MINI Most liked posts in thread: TPMS and traction control lights issue

Yep, this is what it turned out to be. The tacho was the root cause and was what was making the car go haywire. I paid for an hour diagnostic at a BMW/MINI garage which rvealed it was the instruments. I took off the tacho and the car drove perfectly! I bought another tacho for £10 from a breakers and the car is now all fixed!!
Thanks everyone.

 

Hi thanks!! My gut feeling is the battery is OK as it starts instantly. No aftermarket stuff added but yes signs of water ingress which could be part of the problem.The fault codes point to the canbus system but i'm at a loss to know where to go to attack the problem. Ive cleaned everything i can see. The code 5E1A seems to be an engine one to the ECU or DME as BMW call it but i'ce taken that apart and the connections are clean. I did try that forum but 2 posts and no suggestions so far.

 

Hi, no, i'm not sure what one of those is. ... The BCM is on the RH side of my car in the footwell and i have disconnected that and cleaned all the connections. I even tried another BCM, but no joy.

I know this fault will turn out to be something small and stupid!! Thanks for the reply.

 

Ok, I know what it is. I just paid for a Mini specialist to scan the car and they diagnosed the instrument panel as at fault. Either the tacho or the speedo unit. I've previously tried disconnecting the tacho and this did not make a difference so it must be the speedo unit. Apparently its part of the CANBUS system and is going haywire, causing all the issues.
However i gather that changing the speedo is not straightforward as it will display the mileage and details of the car it came off. So it needs re-coding or something. A new speedo unit i'm told is very expensive IF i can get one through BMW. I'm told it will be hundreds of pounds.
Anyone swapped a speedo on an R50?

 

Hi thanks. The wheel sensors are all operating perfectly. I had it on Live data with diagnostic equipment connected and the speeds were displayed. We did fit another sensor to try this but that was faulty and this made the ABS light come on. genrally the ABS light is off. so it is not the wheel sensors at all, or the wiring to them as i have tested this too

 

Modern cars are way too complicated.. Why do we need this level of technology? Interestingly i spoke to someone today who had the same lights llluminating. His turned out to be the camshaft sensor...... I looked at my sensor and the wires to it were filthy and the cable trunking had disintegrated. The wires to the sensor were the same colour as the ones to the wheel sensors so part of the canbus system..... I'm buying a new sensor tomorrow!!

 

Well, it wasn't the camshaft sensor... I just did a week long 1400 mile road trip in it and it varied from behaving absolutely fine (8 hours of high speed roads driving yesterday and no issues) to behaving terribly. Back to the drawing board...