EEP_1 Error Message (2002 BMW M Roadster)

[Kerun314]

All:

I have a much loved 2002 BMW M Roadster. I'm the second owner of this amazing little car and it has been my daily driver & only car for the last 8 years, during which time I've put 26,000 miles on the clock. It now has 95,000 miles total.

For the past 4 years, almost every time the outside temperature drops below ~35 degrees, and the car is parked outside for a while (say, 4+ hours), the car displays an EEP_1 error code in the instrument cluster when the car is turned on. When this EEP_1 code is showing, the speedometer reading is 15-20 mph too high (vs. the 'normal' of 3-5mph too high), the tachometer doesn't work at all, and the fuel tank gauge doesn't work at all. This persists until the car is driven for at least 10 minutes, after which, if I shut the car off and turn it back on, the EEP_1 code goes away and the instrumentation all works -- but, importantly, the speedometer CONTINUES to be 15-20 mph over until I take it to BMW for an instrument cluster reset. They charge me $175 to do this. Each time they have done it, the instrument cluster returns to normal, with all instruments working, and the speedometer reading returns to the 'normal' 3-5mph error (vs. 15-20mph error). All remains well until the car sits in cold weather again, and the cycle restarts...

This is very frustrating, as the rest of the car is running incredibly well, and it continues to be a car I have found no replacement for -- the combination of the sweet, naturally aspirated straight 6 developing 315hp, great induction sound, no annoying and silly crackles/pops, light weight, manual gearbox, and classic / timeless looks...with no screens or other technology that ages the car ...makes this car irreplaceable to me.

As you can tell, I absolutely love this car, and would worship anyone who can help me solve the EEP_1 problem. I've been told by BMW that getting a new instrument cluster is a (potentially) permanent solution, but this is $1500+, does not guarantee solving the problem, and no new instrument cluster is available.

Please help!

[khammack]

Because it happens at lower temperatures, I would suspect a bad connection (bad solder joint, cracked circuit, etc.).

[wcampbelliv]

I recently sold my 2002 M54 that has the same issue. In all my research, I found one article regarding the capacitors in the instrument cluster - I found one video but haven’t been able to find it since. I’ll look again and pass along if I find it.

The general idea was that the cold weather will prevent the capacitors from correctly triggering. If you are inclined to pull out your soldering iron and know your way around a motherboard, you don’t really have anything to lose by replacing all the capacitors you can find.

Once your instrument cluster warms up, to resolve the speedometer issue, you should go through the instrument cluster test procedures - whichever test mode does the ‘reset’ will resolve the discrepancy. When EEP reappears, the speedo will be wrong again.

If you do end up replacing the whole cluster, make sure to double check the production date to make sure it’s compatible.

Good luck and please let us know if you resolve it!


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[01silber]

Your cluster is shot and there is no known repair for for that issue, I am on my 3rd cluster.I tried all the cluster repair companies and as soon as I told them eep_1 they said they were not interested in trying to repair it.It will get better in warm weather but will eventually stay at the eep_1 regardless of temp