OBDII Scanners

[brucemillar]

My learned friends. A question please, if I may.

I have recently purchased an E39 - 328i BMW Tourer (very nice).

The Speedometer is not working and the ABS & Brake lights are all permanently on!!

This is a known fault with the N/S rear left, wheel speed sensor which controls all three. I have ordered a nice new sensor from BMW. No worries there.

My question is this:

When I use my Wireless OBDII dongle and iphone app - EOBD-Facile with Premium Access, it lists zero faults, despite the above being there?

To test this I then used my neighbours wired OBDII scanner which also listed zero faults?

Both devices connect to the car and tell me various bits of info to demonstrate that they are connected to the car. Given that I have warning lights and no speedometer or odometer, would we not expect top see a code?

Can somebody recommend a reliable OBDII Scanner? or is EODB Facile OK. The license was about £20 and it does see the car (and my Mercs) I just have never seen it display a code.

 

[DSM10000]

Bruce

The OBD system is somewhat hampered by manufacturers, there are a great many fields that are mandatory for display but there are others where it is at the manufacturers discretion to display via the OBD protocol or not.

It is rare that you can access safety systems such as ABS, airbags etc via standard OBD scanners hence the need for more specialist scanners such as Carsoft etc of the manufacturers own systems such as Star.

David

 

[bob6600]

Most of these OBD readers only do engine codes. As above, a better or more car specific reader is required

 

[Larkone]

Similar problem when I had my Lexus GS and a Wheel sensor failed, showed lights on the dash telling me the ABS and VSC was faulty but no codes on the scanner. Lights all went out once the sensor was replaced.

 

[brucemillar]

Thank you gents. You have confirmed my suspicions here. The scanner is "working"as designed.

I recall similar when trying to reset an SRS warning on my old Range Rover using a fairly expensive scanner, only to be told that as it is a "safety system" you need the really expensive scanner.

I have however learned something. By using the cars hidden menu's I can test all the instruments are working? They are!! this appears to confirm what the BMW forums tell me that no speedo with ABS, TC & Brake lights on = Left Rear N/S wheel speed sensor dead. A snip at £112 from BMW. But worth the risk on what is a lovely well looked after car.

 

[mornin clatter]

As said above, the vast majority just go for the engine ecu stored codes, with no acces to other modules. My first obd was an autel, which surprisingly ,on my c270cdi, and a friends volvo v70 , had also acces to the auto gearbox modules.
What i use now is a laptop with the delphi interface, which has acces to all modules. Glad to hear it was fixed.

 

[PobodY]

I had a cheap (~£20) reader for the Hyundai that could read and reset gearbox codes, so I think that's fairly standard. - It's the safety systems that you usually can't access.

 

[brucemillar]

So it looks like I need an iCarsoft or the like? Is anybody selling one?

 

[roadhog]

Not selling but I have a i910-ll you can borrow if that helps.

For the pedants among us, have you bought an E39 (5 Series) or a 328 (3 Series) Touring?

 

[brucemillar]

Apologies. It is an E39 528i Tourer.

FYI: Replacing the left rear wheel sensor did not fix the issue.

I have reached a deal with Lyserman on a scanner which is hopefully on it's way to me now.

Thank you to Roadhog for the very kind offer.


Next thing is to check with an ABS scan then try swapping sensors left & right & trace the wiring al the way back to the junction box.

All the BMW forums say it is the left (NS) rear sensor every time.

Annoyingly, this was not a fault when I bought the car.

 

[mornin clatter]

If you are local to me, i would be glad to lend my tester. All the best.

 

[b1g1an]

Apologies. It is an E39 528i Tourer.

That'll be 'Touring' then

 

[brucemillar]

Folks

A big thank you here to Tony (Lyserman for selling me a great scanner that will see my ABS etc. Delivered to my door today. What a great gesture and superfast delivery. Thank you Tony.

Unfortunately. The Car had to go for a pre-booked paint appointment this morning and will not be back with me till Friday afternoon, at which point I can try out my new toy and hopefully get to the bottom of the ABS issue.

The BMW forums point to the ABS controller and a "known"fault.
removing "snot-like" goo from ABS circuit board- Bluebee pls. read! - Bimmerfest - BMW Forums

As I have now removed the rear wheel sensors from the equation! this looks like a good candidate.

Onwards & Upwards.

 

[bolide]

The bmw5.co.uk forum is pretty good source of info on these cars. There are plenty of pre-facelift cars about (523i, 528i, etc)

I've had mine six years now and the list of faults is remarkably short. They do like to eat suspension bushes, though. There's a front bush (thrust arm, I think) that locates the front wheel fore & aft and the bush seems to last only about 18 months. Replacing those, and the ARB bushes, is a good idea

Nick Froome

 

[brucemillar]

Does anybody know if Mercedes and BMW diagnostic ports are same configuration. Or in a simpler way? Can you use a BMW cable scanner cable in a Mercedes?

 

[Trickythemerc]

Bruce I am pretty sure that all OBD ports have to comply with the Eurothingywhatsitsname so the cables and pin out should be the same.

 

[bob6600]

Yes OBDII were all supposed to be the same IIRC

 

[Steveml63]

Does anybody know if Mercedes and BMW diagnostic ports are same configuration. Or in a simpler way? Can you use a BMW cable scanner cable in a Mercedes?

Hi,
The plugs at the car end are all common OBDII 16-pin - so should work OK, providing plug at the computer/scanner end of cable fits the unit you are going to use.
Cheers
Steve

 

[PobodY]

It's OBD I that tends to have proprietary connectors and non-standardised protocols.

 

[alabbasi]

OBD2 will tell you generic engine codes. You need to find a scanner or app that can read specific BMW codes. Being an E39 most of these will be read using the round BMW connector under the bonnet (like the Mercedes Benz 38pin connector in the 90's cars).