DSC 5E40 Steering angle implausible

[lennylen]

Hey all,

This is my first post here and hope I'm posting in the right section!

I'm loving my '05 330ci ZHP that I just purchased a couple of weeks ago but it seems to have an issue with DSC, where it initiates traction control going around bends. Eventually I get 3 lights illuminated: Traction control, yellow brake light and TPMS. The problem stops at this point since DSC is disabled automatically by the computer.

Spent hours and hours trying to get DIS installed properly to read my car and finally prevailed!

Got the system to read the computer and I get the error: DSC 5E40 Steering angle implausible. No other fault codes present.

So I recalibrated the sensor using DIS cleared the codes, and did the manual wheel locking trick, and it improved the problem, but unfortunately still remains..

Did the same with INPA with the same result.

Im wondering if it has to do with the tires or perhaps its an alignment issue.. When I bought the car the guy had on 17" winter tires, and had it switched over to the 18"OEM zhp rims.

Attached some pics and documentation from my laptop when scanning the car.

Other than that, I absolutely love the car!!!!

Any advice is greatly appreciated!https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180518/cda1ef50b2ad51fbb9f975ba8d7a9a35.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180518/1fa93b545064a1a7d9b916cc730b1dd7.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180518/149b61fe92897b720b35c2d15c3c4c5a.jpg

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[az3579]

Things to check:
Is your steering wheel straight when driving straight? Take your steering wheel off and make sure the notch is aligned. It could have been reinstalled incorrectly at a previous time.

Also check the health of your suspension bits like the tie rods and ball joints. These could cause the steering wheel angle to be out of spec, causing that light.

Finally, if all else checks out, you could very well just have a bad steering angle sensor.

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[lennylen]

Things to check:
Is your steering wheel straight when driving straight? Take your steering wheel off and make sure the notch is aligned. It could have been reinstalled incorrectly at a previous time.

Also check the health of your suspension bits like the tie rods and ball joints. These could cause the steering wheel angle to be out of spec, causing that light.

Finally, if all else checks out, you could very well just have a bad steering angle sensor.

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Thanks for the advice!

1. Yes the steering wheel is straight when driving straight

2. Haven't taken the steering wheel off yet but that was my next move after some more study of how to disassemble and reassemble properly. I'm hoping once I clean it off that the error will disappear.

3. Suspension health seemed to be great when I got the safety done tire rods and ball joints seemed to be in A1 condition.

4. Yeah I suspect the actual sensor may be the problem. I'm able to find one for relatively cheap but hoping it can be resolved by cleaning before I have to replace it.

I will update this thread as my progress continues with this one for people that may have the same problem!

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[az3579]

I'm hoping once I clean it off that the error will disappear.

Because the job is such a PITA, you might as well just replace it if you're going to go through the effort of disassembly.

[lennylen]

Because the job is such a PITA, you might as well just replace it if you're going to go through the effort of disassembly.Yeah for sure!

I have another thought now though, since the actual sensor is not reporting any faults, how likely is the sensor faulty? In DIS it says that if it is faulty then it should also be throwing codes. The faults I pulled were from DSC. Hmmmm..

Looking into other threads( http://www.e46fanatics.com/forum/showpost.php?p=15828649&postcount=17) are pointing towards wheel speed sensor, maybe they need a clean up or replacement... This would be a much easier resolution and wonder if it would work for this scenario

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[ZHPizza]

If you're due for an alignment anyway, then do that first. I didn't have the DSC issues that you're having, but I did have a steering angle sensor error that cleared after I got the car aligned.

[danewilson77]

My guess is alignment, or suspension issue. No recent maintenance has been performed?

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[lennylen]

My guess is alignment, or suspension issue. No recent maintenance has been performed?

Sent from my SM-G955U using TapatalkI had a gasket valve leak that was fixed the same day I purchased the car and had the mechanic put the 18" 135 style rims on as well. Suspension looked great when we checked it out and did the safety. With that said the car drives straight with no hands but maybe an alignment will sort it out.



If you're due for an alignment anyway, then do that first. I didn't have the DSC issues that you're having, but I did have a steering angle sensor error that cleared after I got the car aligned.

I'm hoping an alignment will solve it. Although I can't really say that I'm really due for an alignment since the car drives very straight with no hands.

Thanks for all the input by the way guys, hoping this mystery gets solved without much financial pain!

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[az3579]

If your steering wheel is straight and the car tracks straight, an alignment probably isn't going to make the error go away. The steering angle implausible message only comes up if the value of the maximum allowable steering angle is exceeded or if the sensor isn't getting expected values, either from being miscalibrated or being faulty. The sensor is calibrated as such to allow for the alignment to be slightly off. Anything that would trigger the error would be a serious misalignment and would be noticeable in the steering wheel position when the car is driving "straight". With this being said, an alignment doesn't hurt anything, so you might as well do one anyway if you haven't already since buying the car.

