Paying attention to your automobile is imperative in these modern times, in fact, if you do not do the minimum service of it, or if you do not take into account signals of abnormality, you highly risk to see your car withering away. This is precisely the theme we are gonna discuss in this article, one of the indications that most disturbs drivers is the ABS warning light on BMW 5 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 how to handle it if the ABS light is on BMW 5 Series?.

abs-light-stays-on-bmw-5-series

What does the ABS light on BMW 5 Series indicate?

We will commence our article with the definition of an ABS warning light on BMW 5 Series, to do this, in first, we will see what an ABS is, and afterwards, why the ABS light on your car lights up.

What is the ABS on BMW 5 Series?

To start with, it is essential to explain to you what the ABS of your BMW 5 Series is utilized for so that you can understand the rest of this article. The ABS (Anti-lock Braking System) is a system that prevents the wheels of your car from locking during braking. The goal 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 5 Series is composed of different parts, here they are:

  • Speed sensors on each wheel, which will analyze if one of the wheels locks up.
  • A hydraulic system and valves that will manage the pressure of the pads on the discs to manage 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 5 Series

.
In fact, you can with ease come to 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 actions that ABS allows, 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 5 Series

Now we proceed to the part that you are certainly more interested in, meaning of an ABS warning light on a BMW 5 Series? First of all, it is an orange light, so if it is on it means that your ABS system is defective. You should be aware that as soon as the ABS warning light is on, the ABS will be put into safety mode, so you should change your driving and not take any risks. Here are the different problems that the ABS warning light on your BMW 5 Series can show:

  • It could be a simple short circuit, a damaged wiring harness, a defective relay or fuse. Use a pressure gauge to verify it.
  • A malfunctioning ABS sensor: A failure of one of them triggers the ABS light on your BMW 5 Series to come on
  • The ABS hydraulic block of your BMW 5 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 problem, being the center of all decisions made to manage your ABS, the light will obviously come on.

What if the ABS light turns on on my BMW 5 Series?

We will now proceed to the part where we will try to give you some solutions to shut off this light, and thus answer the following question, what to do if the ABS light is on on my BMW 5 Series?. The solutions will rely upon the failure you are experiencing. First of all, pass your BMW 5 Series to the diagnostic tool, if you don’t know how to read a fault code on BMW 5 Series, don’t think twice to go through our article which explains the steps to take. Once you have identified the origin of your trouble, here are the steps to take to solve it and turn off the ABS light on your BMW 5 Series:

  • Issue of the ECU or the hydraulic block: It can only be altered, 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 trouble: Once you’ve detected an electrical trouble with your manometer, if it’s only a fuse or a relay, count around 10€ maximum, otherwise you’ll have to repair the wiring harness.
  • A defective sensor: Sometimes a simple cleaning of the sensors will be enough to get rid of the trouble, otherwise changing a sensor can cost up to a few hundred euros.

To get more tips on the BMW 5 Series, take a look at the BMW 5 Series category.