New BMW owner on a lark

[JamesAustin]

The adaptive brake light is really a rear fog light in the e9x; I'm pretty sure e39s did not have them.

Or, perhaps, the rear fog light is really an adaptive brake light.

BMW disables the rear for light switch in the North American E9x. But that's easy to un-do.

As for whether the E39 has any form of adaptive brake lighting, I still can't find that out. It doesn't seem to have extra bulbs that also act as rear fog lights overseas, though.


I did just stumble over this site, www.bmwtips.com, which didn't tell me that but has a lot of good stuff (not exclusively for the E39 either...)

[BradleyinDC]

What's the problem with the fill plug? Is it frozen, or just unreachable?

No, it's reachable (the car is on stands right now) and been hit with PB Blaster and with a hammer. It won't budge. Now I've stripped it too, I think.

[BradleyinDC]

As for the tail lights, BMW is into "adaptive brake lights" which show drivers following you how drastically you're slowing down. So far I've failed to confirm whether your car has them, but one of the ways BMW has implemented them is with extra bulbs that only light up during hard braking at speed. They don't light up at any other time, so unless someone follows you in a place where you can safely brake hard from speed, there's no way to test them. Try going back in there again and just looking for bulbs behind red lenses that don't seem to have any reason to be there. One other way BMW has implemented this is with brake lights that get brighter when you brake harder; maybe they use dual-filament bulbs and you have one with ONE blown filament?

I know all this because the very first issue I ever solved with my E91 was a burned-out adaptive brake light bulb. Neither wandering around my car with something blocking the brake pedal, nor watching my car's reflection in a glass-walled building as I pumped the brakes, ever revealed them.

Thanks, let's just hope it's the 3rd brake light. The car's at a friend's in Fairfax so I'll check again soon when I go back out.

[BradleyinDC]

How is the search for the missing end of the mystery hose going? If you can get out to October 8th's DIY at AKTIV Automotive in Gaithersburg you might find some fresh eyes to look at the problem...

No progress yet on the mystery hose.

I'm on the waitlist. I hope to do the brake pads/rotors/sensors then and the tie rod ends unless I can get to them beforehand.

[JamesAustin]

No, it's reachable (the car is on stands right now) and been hit with PB Blaster and with a hammer. It won't budge. Now I've stripped it too, I think.

Dang.

Supposedly, one reason BMW uses those weird flat Torx-head & Allen-head fill plugs is that they are very SOFT; they will sacrifice themselves & strip first to protect whatever they screw into. I don't know how much you want to test that, though.

Blast, heat entire area, chill plug with ice cube, repeat?

[BradleyinDC]

Dang.

Supposedly, one reason BMW uses those weird flat Torx-head & Allen-head fill plugs is that they are very SOFT; they will sacrifice themselves & strip first to protect whatever they screw into. I don't know how much you want to test that, though.

Blast, heat entire area, chill plug with ice cube, repeat?

Oh, it's soft all right, and I've more than tested it unfortunately. I'm thinking of Dremeling a new slot for a screwdriver.

Really though, I was able to lower the pan level with some longer screws in the corners and add more than 3.5 quarts of AT fluid so I think that should be "enough" for now while addressing other questions. I'm really, really, hoping that takes care of my dash light.

[JamesAustin]

Oh, it's soft all right, and I've more than tested it unfortunately. I'm thinking of Dremeling a new slot for a screwdriver.

Really though, I was able to lower the pan level with some longer screws in the corners and add more than 3.5 quarts of AT fluid so I think that should be "enough" for now while addressing other questions.

Drill in a screw extractor?

[BradleyinDC]

Drill in a screw extractor?

Yeah, we debated that but don't want to risk getting any metal shavings in the transmission

[JamesAustin]

Yeah, we debated that but don't want to risk getting any metal shavings in the transmission

Drop the pan and let everything drip-dry for awhile, arrange some magnets around the inside of the plug (assuming the plug is magnetic), and then use an extractor?

Yeah, I know, I'd hate to do all that too. But I'm really worried that the 3.5 quarts you've been able to put in otherwise isn't going to be enough for the trans to shift properly.

What about the fluid you've already taken out? How did that look & smell?

[BradleyinDC]

Drop the pan and let everything drip-dry for awhile, arrange some magnets around the inside of the plug (assuming the plug is magnetic), and then use an extractor?

Yeah, I know, I'd hate to do all that too. But I'm really worried that the 3.5 quarts you've been able to put in otherwise isn't going to be enough for the trans to shift properly.

