This is extremely strange

[hankthetank94]

hey all, so something extremely weird happened - something I have never seen before on my 540i. Basically, I did a full reset on my car's chip (24 hours with the neg. unplugged) and everything went fine until tonight when I took my CAI out for cleaning. When I put it back in, the first start up read 2 errors (errors that never came up until then) "check coolant" and "check side lights" - so I restarted the car and they went away. Then I took the car for a drive and out of nowhere, the abs, brake, and dsc light all flash on really quick and then go away. So I pulled over, popped the hood, and re-seeded the abs module (unplugged, re-plugged). Everything went away, until I stepped on it. When I stepped on it, the rpm meter went nuts, the temp gauge shot into the red and shot back to normal, and the warning light "System fail safe" or something like that went on and so did the dsc light to the point where I could not turn it off. So at this point I'm freaking out because I'm sure my car somehow became possesed. So I pull over again and re-seed the abs module. this time, everything fires up fine, until this time, when I step on it, the abs, brake, and dsc light flickers at a VERY LOW brightness. Then I stepped on it again and this time only the ABS light flickered. I got back to my house, unplugged the abs module and that is where it is at currently.

Could it be that the computer reset is simply having trouble with the fact that it is breathing through a CAI (if that makes sense)? Or something else wrong?

Again, different scenearios each time I started the car, and it only happened when I gave a gas - normal driving was fine.

regards,
hankthetank94

[Qsilver7]

Since electronic issues seem to occur everytime that you give the car gas...I'd go back to the trunk and make sure that the negative battery cable is secured tightly to the post on the battery.

Perhaps the battery cable is loose...especially since the issues occur when accelerating...or perhaps the battery itself needs to be checked to make sure that the battery hold down clamp is securely fastened over the foot of the battery and screwed down correctly in one of the 3 threaded holes in the battery compartment floor.

[champaign777]

Have you waited ~20 min before disconnecting the battery ?

[chiefwej]

So why did you decide to "do a full reset"? What issues did you expect this to resolve? That's a procedure generally reserved for those having electrical problems. Did you allow the car to go into sleep mode before disconnecting the battery?

[hankthetank94]

AHA!!! Found the solution... There is a black box with the BMW emblem on it to the left of the intake (looking down at the intake from the front of the car) and I had lost the nut that held that on when re-installing the CAI but I figured it wasn't that big of a deal! But, I replaced it with aother proper nut and now I guess it is properly grounded.

Regards,
hankthetank94

[JimLev]

All of those brown wires in that plastic "ground shoe" are the ground wires for everything that wasn't working properly.

[hankthetank94]

All of those brown wires in that plastic "ground shoe" are the ground wires for everything that wasn't working properly.

Thanks - should I be worried about anything since they were so "touchy" before (going on and off really quickly)...

Regards,
hankthetank94

[ViolinARC]

All of those brown wires in that plastic "ground shoe" are the ground wires for everything that wasn't working properly.

+1...there is even a workaround related to that ground point for the ABS/DSC Trifecta iirc.

[Random77]

Thanks - should I be worried about anything since they were so "touchy" before (going on and off really quickly)...

Regards,
hankthetank94

What was touchy before? Before what?