[jhawk]

Hello: I just bought my first BMW about 2 months ago. It's a black 330xi, 2006. It's a high mileage car and was still in warranty when I bought it (barely), but is not in warranty any more (appx. 50500 miles on it).

I did a lot of research on the car and BMW's in general, so knew what I was getting into repair, cost, and reliability wise. I've been happy with the car...until today when it wouldn't start.

I'm getting a red warning light on the dash indicating "electric steering wheel lock malfuntion". The dealership I called said the car will not start with this condition, but sometimes "playing around with the key" or "moving the steering wheel" will sometimes get it to start. The also suggested waiting a few hours for the computer to reset and try again. They also said it's a "big job" to replace the sensor.

My question is this: the closest BMW dealer is 5 hours away. I have an extended warranty, but I don't think it'll pay for a 5 hour tow! Does anyone have any experience with this problem? Is there a way to start the car? And, can a local non-BMW dealership fix this sort of problem, or is it so complicated that only a BMW dealership can fix it?

Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

[2006e904Me]

From what I've read, I believe this is not an uncommon/unknown problem with the early E90s. I got an error message recently but I can't recall if it was yellow or red. I think yellow. My car wouldn't start so what I did was remove my key, turn my steering wheel until I felt it lock manually, put my key back in and it started. Definitely do a search. Others have waited a while and the car started again. Basically the things the dealer told you to do.

From reading about the problem, it seems most of the cars with this problem have had their steering columns replaced. I believe in the newer models, they don't even have the locking mechanism anymore.

Hope that helps. Good luck.

[David1]

The repair for this is to replace the steering column and is a common problem on the E90 and probably not cheap. Alot of dealers goodwill this repair at least to the original owners.

[epiphone3]

fiddle with the key and steering wheel a bit to get it to starte, then drive it to the dealer and have it fixed under your extended warrantee. Once its on and you're on the way to the dealer, try and avoid having to turn the car off and take the key out (i.e. avoid having the steering lock mechanism go on) as much as you can.

[island111]

No biggie. Every BMW I have had has a 5% speedo error showing that you are going faster than you are thus 50500 miles minus 5% for error is 48,000. Just check your speed with a GPS. You can win on this....

[shahils12]

Originally Posted by island111

No biggie. Every BMW I have had has a 5% speedo error showing that you are going faster than you are thus 50500 miles minus 5% for error is 48,000. Just check your speed with a GPS. You can win on this....

that's quite a stretch to win an argument to have work done under warranty...

hahaha

[Orient330iNYC]

Originally Posted by island111

No biggie. Every BMW I have had has a 5% speedo error showing that you are going faster than you are thus 50500 miles minus 5% for error is 48,000. Just check your speed with a GPS. You can win on this....

except for the fact the odometer uses the raw speed pulse and not the biased display reading.
bmw has had a bulletin about this out for about 7 years.
EU law requires them to bias the speedo upward.
the odometer is not biased.

[John 070]

Originally Posted by island111

No biggie. Every BMW I have had has a 5% speedo error showing that you are going faster than you are thus 50500 miles minus 5% for error is 48,000. Just check your speed with a GPS. You can win on this....

LOL what is it, an ego boost? I didn't think it was the case until I got a Garmin nuvi. I drove 105, according to the speedo, and when I looked at the max speed screen, it was only 97.1. I guess that sells cars on test drives, huh?

[lipek]

your extended warranty should have roadside assistance included with it and it does not matter where you are bmw will pay for towing to the nearest bmw dealer, just call the bmw roadside assistance if you still can't start your car.

[simp0man]

Sorry to hear,GL on the fix.

[StoneCold]

common problems to E90. Should have it fixes under warranty.

[Gig103]

I've definitely read about this problem on the forums, there's a TSB (Technical Service Bulletin) about it.

Does anyone know if TSB's are covered even outside warranty? I thought they were, since the point is to fix a common problem, but I am not an expert.

[jhawk]

Thanks for all the quick replies and suggestions. I played around a lot with the steering wheel and key: didn't help at all. The steering wheel moves; it's not locked, but no amount of fiddling or smacking the steering column helped. Nor did cussing and yelling help

I had it towed back to my house. The nearest BMW dealership to me is 5 hours away, unless I go to Canada, then there's one 2.5 hours away. I checked into crossing the border to have a car fixed....it's easier than I thought. But, I'll have to call that dealership today to see if they'll work on US models, what exchange rate issues there might be, and if my extended warrantee company will pay for a Canadian shop.

There's a local independent shop that works on imports. l'll call them to see if they've done this work before...and if they are "licensed" which is a requirement of my warrantee company.

Since I'm the second owner, I'm thinking BMW will not do this work for free. Thanks again for your suggestions.

[96vette]

my wife's 2006 325i has been having the same issue but she now has over 65000 miles on the odo.

Has anyone had this repaired outside the warranty? if so, how much did the dealer charge?
Thanks

[seanl]

Originally Posted by jhawk

Since I'm the second owner, I'm thinking BMW will not do this work for free. Thanks again for your suggestions.

You actually don't know that until you try. As others have have said, it's not an uncommon problem with early E90s.

Good Luck.