What about the fluid you've already taken out? How did that look & smell?

The fluid I took out was pretty black (I don't have a good sense of smell). Eyeballing it, we think I added as much as we removed.

[BradleyinDC]

Again, the car is an automatic transmission (the first car I've owned with one, and definitely not a plus for me) with the dash light on (running on fail safe, I think).

Informative article
http://www.pelicanparts.com/BMW/tech..._Fail_Safe.htm

Before digging too deep on delayed upshift issues, make sure you consider when this occurs. It could be normal operation, such as the warm-up phase program. Always check front tires for proper inflation pressures, correct size and matching brand and model. Also check for uneven tire wear. Variations in front tire size from left to right can activate the curve recognition feature. The TCM will interpret the difference in wheel speed signals as being a turn and suppress (or delay) upshifts.

Slipping is usually associated with a fault code. Be sure to check the transmission fluid level and condition. Then check the trans ECU and DME for fault codes.

The fluid I replaced was very, very dark so that was almost certainly a contributing factor, I think.

The article also talks about the the front tires air pressure and wear. As we noticed at the DIY day, the front passenger side tire was worn and worn very differently than the driver's side. There were a lot of codes at first, but none seem to be transmission related (all cylinders misfiring, an O2 sensor and some fuel trim ones at first, then after changing the spark plugs, ignition coils and replacing the valve cover casket just P1770 with P0101 - Mass or Volume Air Flow "A" Circuit Range/Performance as pending based on my cheapo Chinese OBDII reader).

I also got EGS transmission control
146 CAN torque interference
148 CAN engine temperature
from the AutoBoss at the DIY day (thanks again for that!).

So what are the likely causes and solutions?

[BradleyinDC]

The center brake light bulb was burned out (socket was fine). Replaced the bulb. No dash light. First time that panel hasn't lit up! Wahoo! Progress.

Thanks, guys. This forum rocks!

[BradleyinDC]

I got approved from the waitlist for the DIY day coming up. I love this group!

On the list: replacing brake pads, rotors and sensors. Plenty of wheels if anyone is bored and wants to help out!

Just a quick review, here are the codes I started with when I got the car (this is the BEFORE list):

From my cheapo Chinese OBDII reader:

OBD2 - confirmed:
P1250
P0300 - Random/Multiple Cylinder Misfire Detected
P1188 Fuel Control (Bank 1 Sensor 1)
P0173 - Fuel Trim Bank 2
P0302 - Cylinder 2 Misfire Detected
P0306 - Cylinder 6 Misfire Detected
P0170 - Fuel Trim Bank 1
P0150 - O2 Sensor Circuit Bank 2 Sensor 1
P0304 - Cylinder 4 Misfire Detected
P0303 - Cylinder 3 Misfire Detected
P0305 - Cylinder 5 Misfire Detected
P0301 - Cylinder 1 Misfire Detected

OBD2 - pending:
P1250
P0300 - Random/Multiple Cylinder Misfire Detected

From the Peake BMW code reader (thanks, club member!)

15
Ee
F2
F0
F1
9a
Ca
F3
Ef
C6
E3

From the Autoboss Tech from BMW Club DIY day:

9A Signal ox sensor before cat cone bank 2 OBD1-1:P0150)
CA Fuel trim bank 1 control limit (OBDII:P0170)
CB Fuel trim bank 2 control limit (OBDII:P0173)
E3 Fuel trim bank 1 control limit (OBDII:P1188)
all six cylinder misfires P301-6
EGS transmission control
146 CAN torque interference
148 CAN engine temperature

And dash lights:

Battery, oil pressure, service engine, lights, oil service inspection, brake pads, A/T, airbag

Most recent updates (this is the current AFTER list):
From my cheapo Chinese OBDII reader:

OBD2 - confirmed:
P1770 (I already changed the MAF--with the Crazy Ray's one, but that cleared the pending P0101 - Mass or Volume Air Flow "A" Circuit Range/Performance)

From the Peake BMW code reader (thanks, club member!)

15
08

And dash lights:

service engine, brake pads, A/T, airbag

[John in VA]

The center brake light bulb was burned out (socket was fine). Replaced the bulb. No dash light. First time that panel hasn't lit up! Wahoo! Progress. Thanks, guys. This forum rocks!

I love a simple (eventually) solution - good work!

[JamesAustin]

Yeah, we debated that but don't want to risk getting any metal shavings in the transmission

Use metal epoxy, or high-precision welding, to bond a nut or sawed-off bolt head to the plug?