Replacing steering angle sensor

Here's the steps I took to replace my steering angle sensor. Do so at your own
risk. I'm not a mechanic.
The process took about half an hour. My DSC light was on, so I scanned the
codes and got a 90 degree difference of wiper too large steering angle sensor
error. The error wouldn't clear and always came back.

The first step was to remove the lower drivers side dash and floor panel.
I forgot to take pics of this, I'll see if I can add them later.

The next step is to crawl underneath the dash and look up. You'll see the
coupler that joins the two steering columns together. Mark where the coupler
joint is with respect to the steering column shaft attached to the steering
wheel. If you don't your steering wheel could be at a slight angle when you put
it back together.
Undo the nut and bold that clamps the coupler to the shaft. Grab the lower
shaft and push it into the floor (on it's axis). It will push into the socket
shaft on the floor.

Take a note how the steering angle sensor is situated. Unplug the steering angle
sensor and slide it of the shaft.

I took my steering angle sensor apart and removed the spindle. I noticed that
one of the sweeper arms on the spindle was broken or worn down (careful
they're fragile). This most likely explained the 90 degree error.
I picked up a working steering angle sensor from the junk yard, swapped out
the spindle and re-assembled mine. I figured this would save the coding step.

I slid the fixed steering angle sensor back on the shaft, plugged it in and
pulled the two steering shafts together noting where I previously marked them.
Put the nut and bolt back in and tightened it. Plugged in the laptop, clear the
codes and took it for a spin.
The 90 degree error went away and now I had a plausibility error. I ran a lew
adaption. Started the car and while slowly rolling forward turned the wheel
fully in one direction then the other. Took the car out for a spin, dcs light
stayed off and no errors. I took out the steering shaft coupler nut, added some
locktite before re-tightening the nut then assembled the lower dash. I've put
2000 klm on the car since then and no DSC issues.

On a side note it took me longer to remove/replace the lower dash then it did to
separate the two steering shafts, remove/replace the steering angle sensor.
I didn't need to remove the steering wheel or drop the whole steering column.

Good write-up. Thanks for sharing.

good write-up. the previous owner spent $540 doing this on my car at an indy-shop.

learned something new today.
thx for sharing.
now im glad my car's not equiped w/ that contraption.

1+,

I have a 1998 528i too. DHoang, are you sure your and my 1998 528i do not have that Steering Angle Sensor?

Originally Posted by cn90

1+,

I have a 1998 528i too. DHoang, are you sure your and my 1998 528i do not have that Steering Angle Sensor?

Item #9 in realoem

Well,

Realoem says #9 is for "vehicles equipped with DSC".

Mine has "ASC".

While the ABS trifecta DIYs have sections on the steering angle sensor, I looked in the bestlinks for /steering angle F3 and found nothing.

So I'll add this so others find it in the future, long after we're gone:
- How to test and replace the steering angle sensor (1)

TEST STEERING ANGLE SENSOR:
Note: The steering angle sensor, mounted at the bottom of the steering column near the flexible coupling, utilizes two potentiometers to determine the steering angle and the rate of steering angle change, which are are the two raw signals the CAN bus microprocessor utilizes to create the steering angle signal for broadcast over the CAN bus. The DSC III logic compares the stored plausibility of the steering angle sensor against other DSC III inputs (front wheel speeds, rotation rate and lateral acceleration sensors).

STEERING ANGLE SENSOR:

cool thread , thanks for sharing !
I removed my lower dash one day and it took like 30 min
So you are saying that to remove lower dash is no more complicated than to remove steering shaft ?
Also no need to remove the steering wheel or drop the whole steering column
Interesting ... this makes this job very attractive

I am also wandering if there are any bearings in steering shaft which can be replaced at the same time
so you basically can get a car with a new steering feeling like a factory

I once took a look at this thing and said how the hell you supposed to remove it??? Glad I didn't have too.

Great thread, and thank you for sharing..

My DSC light came on and stayed on about two years ago. On a rainy day I discovered that the anti-slip feature was not functioning when I spun the tires at a light. Other than that I've experienced no performance problems.

I took it to the dealer for diagnostics and nearly choked on my cup of Starbucks when the service guy quoted me $4,000+ to repair the "steering angle sensor". I passed on the offer and they charged me $125 for their time! Vampires!

I fixed the chronic light problem with a 1" piece of electrician's tape on the dash panel in front of the light. Seriously.

Can a real fix of this problem be as simple as you describe? Amazing!

Thanks.

DSC can save your life
Seriously

Originally Posted by champaign777

DSC can save your life
Seriously

It can also kill you.

Very helpful, thanks

+1 Outstanding write-up. I'm glad you cleared up the difference between the steer angle sensor and what I call the "YAW" sensor. You can tell me if I have the terminology correct. There is a potentiometer of sorts that connects to a linkage (at least on my 540) that is then mounted with a half-ass clamp (that looks like a hose clamp) that secures the bottom of the shaft to passenger-side lower control arm. There are two flat spots in the control arm to help in orienting the bottom of the linkage. This is what I call the YAW sensor and I don't know if they are unique to DSC cars compared to ASC cars.

Does this fall into your area of expertise as well? Want to make sure I call things by the right name....or at least what we all call 'em here! Excellent write-up. Needs to be a sticky for sure.

Bill:
The Yaw sensor you refer to is the headlamp leveling sensor. I think it is only on HID headlamp cars. Mine is mounted to the passenger side control arm.