abs light on constantly after being jump started at bodyshop

Wed Apr 13, 2011 9:26 pm

Hi, after taking my car for a little lick of paint the guys at the bodyshop had to jump start it because the battery is buggered and now the orange abs light is on constantly when driving, im assuming this is the relay and after looking at a couple of threads on here im unsure of where the relay is. Is it under the steering column or in the engine compartment?? My car is a facelift 1988 325i sport. Any help is appreciated.
thanks in advance Rory

Wed Apr 13, 2011 10:22 pm

Sonebody will correct me if i'm mistaken but I think the ABS relays are located in a little black box in the engine bay (i'm trying to visualise my engine bay right now!)

Wed Apr 13, 2011 10:36 pm

the silver ABS relay is above the glovebox

Wed Apr 13, 2011 10:40 pm

e30topless wrote:the silver ABS relay is above the glovebox

It's clipped to part of the metalwork that the glovebox catch is fixed onto, and is within a few inches of the ABS ECU.

Fri Apr 15, 2011 12:38 pm

thanks guys i will look into fixing this today, thanks very much

Fri Apr 15, 2011 1:07 pm

e30topless wrote:the silver ABS relay is above the glovebox

Spot on right by the catch, quite a common problem after jump starts causing voltage spikes.

Fri Apr 15, 2011 2:39 pm

Is it the large silver box that says bosch on it about 4 inch long?? That the harness clips into.

Fri Apr 15, 2011 3:04 pm

redror wrote:Is it the large silver box that says bosch on it about 4 inch long?? That the harness clips into.

No it is a relay approx 2" long and 1" square, open the glovebox and look above the metal plate where the catch goes in to and you should see the silver cased relay.

It won't be far from the ABS control unit which is probably what you are looking at.

Fri Apr 15, 2011 3:30 pm

ABS relay

Hope it helps

Fri Apr 15, 2011 4:40 pm

Ok this is annoying the big thing I was looking at was more like 9" long and I think that was the control unit, I have looked above where the catch locates and there is nothing (we changed the heater matrix last year and must of moved something. I have in my hand a small blue relay that has the number 61.31-1378 786 and underneath that has 899507 other than that there are 2 yellow relays behind the hinge of the glovebox towards the bulkhead, otherwise there aren't any more. Please help, cheers 4 all the help so far

Fri Apr 15, 2011 4:45 pm

i dont have one of them silver relays behind my glovebox,is there a chance its in the engine bay?

Fri Apr 15, 2011 4:52 pm

the search goes on lol

Fri Apr 15, 2011 5:44 pm

1 abs relay found the little swine, I must have pushed it towards the drivers side of the car, the soldering iron is warming up as we speak, thanks for the help let's hope my hands steady

Fri Apr 15, 2011 7:38 pm

redror wrote:i dont have one of them silver relays behind my glovebox,is there a chance its in the engine bay?

Not all E30s with ABS have the relay at all - it was only fitted to early cars, but you have said that yours is '88, so it should have one. Later cars use a different power supply arrangement for the ABS, taking power from the main engine (DME) relay.
FYI, the blue relay is the one that switches power to the windows/roof when you open a door with the ignition off, and the yellow ones switch between dim dip driving lights and dipped beam headlamps.

Sat Apr 16, 2011 9:41 am

cheers brian, its all sorted now

Sat Apr 16, 2011 11:01 pm

On a similar theme-I have a 1990 325i SE, switchable auto. Popped over to somerset today and came back over the severn bridge, went over a big hump in the road at about 95, heard a knock under the hood from the fusebox region, and the abs (I think ) light came on, and now won't go off. is it possible something made a fuse go? (it's dark now so not gonna go investigating). it's the middle brake light of the three, with 3 little dashes either side of the circle. I always thought it was abs light but could be wrong?

Just seems wierd. never had electrical probs with the car, no wiring has been bodged, it's all original, so not expecting to find a dodgy connection come undone or anything silly.

Where should I start looking?

Thanks

Sun Apr 17, 2011 2:34 pm

Just had a look, no fuses gone. as mine is a facelift 90, I am assuming it is the later system Brian mentioned. Can I ask what is likely to have gone? and where am I looking? Is there a different relay under the bonnet for the later system?

Any help really appreciated, I am a bit stumped on this one, ABS is a black art as far as I am concerned. Just tried car again and light is staying on still.

Sun Apr 17, 2011 3:19 pm

There are four brake related lights in a row on an E30 cluster, and the ABS light is the right hand one.
The one you're describing sounds like the pad wear light.

Sun Apr 17, 2011 9:55 pm

Thank you, that's what I was not sure of. It is the second one between the handbrake light and the brake fault? warning light(Is that just a low fluid level light then?). I will check it out. For some reason I was convinced that was abs-don't know why? I don't think I have sensors fitted, the wires I thought were twisted together, but the light has not been on so I could be telling porkys. I know what to look for now, and I DID read the long topic about the warning light and why it doesn't show blah blah blah! I'll see what's happened under there anyway.

Thanks again

Your replies and answers to us newbie fools is most helpful!

Matt