message system on P38

looking in my rangey handbook, there are loads of messages that should flash up on the dash if a prob is detected.

im having a prob with oil at the mo, and after my rangey burning 4L of oil during a trip to scotland and back, when i checked the oil the dipstick was nearly dry, but no warning had flashed up, come to think of it when i had my head gasket prob, and coolant was being used by the gallon, the message centre never warned me of low coolant. do you think the previous owner 'disabled' these messages (can you disable them??) if so how do i enable them again??

i do see the usual messages when a key is inserted or a door is open, so it hasnt been totally disabled, but im sure its not reporting faults to me.

any info would be great

any ideas anyone?

Eye'up Stu,


sound like your sensors (oil and water) are goosed, I know its not supposed to happen but i've had failures that went the same way, both are supposed to be normaly open - so on failure / wire brake / loss of power / oil / water, etc you get a warning to / from the ecu.

best check them with a multimeter (if available)
if not, shall try and come up with some bright ideas. . .

one question, what happens if you disconnect either of the sensors??

Blue skies,
Pat

Hi if your system is anywhere near the BMW electronics you could disable them, because the BMW electrical sensor array on occasions went silly.

You might find theres a break or fault in the wiring going to the dash display or a fuse which might have popped.

Don't know much about the P38 so probably not a lot of help but I assume electrics are the same regardless.

As Pat said check both senders, for failure (try to get a good one see if that works) or do you have a wire diagram ? If so see if theres a solanoid which links them all, or a multi terminal.

Have you taken your P38 off road or cleaned the engine bay? Just a thought if theyre both unplugged (maybe from the Head Gasket replacement)

If they're disconnected you will need a break out box (Diagnostic unit) to renable them.

Sorry no other idea than failure/fault/turned off/disconnected

Charlotte