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E70: 2012 X5 35D: PARKING BRAKE MALFUNCTION

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26K views 11 replies 5 participants last post by  xrviz  
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#1 ·
I was out driving today and I stopped by a BMW shop (for a different problem) that won't answer their phone or email for weeks on end. I saw enough to realize there was a reason they weren't answering. As I'm leaving, I start the car and the yellow "park" light comes on with the similar orange light that goes out after a few seconds after starting, and a message basically saying my parking brake isn't working and needs service.

First, I've never seen the light before. The vehicle has 102k and I bought it at 98k. Also, I never use the parking brake. I live in Kansas and it is about as flat as it gets.

When I got home, I checked the codes with a Foxwell NT510 scnner and found codes 600E and 6011 for the parking brake (EMF) and 6EBD for the DSC, which is also for the parking brake.

I found this thread, where someone had the same codes and the same issue.
www.xbimmers.com

Parking brake multunction with error code 600E and 6011

Parking brake multunction with error code 600E and 6011
www.xbimmers.com
Like the poster, I tried the steps in the youcanic link.
www.youcanic.com

BMW Electronic Parking Brake Malfunction

We hope you find the BMW Electronic Parking Brake Malfunction guide helpful. Check these troubleshooting and repair guides for more help on your BMW.
www.youcanic.com www.youcanic.com

I'm not certain I did the "soft reset" correctly. Steps are: 1. Press and hold the parking pedal. 2. Turn on ignition 3. Press and hold the parking brake button for 5 seconds.
First off, what is a parking pedal? The brake pedal? If I press that and then turn on the ignition, the car will start. Assuming I want the ignition all the way on, but don't know that the car has to be running. And then is says press the button when it means pull the button? I read elsewhere to push for 5 seconds, rest for 1 second, pull for 5 seconds with the ignition on. Tried that. Didn't say anything about a pedal.

Then I took out the 129 fuse. The car flashed the same lights that come on when you start the car with this error present. I waited 5 minutes, put the fuse back in. As soon as I turned the ignition back on, the lights came back on.

I read the problem often happens when the voltage is low. The battery is new, fully charged, and tests ok. It was 70 degrees today, so not a cold weather issue. I have not yet tried disconnecting the battery yet. I will probably do that next.

I found this video, but it's for when the parking brake is stuck on. Mine is stuck off. Mine has a cable I can pull on. I pulled, but nothing happened, because the parking brake was never engaged.

Then I found this video. This guy went through all the same steps as me and actually took out the actuator. It was fine, so he looked into the software. He downloaded free software online and bought a USB to OBD2 cable and used his laptop. After screwing around with it for a couple hours, he got it to reset. I think he said he installed the software on com port 1, deleted the codes in the parking brake menu, took out fuses, put fuses back in, then did a soft reset method with the button.

Anyone experience this issue? I really, really doubt my actuator is bad being that I never use it and the problem didn't start in the process of using it. I don't want to pay 1,000 dollars to replace it. I don't want to tamper with the car's software either, but I would try this if nothing else works. Will probably need some tips to do that correctly if it comes to that. What should I try first? Disconnect the battery for 15 minutes? What about resetting the codes with the scanner and then changing out the fuse again? Thanks for any help!
 
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#3 ·
Seems very logically written, but I don't know how to make sense of it. What would be the likely cause and fix for my situation? I've heard of people using their parking brake all the time and it goes out. And I've heard of people not using their parking brake at all and when they finally do, it breaks. But in my case, I'm just parked at the shop without the parking brake applied. 5 minutes later I start my car and have this issue. Paranoid thinking here, but there was a mechanic over by my car. I've heard that some BMW's can be hacked remotely with trouble codes inserted into the system. That would be some super shady stuff to pull.
 
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#6 ·
I never resolved the parking brake (EMF) issues. As I mentioned, it went out while I was parked in a flat parking lot and wasn't using the parking brake. BMW wants 2000 dollars plus diagnosis fees just to change this parking brake and I think I will still have issues even if I change it. I believe it's a software issue, but don't trust myself to use ISTA on a laptop and tinker around with things. I mentioned in another thread that the car was having issues not starting on occassion. I now believe this is due to the parking brake. It's very strange that my wife can use her key to start the car when I cannot though. But I get the parking brake light flash when I can't start the car. Eventually minutes or hours later it will start. Never know when this will happen, it's crazy. I live in Kansas, so not too many times I even need a parking brake. Paying hundreds or thousands sounds outrageous to me. Any options I can try?

Codes I'm getting include 6DDB, 6DDC, 600E, and 6011. Always come back immediately after I clear codes.
 
#9 ·
Schoenhofer said:
I never resolved the parking brake (EMF) issues. As I I live in Kansas, so not too many times I even need a parking brake. Paying hundreds or thousands sounds outrageous to me. Any options I can try?

Codes I'm getting include 6DDB, 6DDC, 600E, and 6011. Always come back immediately after I clear codes.
Click to expand...
Not using your EMF parking brake hazards your transmission. The transmission park lock is only a pawl engaging a gear, relatively weak, too weak to sustain a good tap by a clumsy parking driver. I broke the parking pawl on my IH just by lifting it with the parking brake engaged.
 
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#8 ·
No. It was looking like the only way to resolve it was going to be to replace the actuator, even though I have no reason to believe there is anything that happened physically to make it malfunction, as I was not using it. I figured I'd rather deal with the annoying lights and noises rather than spend about $500. I didn't think this was something I could do myself.
 
S
#11 ·
I am not sure. It has a test function? How would I know if it worked? On ISTA, I've heard many people on here having success. I would be very hesitant to reset the vehicle's computer without instructions as important stuff like transmission, engine tuning could get changed? I really have no idea.

As annoying as it is, I could get this fixed if it was important enough. What I can't deal with is not having an air suspension. This is my recent and immediate problem.
 
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