SES light / Oil indicator questions - The Unofficial BMW M5 Messageboard (m5board.com)

atotten · 7th March 2009, 17:30

Hello,

I have a 2002 with 49,xxx miles and while driving normally a few days ago with no noticeable exhaust “blatty-ness” or reduction in power my SES came on. My oil service light was one yellow light and one red light at the time and since I changed the oil less than 2000 miles ago I reset it using the odometer button method found here in the FAQ section. The following happened; my SES light went out and my yellow/red light was replaced with greens. I figured I was all set until after another ~200 miles normal driving followed by ~1 mile of “spirited” driving the SES light comes back up. Car still feels great and no noticeable noises/power loss. I have done the following;

1. Unscrew and retighten my gas cap

2. Ordered a set of eight OEM plugs

3. Ordered a Peake tool

4. Plan to do the MAF and thermostat check this afternoon

5. Plan to replace the fuel filter today

Questions;

1. Does resetting the service indicator light necessarily rest the SES light? I searched the crap out of this and still can’t determine if the Peake is the only method of resetting the SES.
2. Aside from the above five items for maintenance/trouble shooting is there anything else I should be looking at for a proper diagnosis?

TMcNasty · 7th March 2009, 17:37

That's odd that the oil service lights would change as well. Haven't heard of that before.

Hard to tell anything w/o that Peake reader, but as long as you're waiting you could add new air filters to your list of quick possible fixes. Pretty cheap and certainly easy to install.

I don't think service light reset will do anything to SES light.

And today might not be the best day for the thermo test. It's actually a little warm out. Warm air masks a bad thermo. You shoulda done it two nights ago LOL! Test it today, but retest during our next cold snap. Maybe tonight when it cooler out. Couldn't really tell mine was bad until about 55F last fall.

atotten · 7th March 2009, 17:40

Thanks. Air (and cabin) all done at oil change less then 2000miles ago. So is the only way to reset the SES then with a Peake (or equivalent) tool?

TMcNasty · 7th March 2009, 17:42

Yeah pretty sure you need the tool. I think only oil service can be reset w/o it. I think even the Inspection I&II need the tool as well.

Terry Grant · 8th March 2009, 19:01

My M5 shows an SES light when I pour Regular unleaded in it, when I put 100 octane in it there's no SES light.

atotten · 10th March 2009, 04:05

Update:

SES light went out by itself, the only things I did were to reset the gas cap, get a fresh tank of gas and swap out the fuel filter. I still haven't received my Peake in the mail yet so I'm assuming I can still go in and see what the codes were.

ard · 10th March 2009, 08:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by Terry Grant

My M5 shows an SES light when I pour Regular unleaded in it, when I put 100 octane in it there's no SES light.

You may have a sensor that is at the extreme of it;s tolerance... with the added pullinig of timing due to the lower octane it trips the ihgt.

Peake codes are a must..

A

atotten · 11th March 2009, 00:52

Update:
Got my Peake reader today (along with my plugs and valve cover gaskets) from BimmerZone (thanks for the very fast and free shipping!!). Codes pulled were;

63-Control unit self test, safety concept master check
35-Electric fan (relay)
62-Couldn't find this in the book

I'm off to search codes....

chowdah · 11th March 2009, 00:55

Could be b2/b3 cat efficiency?

atotten · 11th March 2009, 01:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by chowdah

Could be b2/b3 cat efficiency?

That would make a bit more sense, eh? Thanks. Unfortunatley for me I reset so I can't go check again. Now I wait until it comes on again.

Edit:
Everything I've read, assuming it's b2/b3, states I'm due for both rear oxygen sensors. $172 each on Tischer, part number 11781742051. No harm in waiting until they come on again so that's what I'll do.