Alignment issue or something else - DSC malfunction - opinion needed
Guys - so, i was optimistic about taking a corner in my 335 coupe, there was some lose gravel and the car oversteered heavily, I over corrected, skid other way and this fish tailing continued for some time. Finally got it back and never made contact with any pot holes or anything else. DSC was turned off as it often is.
10 mins later, DSC malfunction lights up in the dash adving me to take it to BmW right away. I also noticed that the steering wheel was not straight anymore, off by 15 dedgrees or so. This was strange as i never made contact with anything - could this potentially be a result of a 4 wheel skid and then when the grip came back, something giving up, maybe even a safety mechanism to prevent me braking my wrists when the grip comes back?? Car does not pull left or right, but when driven straight, the steering wheel is tilted to left.
Anyways, took into BMW and they have been scratching their heads now 2 weeks. They initially said that the rear wheel is bent, told them i want to see that myself as i have never hit anything. And how would rear wheel affect steering anyway, to that degree. So, now the latest is that there is nothing else wrong than alignment and of course that is not covered under service plan. Funny thing is, that the DSC malfunctioned and steering is off and car tracks straight, all right after a long skid. So, i call bs on the alignment, but it is their word against mine and you can't argue stupid.
So, opinions against/for or something else?
10 mins later, DSC malfunction lights up in the dash adving me to take it to BmW right away. I also noticed that the steering wheel was not straight anymore, off by 15 dedgrees or so. This was strange as i never made contact with anything - could this potentially be a result of a 4 wheel skid and then when the grip came back, something giving up, maybe even a safety mechanism to prevent me braking my wrists when the grip comes back?? Car does not pull left or right, but when driven straight, the steering wheel is tilted to left.
Anyways, took into BMW and they have been scratching their heads now 2 weeks. They initially said that the rear wheel is bent, told them i want to see that myself as i have never hit anything. And how would rear wheel affect steering anyway, to that degree. So, now the latest is that there is nothing else wrong than alignment and of course that is not covered under service plan. Funny thing is, that the DSC malfunctioned and steering is off and car tracks straight, all right after a long skid. So, i call bs on the alignment, but it is their word against mine and you can't argue stupid.
So, opinions against/for or something else?
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Did they fix the steering wheel? Wheel alignment is not expensive, not covered under warranty, and after the incidence you described, should be done anyway.
Your steering wheel didn't go off kilter by itself. Alignment is in order, PLUS a steering angle sensor calibration...related to the DSC.
Ditto. Assuming that the OP didn't hit anything then there was something not as tight as it should have been and it moved. I have never seen a part bend as the result of a skid. Parts do bend like aluminum foil if a force is 90 degrees to the design direction. However, something has to impact a part to cause that kind of damage.
The DSC computer easily figured out that something was wrong when you were going straight but the sensor in the steering column said 15 degrees left or whatever. To make sure it didn't do anything stupid it shut itself off.
I get these jobs all the time from body shops. Should have been an easy fix. Step one; check and set four wheel alignment including thrust angle. Step two; zero the SAS (steering angle sensor) via the ALDL (assembly line diagnostic lead) using a hand held scanner. Step three; erase codes and road test. Gravy.
Sounds like an hour and $120 to me.
The DSC computer easily figured out that something was wrong when you were going straight but the sensor in the steering column said 15 degrees left or whatever. To make sure it didn't do anything stupid it shut itself off.
I get these jobs all the time from body shops. Should have been an easy fix. Step one; check and set four wheel alignment including thrust angle. Step two; zero the SAS (steering angle sensor) via the ALDL (assembly line diagnostic lead) using a hand held scanner. Step three; erase codes and road test. Gravy.
Sounds like an hour and $120 to me.
May I suggest that you leave the DSC on? What is it you think you are accomplishing by turning it off? See picture below. My DSC is on.
