i have a question what about the front sensors can those be faulty and what the usage of it because i hear about rear but not front mine is a 1999 528i
Good day all, I'm new on the form and I own my 1st BMW and it just happens to be a E39 523T I love the car but I seem to have that same 3 finger salute, only thing is yes my speedo does not work and I have the 3 lights on but early morning with start up the speedo does work and the car runs with no problems, I then travel 20KM to work with no problems, as soon as I hit traffic the car goes into limp mode and I'm left with only 3rd gear. I'm a sales rep so I'm on the road most of the time in the city the car stays in limp mode but as soon as I'm on a open road and I'm doing a constant speed the speedo comes back into play when this happens I stop the car switch of and remove the key I wait 10 seconds and when I start up I have normal drive again and no more limp mode up until I have to slow down again. Could this be a dirty speed sensor or a faulty one? I'm in South Africa and parts are crazy expensive here. Please help! Thanks.
The answer is yes it could be a dirty or faulty speed sensor. Take the wheels off and look at the sensor wires and if any of the insulation is cracked or bare wire exposed replace the sensors. These are very sensitive to aging and they all fail eventually. If yours have never been done just replace all 4 of them. I had trouble buying a recognized German brand and they did not work in the rear. Had to replace them with BMW parts at more than twice the price. The funny thing is that the replacements appeared exactly the same as the original ones yet they would not work. You can save some cash by purchasing them in the US from FCPeuro.com. They offer lifetime warranty as well. Good luck.
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Thanks, I will remove the wheels this week and check all the wires. I will keep you all up to date with the progress. Happy miles to all!
Great write up! You guys seem to know your stuff on this forum and glad it is so active.
I purchased a 2000 528i (Dark green, sport package, 180k) from my father who kept it in pretty good condition.
Mine has the ABS, brake (amber) and traction control lights on. It recently has started having intermittent spedometer failure (sometime will work when car is started and other times won't work at all) and cruise control failure. I will follow this procedure and try to figure out which sensors are out. I have a mechanic buddy who works in a ford shop and has some of his own stuff (non-bmw specific) at his house for dx. Also have another former e36 M3 owner who did a lot of his own work so I feel b/w the three of us we can tackle these issues.
Any other thoughts on the speedo/cruise control issues or is this probably the underlying issue?
Also which brand do you guys suggest? Is it ok to go non-OEM for half the price or better to pony up for OEM BMW parts?
Last edited by Rumzdizzle; 09-05-2017 at 02:29 PM.
I can relay my experience. I purchased PEX brand rear wheel speed sensors and the only improvement was that the speedometer started working again. I still had transmission shifting issues and various ABS lights on. I brought my E39 to a BMW dealer who evaluated it and found that the rear wheel speed sensors were not reporting. I solved the problem by returning the PEX sensors and replaced them with Siemens. Issue resolved. Siemens cost $80 more per sensor than the PEX. The time frame on that was 3/13 and who knows, PEX could have solved their problems by now.
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