If the brake pressure sensors were the cause, you wouldn't be getting the steering angle implausible error.



Personally, I dislike DIS and avoid using it whenever possible. Instead, I use the BMW Standard Tools suite of software along with ISTA-D to diagnose issues. Do you have INPA installed on your PC? If so, you can use that software to directly read the steering angle sensor and see what values it sees when the steering wheel is in a certain position. This could give you a clue as to whether the sensor is reading properly, and this also allows you to manually calibrate it.



On a final note, an old battery causes really weird electrical issues in our cars. Check the date on the battery and make sure it's not too old.

[lennylen]

If your steering wheel is straight and the car tracks straight, an alignment probably isn't going to make the error go away. The steering angle implausible message only comes up if the value of the maximum allowable steering angle is exceeded or if the sensor isn't getting expected values, either from being miscalibrated or being faulty. The sensor is calibrated as such to allow for the alignment to be slightly off. Anything that would trigger the error would be a serious misalignment and would be noticeable in the steering wheel position when the car is driving "straight". With this being said, an alignment doesn't hurt anything, so you might as well do one anyway if you haven't already since buying the car.

If the brake pressure sensors were the cause, you wouldn't be getting the steering angle implausible error.



Personally, I dislike DIS and avoid using it whenever possible. Instead, I use the BMW Standard Tools suite of software along with ISTA-D to diagnose issues. Do you have INPA installed on your PC? If so, you can use that software to directly read the steering angle sensor and see what values it sees when the steering wheel is in a certain position. This could give you a clue as to whether the sensor is reading properly, and this also allows you to manually calibrate it.



On a final note, an old battery causes really weird electrical issues in our cars. Check the date on the battery and make sure it's not too old.

Sorry I meant speed sensors not brake sensors. Seems like the person in that other thread resolved their issue with getting new ones even though the only fault they had was in regards to steering angle sensor. Unless I'm missing something.

Yes I have INPA and used it to recalibrate. I'm going to try reading the values from lock to lock to see if there are any glitches in the system.

And yes great idea I'm going to check the battery. Sometimes if I leave my phone charger plugged in the car has a hard time starting up after a few hours and I also saw a fault in INPA about the battery something about open circuit but I forget what it was exactly. Will definitely check the date and report back along with the fault. More things to look into! Hoping to get to the bottom of this.

Will also look into the standard tools suite, DIS drives me nuts lol.

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[lennylen]

Thank you everyone for all your help.

Took the car to get aligned and the guy said that the alignment and toe just fine but it's ever so slightly off and not really required to do take any action. Recommended to just leave it.

I told him the scenario and he said he can make a slight adjustment, and that's it. I accepted paid and left. Same problem was occurring.

I recalibrated with INPA, cleared the faults and then recalibrated the steering wheel by turning car on, turning it lock to lock, center and then turned the car off.

When I turned the car back on, boom no lights and no random traction control/abs!!!

Thanks everyone for all your help!





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[fredo]

That’s good news, man !

[az3579]

There ya go. That recalibration helped on a guy's car I was doing it on. Glad it worked out.

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[PetesZ]

Low / old battery will cause all kinds Of weird electronic issues. My second ZHP has a similar DSC issue it is way more sensitive to wheel spin. I was going to clean the wheel speed sensors.

Second I was going to do the M3 settings as the plan is to put a LSD in it.

[danewilson77]

Woot!

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[lennylen]

Okay guys thank you for all your help the problem is back and I've figured out why while trying to solve another problem with the car!

The actual sensor on the steering shaft is very loose and sometimes gets stuck in one position when turning and then recentering. This makes the car think it's turning when it's not and that's why we get the steering angle not plausible error.

So now my next step is to tighten the steering angle sensor but I tried playing around with it and for the life of me can't figure out how to get this thing to tighten up so it turns with the steering shaft.

Is this part supposed to be loose as it is? Any ideas on how to secure it against the shaft?
Any insight is highly appreciated!


Attached is a pic of the sensor(which works perfectly but does not stay secured against the steering shaft) https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180530/fb8e5c372248ef011c11dd6240e64a36.jpg

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[lennylen]

Alright latest update: After some more investigation I found out that the previous owner replaced the steering shaft andwas actually missing the plastic piece that would keep the wire in place.

So my solution was to zip tie it and haven't had a problem since doing so! Hoping this is the final solution.


Thanks to all who have helped out with this one!

Pic attached

Hopefully this thread will help someone else with the same issue! https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180531/5425dd87cb878c6647d2b717bc59f1de.jpg

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[johnrando]

Glad you figured it out

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