Paying attention to your vehicle is vital in these days, in fact, if you do not do the minimum maintenance of it, or if you do not take into account symptoms of abnormality, you strongly risk to observe your car withering away. This is specifically the topic we are going to focus on today, one of the signs that most disturbs car owners is the ABS warning light on BMW 3 Series. In an attempt to help you analyze this warning light, we will first check out what this ABS warning light corresponds to, then in a second what to do if the ABS light is on BMW 3 Series?.

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What does the ABS light on BMW 3 Series mean?

We will start our article content with the meaning of an ABS warning light on BMW 3 Series, to do this, in first, we will find out what an ABS is, and later on, why the ABS light on your car lights up.

What is the ABS on BMW 3 Series?

To begin with, it is essential to explain to you what the ABS of your BMW 3 Series is utilized for so that you can understand the rest of this guideline. The ABS (Anti-lock Braking System) is a device that prevents the wheels of your car from locking during braking. The objective of this system is to optimise the braking distance of a car by preventing the wheels from locking, sliding on the road and you losing control of your car. The ABS system of your BMW 3 Series is composed of several elements, here they are:

  • Speed sensors on each wheel, which will examine if one of the wheels locks up.
  • A hydraulic system and valves that will control the pressure of the pads on the discs to control the braking power of the car
  • A computer that is the control center of your entire ABS system as well as the ABS light of your BMW 3 Series

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The fact is, you can simply feel how your car’s ABS works. If you have to steer, you will find that your car will brake by pawing, this is precisely the behaviour that ABS enables, it will optimise braking to the maximum by linking the phases of pressure on the brake discs and the phases of discharge to prevent the wheels from locking up.

Meaning of an ABS light on BMW 3 Series

Now we proceed to the part that you are most probably more interested in, meaning of an ABS warning light on a BMW 3 Series? First of all, it is an orange light, so if it is on it suggest that your ABS system is defective. You should be advised that as soon as the ABS warning light is on, the ABS will be put into safety mode, so you should adapt your driving and not take any risks. Here are the different problems that the ABS warning light on your BMW 3 Series can point:

  • It could be a simple short circuit, a broken wiring harness, a defective relay or fuse. Use a pressure gauge to check it.
  • A malfunctioning ABS sensor: A breakdown of one of them causes the ABS light on your BMW 3 Series to come on
  • The ABS hydraulic block of your BMW 3 Series: If it is defective it is possible that the indicator light will turn on and you will no longer be able to use your ABS.
  • The ABS computer: If the computer has a trouble, being the center of all decisions made to run your ABS, the light will obviously come on.

What if the ABS light activate on my BMW 3 Series?

We will now proceed to the part where we will try to give you some answers to switch off this light, and thus answer the following question, what to do if the ABS light is on on my BMW 3 Series?. The answers will be based upon the failures you are experiencing. First of all, pass your BMW 3 Series to the diagnostic tool, if you don’t know how to read a fault code on BMW 3 Series, don’t hesitate to examine our guideline which points out the steps to take. Once you have identified the source of your issue, here are the steps to take to resolve it and turn off the ABS light on your BMW 3 Series:

  • Problem of the ECU or the hydraulic block: It can only be adjusted, and in this situation, you will have to go through a specialist, but if it’s dead, it could cost you around 1000€ to replace the ECU and 1500 to 2000€ if you have to replace both of them.
  • Electrical issue: Once you’ve identified an electrical issue with your manometer, if it’s only a fuse or a relay, count around 10€ maximum, in any other case you’ll have to repair the wiring harness.
  • A defective sensor: Often a simple cleaning of the sensors will be enough to resolve the issue, in any other case changing a sensor can cost up to a few hundred euros.

If you need more tutorials on the BMW 3 Series, go to our BMW 3 Series category.