Fun. I like the slides and me setting where the fun cuts off. Not trying to be fast, but having fun. Yeah yeah, it is a public road, go to track. In fact, i do, but not in a car, cars are slow 
Nice pic, but you are way too far from apex, you need to scrape it
Nice pic, but you are way too far from apex, you need to scrape it
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So - the consensus is that a little sliding throws off the alignment? I still don't quite get how the steering wheel is off, I understand the DSC, that was caused by car going straight and steering tilted to the left, that's clear. But how come the steering wheel moved that much?
LOL, you are about to get one bruised knee from that curbing! Actually I am right on the fast line in that series of esses. You have to sacrifice a lot on that turn in order to rocket out of the next one onto the back straight. Any further to the right (common mistake for beginners) and you end up scrubbing off speed in the next turn.
Not bragging above, I have more than my share of track photos with my car so far from the correct line it looks like I'm leaving early.
Not bragging above, I have more than my share of track photos with my car so far from the correct line it looks like I'm leaving early.
Fun. I like the slides and me setting where the fun cuts off. Not trying to be fast, but having fun. Yeah yeah, it is a public road, go to track. In fact, i do, but not in a car, cars are slow
No, the concensus is that we have no idea why your alignment is off. We're guessing.
Thanks. Pads protect your knees, but with bikes, dont try to f1 over those. Dealer is guessing as well..
This might be a motorcycle vs car line thing. Turn 2A at NHMS is a later apex to get set up for 2B and the squirt down the back of the oval in a car.
Fun. I like the slides and me setting where the fun cuts off. Not trying to be fast, but having fun. Yeah yeah, it is a public road, go to track. In fact, i do, but not in a car, cars are slow
The steering angle sensor is faulty..I had it happen to me. Other than dash lights, there were no fault codes. The BMW guys didn't know exactly what it was but one of the senior tech guys there said just replace the sensor since he has seen them go and voila....12000 miles later no problems
You can see how good DSX's line is by the number of cars stacking up to see it!
looks like none of those carz should be there. Cpl family sedans with stock tires and auto trannies, and cpl low end wannabes. I am glad the bmw is the head of the pack though - gotta be hard to get past with those kinda power to weight ratios and space available.
Drivers do like to stack up behind me so that they learn the proper line. I like to keep them back there so they can enjoy the view. Eventually I give them a point by and off they all go. Many of them must not be familiar with proper signalling though because they often give me a point by as they go past. It looks like they must think I can fly over them because it's neither a 'left' or a 'right' signal. Rookies!
Sami, where do you track? Loudon?
5 Weeks later, issue still persists. They said that alignment will solve it, well, it didn't and they were not off to begin with. Steering wheels is still off center and they gave the car back.
Sami, let me see if this is accurate. Your car goes straight but your steering wheel is still 10-15 degrees off? It doesn't pull to either side and if you let the steering wheel go in the middle of a flat parking lot the car goes straight?
Going back to the OP's first post, he dismissed the dealer's alignment proposal...so he still may not have received an alignment. I think we're wasting our time here. A professional alignment would obviously have straightened out his steering wheel.
FYI - alignment does not cause the steering wheel to move off center, nor does it fix it. Dealer did not believe me, and tried 3 times. The problem was a broken steering rack, apparently there is quite a lot of forces in play with the way the car is setup on the 19s and steering rack is not beefy enough to handle it.
Yes. Car kept the line but the steering wheel was to the left about 15 degrees and yes exactly before the alignment, you could let go the steering and the car would track straight, after they insisted on doing and redoing the alignment, steering wheel straigtened out but the car started pulling to the right, 5secs to cross three lanes. What failed and caused the DSC malfunction to turn on was the steering rack. Either it jumped a gear or something bent inside. I asked to see it, but they said they are sending it to BMW.
samiheik - Can you tell me how this ended up? I'm experiencing a very similar issue, only I actually did hit something and my alignment seems off slightly, though probably not as much as the 10-15 degrees that my steering wheel is off, to the left.
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