AchtungE60

So I had some work for a customer of mine (BMW Shop far far away - meaning I worked remotely) and a customer brought in a car that was pretty much fully loaded except for cold weather options. 2004 530i sport.
I've done a lot of work on the same client's other vehicles and each one he has been impressed with.

So I diagnosed the car. Had so many issues it wasn't funny at all. The DSC, ABS, SZL, SIM, AFS/DD, ARS had major issues.
So after about 6 hours of straight diagnosis, I had to fix the DSC because I KNOW it will throw off everything. So replaced both DSC sensors and recalibrated everything, Great.
I then had to get another sensor for the ARS because the Dynamic Drive was activating while customer drove and he didn't have hydraulics either. So I had the tech take care of this, did the ARS initilization and the car levelled itself. After I fixed this the airbag lights need reset so I had to recode the SIM. All good, airbags are off.
So DSC, ARS/Dynamic Drive taken care of.
Now, for the AFS........

So I tried and tried but the AFS module is communicating with me but something is not lining up with the DSC. So I tried flashing the module to no avail. I did not bother to hook it up to ISTA or even Progman because I know that will not allow me to do what I want.

So after flashing and reinitializing and clearing error memory, information memory and history memory a gazillion times. I decide that the AFS module was dead. From the looks of it, it's located under the console on top of the tranny. So I started reading about the AFS system in DETAIL with documentation directly from BMW.
So then I read about the variations of E60 including the M5.

So first I told the tech to send it to the shop so we can get alignment done because I've worked on these AFS cars before and they're always a PITA to work on unless the car is perfectly aligned. This fixed the SZL issue after I re calibrated it.

An AFS module is expensive. Plus the tech's time to pull it, order, put it back in and my time to program and encode it would be a chunk of change for customer considering he's already over $1900 and that's being nice. ($1300 in parts alone - wholesale prices)

So after discussing with customer about AFS and what it is, we decided to go to conventional steering. I will explain why below. There is a reason why sports cars do not have this ridiculous AFS. If mine ever breaks down, I know what to do.

So I did a delete on the vehicle order S217. I put S126 instead and did a bunch of stuff and it just didn't work.
So then I took out S216 from the VO and wrote it to both CAS and LMA modules then encoded the entire vehicle to the VO.
After this I read each module on the car and collected them. I went over the entire management file for the car and found every controller related to the AFS and set it aside. Then I went to each module and searched for which module contained what I was looking for. So in the end all these modules were tied together......

KOMBI
SGM
AFS
SZL
DSC

After manipulating the VO some of the controller that I wanted to change had already changed themselves per the VO. Awesome. However, still AFS error light appeared. So I found out that no matter what I tried the error light wouldn't come off. The steering was definitely heavier according to the technician very similar to the M3/M5 but the light was still there. So I took a frustration break.

I came back and decided to encode each module individually from the management file and not from the VO. So I did each module separately from one single management file.
I don't have the details but the following are what is needed to make the changeover and from what I've been told, it's almost exactly like the E46 M3. So all in all, I probably saved customer over $4000 in work and turned his sport edition 530 into a real sports feeling car. There is an order in which I did everything but all my notes are stored away to be organized another day. These are the values that were most important after changing the VO and writing to every module.

AFS_ALIVE_ZAEHLER
nicht_aktiv
AFS_ID_MONITOR
nicht_aktiv
SERVOTRONIK
nicht_aktiv
ACTIVE_FRONT_STEERING
nicht_aktiv
AFS
nicht_aktiv
VARIANTE_AFS
nicht_aktiv
SERVOTRONIK_KGM
aktiv
AFS_VERBAUT
nicht_verbau


Because the internet is so weak and the people over at BMW Coding are d1ck5 that don't deserve a post, I was all alone with this one. But, it filled my pocket this nicely this week. Big thanks to Nicolau from EuAutoHaus. His previous advice was always a handful and most helpful and without the tools I purchased from them, this job or any other job would not have been possible.

tom_il

Never heard much good about AFS, not in reviews or from a friend who didn't wanted it on his X6 as it felt realy bad he said. Same is beeing said about the active steering on the new A6, it destroys the whole feeling of the car. And now with the F10/11 they use electric powersteering which makes that you can't feel the car anmore like the E60/61. No wonder why they don't use it on the new M5

Nah just give me normal hydraulic powersteering without any artificial aids any day.

AchtungE60

I agree. Even my wife hates it. It's for people that don't know how to drive correctly IMO. And if you are driving an M5 you better know how to drive.

ldesouza

I have that light come on often in my car. It gives me an error but i don't see much of a difference in driving. Is this something that NEEDS to be taken care of? safety wise I mean. Thanks!

Dsblk93gt

I am sick of the active steering!!! Constant issues.

Rumpel

Hello Guys,

im not sure if the thread starter or any of you guys are still in the forum, but i want to do the same thing.
My car is a e61 from 05, which means it has an SGM instead of a KGM.

Now to what i have tried to remove the active steering:


Remove VO $217
FA_write LMA&CAS --> AFS will dissapear in the ecu-list
SG_codieren : LMA,CAS,SGM,SZL,DSC,KOMBI

Then i tried to find all the mentioned tokens in the thread, but i could only find half of them.

AFS_ALIVE_ZAEHLER ->found in KOMBI
nicht_aktiv
AFS_ID_MONITOR -> found in KOMBI
nicht_aktiv
SERVOTRONIK -> found in SGM
nicht_aktiv
ACTIVE_FRONT_STEERING ->found in SGM
nicht_aktiv
AFS -> found in szl
nicht_aktiv
VARIANTE_AFS ->not found
nicht_aktiv
SERVOTRONIK_KGM -> not found
aktiv
AFS_VERBAUT -> not found
nicht_verbau


Now i changed the ones i found to nicht_aktiv and coded the related ecu´s.

But when i finished coding and turned the key, the error messages and the display warnings didnt change at all. There is still a error in the AFS-ecu (although its should not appear anymore) even after unplugging the battery it didn´t change.

What am i doing wrong? Where do i get the missing tokens? Should i remove the Active steering ecu from the BUS? Should i disconnect the plug of the eco valve?

Sadly the informations in this thread are the best ones around but still not precise enough to get over this problem.

Any help appreciated....

Regards, Rumpel

KyleB

I can't be of much help, but I can tell you that Achtung hasn't posted here in at least two years, maybe longer.

cmyachtie

FWIW, I do believe achtunge60 is still on bmwcoding.com you might try there to get in touch..

ihernandez7910

Varient AFS- is found in the KOMBI module.

change that and see if that makes a diffrence.

i think your issue has got to do with the change you were not able to find.


I am in the process of gettin gride of the AFS bull shit.. my active steering is thowing codes