service lights are on

[jayE30lover]

Hi all,

Recently bought an F reg 318i gun metal grey, nice clean motor done 155k
few little problems, speedo doesnt work, rev counter ok, but the service light comes on and sometimes the red one comes on every now and then, also the oil service message comes on, put some new oil in the car and filled it up with some optimax unleaded, runs like a dream but the messages concern me a bit, also is this an e30 or an e28, excuse me for being thick but this is my first car and just needed a few pointers!

cheers guys

jay

[Ziggy]

Good choice of first car!
It's an e30 (e28 was the 5-series)

The service lights need resetting after you do the service / inspection. That can be done with one of the "reset tool"s that you can find on eBay, or alternatively with a bit of wire like I did last night!

Welcome to the zone

[Cloggy Saint]

Hi Jay, and welcome to the zone. First things first, you have an E30, the E28 is the old 5 series. As far as the service/oil lights go, they won't go out just by filling up with oil etc, they need to be re-set. This link will explain how it's done

http://www.bmwe30.net/cgi-bin/datacgi/d ... Section=02

[mrLEE30]

welcome to the zone mate!

1. speedo - check fuse 12, 10, 8 and 23. all ok? check the sender unit as the wires are under the car, raise the rear, look at the top right side of differential and you will see a plug, pull it off and give the contacts a clean (this is your speed pickup sensor), if that dont work come back to us!!

2. oil service lights, open bonnet, drivers side of engine (LHD!!) you will see a big plug toward the front of the engine near the inlet manifold, unscrew this plug cover and you will see a multi pin plug, look next to each plug and you will see a very small number, you need to short out pin 7 and 11 with a piece of wire. turn off ingnition, short 7 and 11, turn on ignition wait about 7 secs and service lights will reset, then repeat off ignition, short 7 and 11 (or leave it in there as i do), on ignition, 7 secs will reset the oil service light.
be careful, wrong shorting could knacker your dash!!

if that dont work your SI board batteries are dead, thats another thread!!

good luck

mrlee

[jayE30lover]

Thank guys,

will print off mrlees instructions and try it tonight!!

thanks again!!

jay....