[jtcoops]

Hi Guys
So on Wednesday driving home I got the above warning, along with a lot of verbage in the Idrive screen about "Control lights, turn indicators, brake light, dipped beam or other light faulty". After a few seconds the error cleared, and then 30 seconds later came back on. I got out, checked all lights and they were all working as they should although after the second time the error gets displayed the indicators flash at double their usual speed.

Roll forward 24 hours, the frequency of the error message increases, and is accompanied by the IDrive rebooting every 5 minutes. During the next journey the Aircon controls stopped working as did the heated seats.

24 hours later I get SOS Call System Failure (just once, cleared after 10 seconds and hasn't been seen since). Lighting error comes up every 30-60 seconds. Heating and heated seats are at least working but the Idrive/stereo is constantly rebooting.

Reading various threads the overall advice seemed to be to replace the battery (its original, so done nearly 8 years). Had a new one fitted and coded today and on the drive home got Stabilty Control Failure message, then back to the lighting failure messages.

I've got the car booked into a local general mechanic on Thursday - none of the BMW dealerships can book me in until 11th Jan, so I'm trying to do some self diagnosis before then. None of the errors appear to be correct - as other than the lighting message they go away and the status page says No Faults. All the lights are still working as they should.

The only other issue which may have had an impact is the hose going to the radiator expansion tank failed - I noticed this Thursday morning and got it replaced but had to then put nearly 2 litres of coolant into the tank, so presume 2 litres has been sprayed around the engine bay. Therefore it could be water ingress causing the issue, but where would be an obvious place to look on that side of the car (pipe failed the opposite side to the expansion tank so are there any control units down that side that may need to be opened up and dried out?). I understand the LCM is inside the car, and given the other odd messages I don't think it necessarily is the LCM anyway.

For the first 5 minutes of driving there are no errors, its almost as if the engine bay has to warm up a bit before the errors start popping up.

Any thoughts or advice welcome.

[fe7565]

There is a lot to unpack here... (Good description)

If you plan on doing more self-diagnostics later, then worth to install (BMW shop software) ISTA+ (free) and to buy a $10 ENET cable on EBay or Amazon.

I would have someone sit in the car and have you observe every light on and off switched, staying on, etc for about 5 minutes. To eliminate anything obvious you cannot see from inside, especially when driving. Do you have any LEDs or retrofitted de-coded lights?

My first impression was that your blinker flashes twice as fast as normally. Back in the days that was an indication that one of the bulbs failed. In today's digital world, it may still be the case...

But then you are describing a slew of electrical controls related errors. Having HVAC, lights, and SOS call all going haywire at the same time would lead me also to a weak/dead car battery which can cause random errors in all systems. Charge battery, clear the codes, and check for codes again. (disconnecting the battery and reconnecting will display chassis stabilization error, which is normal and goes away after driving for about 30sec or few hundred feet)


Then you described that water may have gotten all over the engine compartment due to coolant leak. I sprayed my engine with full car wash blast in the past (not a smart thing, I figured by now), but never had any issues. But, that does not mean that it can't happen or did not happen in your case. There are many connectors in the bay so does not have to be water sprayed on a module...could be a connection anywhere. But, still this is less likely.

The car evaluates some systems within the first few minutes of driving and many systems are not evaluated until the engine comes to full operating temperature. Also, some erros do not register until they occur for a predetermined number of times, nor will they go away until they stop occurring for a predetermined of times.

[Billfitz]

The first step is always to scan for error codes. You then google them to find causes and cures. Since you're getting a lot of issues at once chances are there's a problem with the FEM.

[jtcoops]

Thanks for the reply.
Nothing has changed in the configuration of the car (LEDS or otherwise) since I bought it in 2019.

The stability control message only appeared the once after the battery was replaced so that's a relief. Also only had the SOS call function error once (so far).

Will try and get ITSA - presume Bimmercode won't let me dive deep enough?

Will re-check all the lights again tomorrow. However with the indicator fast flashing, again it doesn't happen straight away, usually after 10 minutes of driving and sometimes does it on left turn and sometimes on right. All very odd and frustrating.

As the instability of all the systems increases I won't be driving it until Thursday when the local mechanic can take a look, but really don't want to have to be hiring cars until January so if I can work out what the issue it would give the local mechanic a head start in hopefully fixing it.

[fe7565]

If you already have Bimmercode, it's a good start. But not all BMW error codes are detected by Bimmercode. ISTA+ is worthwhile for the long run to install, but takes some effort and for a one time event where you are already OK with paying a mechanic, it has more of an "interesting to have" value.

[Billfitz]

I never use Bimmercode for scans. It's either my Foxwell NT510 or my bimmer-tool Lite app, which is surprisingly good for freeware. It even finds codes that the Foxwell misses.

[jtcoops]

So an update for anyone suffering similar issues.
On Saturday had a new battery fitted by a local chain store - they coded the battery to the car but the faults didn't go away.

I did a scan with BimmerTool - literally every module gave 4 or 5 errors, mostly relating to voltage instability.

Checked it in with an Independent garage - they couldn't do anything so today it went in with a BMW specialist.

Initially they got the same load of errors, but couldn't find anything actually wrong with the electrics. It also reported a fault with Mic 2 - the 4 series only has one cabin mic so they tried to hook it up to the BMW Ista only for the car to not be recognised as a BMW!

In the end they did a "hard wipe" of all the data and systems, recoded the new battery - and all the problems went away.

They have only seen something similar once before - they think the original battery was dying, and this led to corrupt data in one of the management systems. Although the battery was then replaced, the coding of the new battery caused even more data corruption, and then with the cycling / rebooting of the Idrive and all the other warning circuits the whole system got filled with corrupt data.

Interesting, the only fault that now shows is Mic 2 open to earth. There is no Mic 2. However the car drives, everything works and it was £350 well spent for the half day the specialists took to get to the bottom of the issue.

The burst rad pipe was just an unlucky coincidence. No water had ingressed to any of the lamps or looms.

[fe7565]

Good news, and money well spent. I wonder how are they doing a "hard wipe"? Like a PC...erase all ECUs and reload all the firmware?

I think you can code out the second MIC with Bimmercode. Tell the car it only has one.

HU_NBT > MICROPHONE_NUMBER = wert_1