the diagnostics screen showing wheel speed sensor readings. The front left wheel speed sensor was showing a speed reading even when the wheel was stationary. So I swapped the front sensors from left to right. This eliminated the sensor as the fault remained at the front left. The next step in the diagnostics process is to check the wires between the sensor plug and the ABS/DSC control unit. So when I unplugged the ABS/DSC control unit I noticed even though the plug wasn't damaged it seems there is an 'in' position and 'out' position possible. Even with the connector lock in place and undamaged. About 1mm of movement is possible. 3 pins inside the connector were developing blue copper carbonate colour and beads of moisture were visible inside the connector on the socket side.

5. I cleared the blue colouration from the terminals, used a heat gun to dry moisture from the connector and used water dispersant spray to make sure. I reconnected the connector and pushed it in further than it was when I found it. I don't know whether this will prevent reoccurrence.

6. The engine still wouldn't start but I was able to clear all the faults from all modules leaving just one issue. The last remaining problem was the red steering lock symbol on the display. This was caused by the immobiliser losing its matching with the engine control unit. For security reasons the immobiliser (CAS) has to be synchronised with the ECU (DME) before the car will start. The sync was lost when problems caused by the water in the connector broke multiple systems.

So there you have it. I could have replaced the CAS unit, I could have replaced the steering control unit. Someone I was reading about replaced the steering motor as well. So you can't fix a problem like this at home by yourself. But you can pass this info on to a workshop and tell them how we resolved this fault.

 

can you take a picture of the connector in question?

 

Car was out of our workshop about a week ago. So no.

But it's not hard to find. Look for the ABS/DSC pump and module. It's the big lump with all the brake lines running into it.

But as I say. In a case like this. What you're looking for is a bus fault. Not a fault in an individual component or control module. It could eaisly have been water in another connector somewhere else. Or a split wire or anything like that.

 

Interesting! My '07 MCS just displayed this same warming a few days ago, and within a few thousand miles of the photo. Fortunately for me, the fault has not shut down the engine and the column lock mechanism seems to be working correctly - you can hear the lock mechanism retract/engage when inserting/removing the key fob. Very annoying symbol when driving however.


Off to the local non-dealer MINI/anything British repair shop for code diagnosis and hopefully repair next week. The various US and UK MINI/BMW web sites indicate this is a very common problem, with solutions ranging from software re-boot, new battery, column lock mechanism replacement, to wholesale steering column replacement. I'll update when we find out more.

 

Update on my previous post: Took the MCS into the local independent MINI repair shop Sports Car Shop in Eugene, OR for a diagnostic scan. Two locked codes were showing - A112 ELV fault and A116 Critical Status Electronic Steering Lock, both part of the CAS - Car Access System logic program. The tech ran the self-test on the ELV system, which passed. The faults were cleared and the "Fail Counter" reset. The MINI is now back to normal. $121 - whew!

 

Hello OldMGguy,
My '07 Justa is is doing the same just a few days ago. My steering column does lock and unlock. I can still start the vehicle and drive it. So does scanning and clearing the codes basically solve this issue?

 

Depends on what the problem is.

Although the obvious symptom is the red steering wheel lock light the cause does not have to be exactly the same.

In my case we were having very wet weather at the time that water got into the ABS connector. Some of the roads were even flooded and the customer must have driven through so much water that some of it ended up in the ABS connector which is low in the engine bay.

The guy above who has solved his problem just by clearing codes obviously has no defect in the wiring or control units... that isn't showing at the moment... because if it was present currently then clearing codes wouldn't have solved it. His problem may come back.

Yours could be like mine, it could be like the previous poster... or you might have something different. The only thing I'd really suggest is to avoid replacing control units until everything else has been checked.

 

Thank you for the advise Emmett. Greatly appreciated. Will update when I get this sorted out.

 

Hasn't the clock spring in the steering wheel been implicated in one or two cases like this as well?

 

No codes from the diagnostic scan.
Put in a new battery since the old original one was running weak.
The car still drives, steering wheel will lock and unlock. No difference. Symbol is still there.

 

Car is fixed. There was no electronic steering lock failure. It's was due to low voltage in the old battery. Had the dealer delete and reset all the codes. Runs fine now.

 

[QUOTE = oldMGguy; 4061475] Actualización en mi publicación anterior: Tomé el MCS en el taller local independiente de reparaciones MINI Sports Car Shop en Eugene, OR para un análisis de diagnóstico. Se mostraban dos códigos bloqueados: el fallo A112 ELV y el bloqueo de dirección electrónico de estado crítico A116, ambos parte del programa lógico CAS - Car Access System. El técnico realizó la autoprueba en el sistema ELV, que pasó. Las fallas fueron borradas y el "contador de fallas" se restableció. El MINI ha vuelto a la normalidad. $ 121 - whew! [/ QUOTE]
Thanks.....

 

Translated: Update on my previous publication: I took the MCS at the local independent repair shop MINI Sports Car Shop in Eugene, OR for a diagnostic analysis. Two blocked codes were shown: the A112 ELV fault and the critical state electronic address lock A116, both part of the CAS - Car Access System logic program. The technician performed the self-test on the ELV system, which happened. Faults were erased and the "fault counter" was reset. The MINI has returned to normal. $ 121 - whew

Thanks for the info