Keeping an eye on your car is vital in these days, in truth, 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 observe your car getting in bad conditions. This is specifically the subject we are going to focus on today, one of the indications that most perturbs motorists is the ABS warning light on BMW X3. In an attempt to help you analyze this warning light, we will first take a look at what this ABS warning light corresponds to, then in a second how to handle it if the ABS light is on BMW X3?.

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What does the ABS light on BMW X3 mean?

We will begin our content with the definition of an ABS warning light on BMW X3, for this, in first, we will see what an ABS is, and next, why the ABS light on your car lights up.

What is the ABS on BMW X3?

To begin with, it is fundamental to demonstrate to you what the ABS of your BMW X3 is intended for so that you can understand the remaining of this content. The ABS (Anti-lock Braking System) is a system that prevents the wheels of your car from locking during braking. The aim 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 X3 is composed of several components, here they are:

  • Speed sensors on each wheel, which will review 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 X3

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In fact, you can very easily 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 exactly the actions that ABS permits, it will optimise braking to the maximum by linking the phases of pressure on the brake discs and the phases of release to prevent the wheels from locking up.

Meaning of an ABS light on BMW X3

Now we go forward to the part that you are certainly more interested in, meaning of an ABS warning light on a BMW X3? Firstly, it is an orange light, so if it is on it shows that your ABS system is faulty. You should be knowledgeable that when the ABS warning light is on, the ABS will be put into security 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 X3 can show:

  • It could be a simple short circuit, a damaged wiring harness, a faulty relay or fuse. Use a pressure gauge to examine it.
  • A malfunctioning ABS sensor: A malfunction of one of them triggers the ABS light on your BMW X3 to turn on
  • The ABS hydraulic block of your BMW X3: If it is faulty it is possible that the indicator light will occur 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 operate your ABS, the light will inevitably turn on.

What if the ABS light comes on on my BMW X3?

We will now go forward to the part where we will try to give you some solutions to turn off this light, and thus answer the following question, what to do if the ABS light is on on my BMW X3?. The solutions will depend on the failure you are encountering. Firstly, pass your BMW X3 to the diagnostic tool, if you don’t know how to read a fault code on BMW X3, don’t be reluctant to examine our content which points the steps to take. Once you have located the origin of your issue, here are the steps to take to fix it and turn off the ABS light on your BMW X3:

  • Problem of the ECU or the hydraulic block: It can only be altered, and in this case, 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 detected an electrical issue 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 faulty sensor: Sometimes a simple cleaning of the sensors will be enough to solve the issue, otherwise changing a sensor can cost up to a few hundred euros.

To find more tips on the BMW X3, take a look at the BMW X3 category.