Recently my 2001 e46 xi had been randomly throwing a series of idiot lights and powering down into limp home mode at the most random of times, not only did it throw these lights but it the intervals ranged from once in 7 months, all the way to three times in a day.
The lights thrown were eml, dsc, brake, and abs, all at the same time. At first it occurred rarely and was always "fixed(i have the quotes only because it was a temporary solution in the begining)" by pulling over to the side of the road turning the car off and turning it right back on and poof the lights were all cleared and the car had full power.
I personally didnt have access to a DT1 to go through my computers history and it didnt ever throw a check engine light after a successful restart, until recently, all the same lights came on the car went into limp home mode again but this time when i restarted the car all the lights went off but the service engine soon light had come on, a first for me after doing this several times before.
My buddy let me use his snap on code reader and if i remember correctly the code was "P1507" followed by idle ctrl, idle spd, idle air, the only reason for this post is because when i asked several european only garages about what the problem may have been i got a myriad of possible answers and solutions ranging from a faulty wheel speed sensor, to a complete emissions failure, but the solution was far easier, it turned out to be my idle speed control valve, it lists around 188 bucks, luckily i was able to purchase the same bosch ICV that bmw uses for around 98 bucks from where i work.
Anyway if anyone has been driven nuts by those lights and wanted to know why they are coming on without paying an arm and a leg there you go......
by the way there are several DIY's available online for e46 ICV replacement, i followed one and it took me about 45 minutes to an hour....
i just hope this helps someone, because it drove me insane wondering a. what the hell may have been wrong and not knowing nor getting a definitive answer, and b. how much $ it was going to cost me
The lights thrown were eml, dsc, brake, and abs, all at the same time. At first it occurred rarely and was always "fixed(i have the quotes only because it was a temporary solution in the begining)" by pulling over to the side of the road turning the car off and turning it right back on and poof the lights were all cleared and the car had full power.
I personally didnt have access to a DT1 to go through my computers history and it didnt ever throw a check engine light after a successful restart, until recently, all the same lights came on the car went into limp home mode again but this time when i restarted the car all the lights went off but the service engine soon light had come on, a first for me after doing this several times before.
My buddy let me use his snap on code reader and if i remember correctly the code was "P1507" followed by idle ctrl, idle spd, idle air, the only reason for this post is because when i asked several european only garages about what the problem may have been i got a myriad of possible answers and solutions ranging from a faulty wheel speed sensor, to a complete emissions failure, but the solution was far easier, it turned out to be my idle speed control valve, it lists around 188 bucks, luckily i was able to purchase the same bosch ICV that bmw uses for around 98 bucks from where i work.
Anyway if anyone has been driven nuts by those lights and wanted to know why they are coming on without paying an arm and a leg there you go......
by the way there are several DIY's available online for e46 ICV replacement, i followed one and it took me about 45 minutes to an hour....
i just hope this helps someone, because it drove me insane wondering a. what the hell may have been wrong and not knowing nor getting a definitive answer, and b. how much $ it was going to cost me