BMW 530D spurious alarms

Hi

I bought a 530D on a 05 plate in Feb and ever since I got it I keep getting alarms on the Idrive. The most annoying is Drivers airbag fault, my mate is a mechanic and has tried to get rid of the fault using his OBC kit, but cant do anything with it. Any ideas? Its doind my head in

Stuartm

Hi mate,

The OBC kit he used, was it just an EOBD reader?

If so, then these won't read the airbag faults.

You need the codes read by either an autologic BMW specific system, which every good BMW independant specialist uses or the BMW GT scanner, which the dealer's use.

Don't go to the dealer though, they will charge you an arm and leg just to read the codes. get down to a good independant.

There are many sensors that can trigger a fault, you need to pin point which one is faulty. Having the codes read will do that.

Dont know what the kit was called that he used, it had lots of connections. The only thing it told him was that a plug is faulty.

Is it possible to just restet the OBC, by something as simple as taking the battery off? Its also telling me I have a parking light failure when therew is nothing wrong with them!!

Thanks
StuartM

I have heard a few people resetting the Idrive by pressing the three buttons on the cd player... There should be four buttons and one is the power button, so its the other 3, for 60 secs with the ignition on... I cant comment on whether this is true as i have never done it myself, but give it a try... However, if it does work, if you have a faulty sensor/plug as spartan says, i dont see how this will make much difference...

I like the Idrive system, but unfortunately, they are extremely complicated to work on and to diagnose faults with.... So a good independant is a must really...

Keep us posted....

Thanks for the reply, my CD does not have the buttons you describe I have a multi CD changer in the glove, the cd on the drive I think is for a sat nav? it just has the radio control a scan button and an eject button.

StuartM

im pretty sure they are the buttons ive heard other folks talk about... but if that doesnt work, disconnecting the earth terminal on the battery for 30 mins will reset the computer systems on the car... give that a try....