Diagnosing EDC failures

[omniphil]

Just started to get a EDC malfunction light a couple of days ago.

I've been reading a ton of threads here and it seems most people have issues with the connectors, So I went around to all 4 corners last night and unpluged and replugged each of them in a few times to try to clean out the connectors. No pins looked to be pushed back. I also unplugged and reseated the connectors to the EDC ECU. I then unplugged the negative on the battery for 30 minutes. Still get the same error.

I tried scanning the codes with the Torque android app and it never finds any codes or faults. Maybe it just can't read the BMW ecu?
When the EDC fails like this will a shop with the appropriate code scanner be able to isolate which corner is causing the issue so I can start tracing wires?

Would be nice if it defaulted to "Normal" when these fail and not "Sport", The ride the last few days has been a little harsh

[Helmsman]

Hey Phil, no advice on the EDC Im afraid but regarding failure code reading I'd suggest you get the BMWhat app. Believe this has much better error coverage than Torque (and on top you can do a load of nice coding youself). Had Torque since before but not comparable on the same day with BMWhat (or "Carly of BMW" as they're called these days).

Cheers

[omniphil]

Originally Posted by Helmsman

Hey Phil, no advice on the EDC Im afraid but regarding failure code reading I'd suggest you get the BMWhat app. Believe this has much better error coverage than Torque (and on top you can do a load of nice coding youself). Had Torque since before but not comparable on the same day with BMWhat (or "Carly of BMW" as they're called these days).

Cheers

Ok, sounds good, I'll look for that app. If I can get some more meaningful error codes and can tell if it's a separate corner or maybe the EDC ECU itself it would be alot easier to diagnose. Super stiff mode is getting old on the streets of Massachusetts

[omniphil]

I got Carly for BMW as it's now called. What a great app!

Ok so I got the Error code 5FE1 in the EDC section. Steering angle sensor out of range or something like that. I'm reading there is a way to reset or zero it. Does that have to be done by some one with a secret tool?

Good to know its not a bad strut.

[Helmsman]

Hi Phil, good to hear you're narrowing it down. Lets see if Mike or some of the coders chime in for some more guidance.

Had a look at the coding options yet, anything you'd fancy?

Cheers

[omniphil]

Originally Posted by Helmsman

Hi Phil, good to hear you're narrowing it down. Lets see if Mike or some of the coders chime in for some more guidance.

Had a look at the coding options yet, anything you'd fancy?

Cheers

I took apart the whole steering column yesterday to see if the steering angle sensor needed cleaning. It actually looked pretty clean, i'm guessing it was replaced at some point by the previous owner. Was a pretty fun project.

I then cleared the codes but I still have the steering angle sensor error. (I did do the calibrate procedure where you start the car and turn full left and full right)

I have heard that there is a way with the advanced diagnostic tools that the sensor can be zeroed out. So at this point I think its either that or the sensor itself needs replacing.

What's odd is why would only the EDC system complain about a bad steering angle sensor? If the steering angle sensor were bad wouldn't the whole stability control system not function?

[mtf630]

What was the fix? Having this issue myself.

[gillara]

Same

[Ximian]

The fix is to reset the steering angle and if that doesn't work, replace the EDC module as it's likely to have gone bad.