[gherardini]

Lately I've been getting a long beep when I activate the PDC. I put the ///M in reverse, I get a long beeeeeeeeeep and begin to back up. It seems not to interfere with the actual performance of the PDC as it still gives both high and low tones when I'm backing into the garage.

What gives? Did I drop a sensor inside the bumper?

 

[Judy Pikes]

Yeah, i got the same thing. The prolonged beep indicates an error in the system. For me, after the long beep, the system may or may not work either. I just wonder if its a faulty sensor or PDC unit.

 

[Kevin The Clean 1]

I have tested mine numerous times & yet I still get that very long beep you just mentioned about too... ?

 

[DDSLT5]

You've got a bad sensor. Not that uncommon. I just bought a sensor from getBMWparts.com and will change it out shortly. The dealership can acutally pinpoint the exact sensor with their diagnostic computer. It is annoying - I'll agree with that!

 

[gherardini]

Assuming then that i can just stand to the side of the ///M and reach a stick/golf club over each sensor to see which doesn't go off?

 

[DDSLT5]

Assuming then that i can just stand to the side of the ///M and reach a stick/golf club over each sensor to see which doesn't go off?

The sensor gets stuck in the "ON" position, so this method won't work.

 

[gherardini]

Won't the universal fix-it gesture toggle it back off?

universal fix-it gesture - n. to whack the crap out of a misbehaving mechanical or electrical device in effort to have it return to proper operation.

 

[VetteRacer]

Won't the universal fix-it gesture toggle it back off?

universal fix-it gesture - n. to whack the crap out of a misbehaving item mechanical or electrical device in effort to have it return to proper operation.

This did not work for mine... I had a stuck sensor, and found out which one it was by (with car off) walking infront of each sensor and listening for the ticking sound. If you squat down you can hear if its working or not.
I tried tapping it and it did nothing... The rest of my system didn't work at all though. Had accident and 2 sensors had to be replaced, works great now.
Matt

 

[414jalpine]

Yup, as mentioned, the long beep signals a bad sensor. I was told to just stick something in front of the sensor once put in reverse (done with car off but igniton on) and listening for the clicks. I had the exact same issue and it drove me nuts. I had to almost stick my hear right on the sensor to hear the clicks, or lack there of. The one or ones that dont click are bad. Simply replace and the issue should go away. I think if you have an error with the PDC module you should flag an error code of some kind.

 

[Kevin The Clean 1]

Yup, as mentioned, the long beep signals a bad sensor. I was told to just stick something in front of the sensor once put in reverse (done with car off but igniton on) and listening for the clicks. I had the exact same issue and it drove me nuts. I had to almost stick my hear right on the sensor to hear the clicks, or lack there of. The one or ones that dont click are bad. Simply replace and the issue should go away. I think if you have an error with the PDC module you should flag an error code of some kind.

I will try this again but I already doing this very same thing/self test procedure. I could have sworn that all of them were ticking (indicating they were all in fine/proper working order)... ??????

 

[RichardP]

I had two sensors fail and still tick.

Not ticking = bad sensor. Ticking = may be good sensor.

I used NavCoder to test the PDC sensors, it showed that two never gave a reading. Swapping out the sensors is not hard, unless it's one of the centre two at the rear, they really need you to remove the bumper. All the other sensors simply clip into the rubbing strip. Unfortunately you need a complete set of sensors to be working before you can be sure you have caught them all, any sensor that's unplugged will cause a fault.

 

[Ribs]

I've just had this sensor fault come up.. I found mine to be the outside sensor, rear passenger side. I pushed it in a bit and it started working again so I'm presuming it's a loose connection.. I'll look at it over the weekend.

 

[m5rosemont83]

My car did this twice.. went away however..
strangest thing..

 

[sherwin]

Can anyone give inputs on my problem as well?

I am hearing the long beep when I go reverse. (so this means I have the beeper working) I have one faulty sensor in the rear bumper driver side. (as i've seen through the computer as it didn't give any input while the three others did.

Now my issue is: When I am near a wall or something, there's no beep!

anyone?

 

[RichardP]

If the system detects a failed sensor it will give one long beep when activated and then no more beeps even if the remaining sensors detect something. The long beep tels you the system is not working. You'll need to replace the faulty sensor(s).

However, the sensor failure detection is not fool proof. You can still have sensors that tick and do not trigger the system fault beep, but that just don't work. I had two, both the right centre and right outside at the back just stopped working, if I'd not had the Intravee PDC sensor display info I might have hit something before I realised.

 

[sherwin]

If the system detects a failed sensor it will give one long beep when activated and then no more beeps even if the remaining sensors detect something. The long beep tels you the system is not working. You'll need to replace the faulty sensor(s).

However, the sensor failure detection is not fool proof. You can still have sensors that tick and do not trigger the system fault beep, but that just don't work. I had two, both the right centre and right outside at the back just stopped working, if I'd not had the Intravee PDC sensor display info I might have hit something before I realised.

so that means if I fix the sensor, the PDC will now work? awesome! thanks buddy!

 

[feeblebob]

Mine doing this too, was working fine then one day, had a long continuous beep even though I wasn't near anything. Eventually started to get random beeping on selecting reverse, then no sound and a flashing PDC button. Hoping it's a bad connection somewhere, all was working fine previously. I assume they take some hit from weather etc. due to their position. Just need to find an owner with INPA or equivalent to test, I remember reading that INPA can pinpoint the faulty or non-working sensor.

 

[OlieL]

Can only echo others' experiences. I had the two front corner sensors go on me. First they ticked, but really quietly, and this didn't trigger the PDC fault tone to start with. Those two sensors discoloured slightly - part of the middle sensor section went white. Then they unfortunately failed completely and the long bleep started to occur.

Have now replaced the front two sensors; and now one of the rear corner ones has gone on the blink! That one ticks loudly and has no visible sign of damage but registers no distance change on the Intravee parking distance sensor screen (great bit of functionality that as it still shows the sensor readings even though the tones aren't sounding in the car). Have ordered a new sensor from bmminiparts for £40 + VAT; hopefully that'll fix it all. Bit concerned though as one of the middle rear painted sensors has a bubbly/uneven surface so that may be on the way out too! Aaaargh...

At one point the front sensors were intermittently OK and then not - resulting in a godawful cacophany going off inside the car every time I reversed into a parking space as it flicked randomly between front and rear beeping and the long tone. Really distracting!