Service Engine Soon Light

[wootang_clan]

My service engine soon light just came on. I've read through the forums and I saw that it may be the gas cap. I've tightened the gas cap and still nothing. I took the car to Autozone for the code reading and they said that it's the fuel shut off solenoid malfunction. Is Autozone code reader reliable? If anyone has any advice, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks in advance.

[nathan56989]

auto zode code readers are not reliable for bmws. the only thing that they can read are the codes in the dme which is fine in this case but the check engine light can also be illuminated by transmission faults. have it checked out by a dealer with G1s or DIS machines. which they all have.

[zibby]

Originally posted by wootang_clan@Jul 15 2005, 02:51 PM
My service engine soon light just came on. I've read through the forums and I saw that it may be the gas cap. I've tightened the gas cap and still nothing. I took the car to Autozone for the code reading and they said that it's the fuel shut off solenoid malfunction. Is Autozone code reader reliable? If anyone has any advice, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks in advance.

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If it was fuel cap, it is gonna take a few days when light will go off .

[zibby]

Originally posted by nathan56989@Aug 10 2005, 08:37 PM
auto zode code readers are not reliable for bmws. the only thing that they can read are the codes in the dme which is fine in this case but the check engine light can also be illuminated by transmission faults. have it checked out by a dealer with G1s or DIS machines. which they all have.

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correct me if Im wrong, but check engine light has nothing to do with transmission faults.Transmissions on E46 have own warnning light if malfunction occur! Check the engine light if illuminated informs that fault is present in emission related component and systems.

[nathan56989]

Like I said before about your comment how long have ben to school for bmw training. ok none so. if you don't want to listen to someone that has been to school and works for the dealer god help you if ask something about your car. and yes for your information and don't ask for any more. A PROBLEM WITH THE TRANSMISSION CAN CASUE THE CHECK ENGINE LIGHT TO COME ON! WHY WOULD I SAY IT IF IT WASN'T TRUE I HAVE NUTHING TO LIE ABOUT. YOU PEOPLE AREN'T FROM MY AREA SO I'M NOT MAKING MONEY FROM YOU. Keep your comments to yourself if you don't know what your talking about.

[zibby]

Originally posted by nathan56989@Aug 11 2005, 04:00 PM
Like I said before about your comment how long have ben to school for bmw training. ok none so. if you don't want to listen to someone that has been to school and works for the dealer god help you if ask something about your car. and yes for your information and don't ask for any more. A PROBLEM WITH THE TRANSMISSION CAN CASUE THE CHECK ENGINE LIGHT TO COME ON! WHY WOULD I SAY IT IF IT WASN'T TRUE I HAVE NUTHING TO LIE ABOUT. YOU PEOPLE AREN'T FROM MY AREA SO I'M NOT MAKING MONEY FROM YOU. Keep your comments to yourself if you don't know what your talking about.

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Well you have to go to school again, transmission is not conected any ways to emission system. BTW where did you graduate BMW school - in Cambodia?

[Dirty_Tool]

First of all Nathan I dont see why you are so mad with Zibby, it seemed as though he was asking a perfectly logical question. Maybe you guys have had a run-in before? Regardless, it is perfectly understandable that most people who are not trained experts wouldnt understand why a fault in the transmission module would cause a check engine lamp to come on. Let me state for he record that Nathan is absolutely correct. On US spec cars built for model year 1996 and later the govt has specific requirements for emissions systems. This for people who dont know is called OBD2. A lot of the people on the board are familiar with OBD2, some arent. Im not going to get in to all of the features/requirements of obd2 however with OBD2 is when it became mandatory that ANY emissions related fault stored in ANY control module must be reported to the driver in the form of a check engine lamp. Because certain faults in the transmission control system can effect emissions it is possible that there can be a fault stored in the transmission control module (EGS) that will turn on the chk engine lamp even if there arent any faults stored in the engine control module (DME.) Now that being said Nathan is absolutely correct no question about it, however this conditon doesnt happen very often at all. What happens more often is is that multiple faults will be stored in both the EGS and the DME because they are linked so tightly together. Also I dont understand Nathan, why you bring this up as the original poster did have a fault stored in his DME which obviously set the CE lamp because it was a evap system related fault. Either way I do still agree with Nathan that having the faults read on the dealers equipment is best, not so much because of a possible fault stored in the EGS but more so because of the detailed information that the dealer's equipment will give. Autozone code readers and other obd2 code readers only give very basic information (what is required by federal law) just a fault code and vague description where on the other hand the dealer's GT1 or Displus will give a lot of information such as # of times the faults were stored and under what conditons ie: temp, RPM, Load etc. This info is obviously very helpful and can lead you down a clearer troubleshooting path and theoretically save time and trouble.

DT