[Martin Strauss]

After cranking my car, I would say more than half of the time over the past few weeks, I have gotten the BMW warning stating: Steering Response. Drive Moderately. It leaves me with no Power Steering and I must either hit "Ok" to the warning on the idrive screen to gain power steering, or if that doesn't work put the car in drive or reverse to gain Power Steering. Sometimes neither works but usually after at most I'd say 25-30 secs the wheel breaks free and I gain Power Steering and the ability to drive the car. Thinking Steering Angle Sensor, but need help pinpointing the cause. I have seen walkthroughs for resetting the DSC, but I tried it to no success. Have not seen many threads regarding this except for BMW replacing a lot of steering racks and that is out of the equation atm. Thanks! Any advice appreciated.

[alpineweissF25]

How old is your battery?

[pungo]

You need to read the error codes with a good scanner like e-sys, it could be a number of things and the error codes will help narrow it down. As alpineweissF25 mentioned the battery, make sure it's healthy before attempting any further diagnostics.

[Martin Strauss]

Battery was replaced roughly 8 months ago.

[Martin Strauss]

I have read the codes and was getting a steering angle sensor fault every time. I believe that is what it said along with several other DSC codes. Ill have to read it again tomorrow and repost. Thanks pungo.

[Martin Strauss]

These are the codes I am getting.

[pungo]

Originally Posted by Martin Strauss

Battery was replaced roughly 8 months ago.

The newness of the battery doesn't mean it's healthy. The battery heath needs to be verified before attempting to diagnose error codes since a unhealthy battery can throw false errors.

If the battery is healthy, use ista+ to diagnose per the test plans.

[Martin Strauss]

Originally Posted by pungo

The newness of the battery doesn't mean it's healthy. The battery heath needs to be verified before attempting to diagnose error codes since a unhealthy battery can throw false errors.

If the battery is healthy, use ista+ to diagnose per the test plans.

Revisiting my original post. I had a local shop test the battery and from the terminals the reader said good battery, but shop owner said the CCA’s were a little low and that the steering could possibly just be pulling a strong load. Any suggestions?

[one9kilo]

Originally Posted by Martin Strauss

Revisiting my original post. I had a local shop test the battery and from the terminals the reader said good battery, but shop owner said the CCA’s were a little low and that the steering could possibly just be pulling a strong load. Any suggestions?

Try swapping out the battery. Your battery is still under warranty. A lot of places are lenient on battery replacement. Just tell them your mechanic suspect it's the battery and you want an exchange.

This may not be the best route but its the most efficient route in my opinion. When you have electrical issues, the first thing is to positively ensure it isn't a battery issue because most cases it is. It's also the easiest and cheapest route to go before you really have to deep dive with diagnosing issues.

Swap battery with the same OEM spec, registered it, and see if it goes away.

[Martin Strauss]

Current status: Car is getting a new battery installed and registered that is under warranty. First step in diagnosing. I will update this afternoon after I have the car in my possession

[Martin Strauss]

New battery in and registered. Same steering wheel alert on the dash... any ideas on next steps? Looks like I’ll be downloading ista for easier troubleshooting

[pungo]

Originally Posted by Martin Strauss

New battery in and registered. Same steering wheel alert on the dash... any ideas on next steps? Looks like I’ll be downloading ista for easier troubleshooting

You're on the right path with ista+, not sure why you didn't do that a few months ago when 1st recommended Anyway, hopefully ista will help pinpoint the issue.

[Wgosma]

Following thread: had the steering errors couple times but sensed no change in actual steering effort, until today. But car oddly self-corrected while driving. At home ignition off then back on, iDrive messages gone. cruise control faulted same time as steering; it self-corrected also.

Check codes tomorrow.

[Martin Strauss]

Shop owner told me he’s never had someone “almost” have to get their rack replaced and then said oh no it’s this sensor. Does ista+ give better diagnosis info than bimmerlink? I heard the codes are totally different for bimmerlink and do not translate in a google search of the code

[Wgosma]

OP: are you able to clear any or all the fault codes with BimmerLink?

Which if the 3 memory categories in BimmerLink are your codes pulled from?
thanks/Bill

[pungo]

Originally Posted by Martin Strauss

Shop owner told me he’s never had someone “almost” have to get their rack replaced and then said oh no it’s this sensor. Does ista+ give better diagnosis info than bimmerlink? I heard the codes are totally different for bimmerlink and do not translate in a google search of the code

Sorry, I haven't used bimmerlink for diagnostics since I use ista+ because it's superior and much more powerful than a phone app. It will list what to check for a certain errors and can create a test plan to follow. I would hope bimmerlink would at least pull the proper error codes that match ista+

[one9kilo]

Originally Posted by Martin Strauss

New battery in and registered. Same steering wheel alert on the dash... any ideas on next steps? Looks like I’ll be downloading ista for easier troubleshooting

Next step is to clear all current codes. Then test and reset DSC. Once you get ISTA, it can do that for you.

Once those steps are done, I would read codes again using ISTA. This will give you current and updated fault codes, if there is any.

Those codes will then give you a general direction on what to do next.

[Martin Strauss]

Originally Posted by Wgosma

OP: are you able to clear any or all the fault codes with BimmerLink?

Which if the 3 memory categories in BimmerLink are your codes pulled from?
thanks/Bill

Bimmerlink will clear fault codes. Sometimes there will be 1 or 2 it is unable to clear however. Not sure what the memory categories are. I recall permanent category and 1 or 2 others, but that may not be what you’re referring to

[Martin Strauss]

Originally Posted by one9kilo

Next step is to clear all current codes. Then test and reset DSC. Once you get ISTA, it can do that for you.

Once those steps are done, I would read codes again using ISTA. This will give you current and updated fault codes, if there is any.

Those codes will then give you a general direction on what to do next.

Understood. If I have trouble getting ista I will have my Indy do that and give me a printout to post here. Thanks.

[Martin Strauss]

Originally Posted by pungo

Sorry, I haven't used bimmerlink for diagnostics since I use ista+ because it's superior and much more powerful than a phone app. It will list what to check for a certain errors and can create a test plan to follow. I would hope bimmerlink would at least pull the proper error codes that match ista+

Please! I will download ista+ or E-Sys once I learn how. Thank you.