About 5 months ago I returned from deployment and my wife's Mini had started acting up. The car initially pulls to the left until getting above ~15 mph and sets the yellow brake and DSC lights when the wheel exceeds about 40 degrees of turn. The alignment issue seems to reset/clear once the car trips a specific mph range, even if I slow back down the alignment is now fine.

Over a year ago I replaced the steering angle sensor (SZL) in order to add a multi function steering wheel. I did all the programming myself and had everything working perfectly for about 6-8 months. Then this problem began.

I suspected my used replacement SZL had gone bad. I reinstalled my original SZL and presto, the problem was gone. Swapped back to the multi-function compatible SZL and the problem was STILL gone for a few weeks. Then the caution and alignment problem came back.

I purchased a replacement multi-function compatible SZL. Today I went to install the new one and it made no difference, same problem. As before, if I install the original SZL the codes clear but with either replacement part the DSC lights are set and the car pulls to the left on initial start up. I no longer get the few week grace period either, the problem begins as soon as I'm backing out of the driveway.

Anyone have any troubleshooting guidance or knowledge in this area? It seems there's only a few members who have gotten this far on their own. All I need is a working MFSW! Trying to avoid the dealer. This seems software related since I'm 0-2 right now...


https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...rake-pads.html

 

This may seem crazy, but make sure you have enough brake fluid. Mine was randomly going off and I checked my brake fluid was low.

 

are you resetting the steering angle with ista/d or ista/p ? I think inpa can do it too

 

Mega, I would LOVE to get some help doing this. I have not been able to reset the steering angle. Right now I have INPA that came with NCS Expert as well as DIS v44. I haven't actually gotten DIS to communicate with the car yet but I'm close.

As for an update to anyone following along:

With the newest SZL installed the car was ALWAYS pulling aggressively to the left anytime I was 17 mph or slower. This was a new symptom. It appears the steering angle sensor resets somehow when the car gets above 17 mph because the pull goes away completely. Also, on the old SZL the car would no longer pull even if I slowed below 17 mph. The symptom only returned when I restarted the car.

Anyway, I suspected perhaps a bad install on the SZL. I pulled the steering wheel and reexamined the position of the sensor. The sensor is basically a circular disc directly behind the steering wheel. This disc has two electrical connectors that must be at the top in order to plug in the steering wheel and airbag.

This disc has a wound electrical tape behind it allowing it to be rotated 5 rotations between the stops in the clockwise and counterclockwise directions. Therefore I am forced to center the disc by rotating to EITHER the second or third rotation. I suspected I had picked incorrectly.

Sure enough, rotating the disc to the "other" centered position (one more rotation) fixed my problem! I started the car and the pull was gone. The caution was still set until I got up to speed. Above about 17 mph the cautions all cleared, DSC and all associated features work!

This is certainly a poor man's way to try and zero out the steering angle sensor. The dealer could do this in 15 minutes with the right software and presumably this would have corrected for the slightly different positioning of the sensor when I installed it the first time. I'm trying to get that software myself to tighten this up.

 

dis is so old I never attempted to use it, ista d makes it easy, inpa also if you go into the module there is a keybinding for it

 

I'm confused. There is an INPA module that came when I installed NCS. Do I already have the software I need then? Any chance you could walk me through using INPA to reset the steering angle or "keybinding" as you say? Perhaps a link to any threads on the topic?

 

Bimmerfest coding forum,. Inpa is also old as dirt but I always set it up first before setting up ista