EuroCarFan

This started a month or so ago for me. Once in a while when I first take the car out in the morning, I get a warning message saying something about my active steering fluid or hydraulic suspension fluid is leaking; to stop the car immediately and do not continue driving. I don't feel anything different in the steering, drive or suspension so I'd turn the car off and restart and it would go away.

Any ideas? Going to schedule a service visit but wanted to see if anyone knew what this is all about.

Thanks in advance.

ImolaRedM

Just a guess but if the fluid is low you may run into marginal messages like that. Might check to see if it needs topping off. You don't want to run the hydraulic pump dry.

CarlK920

Yes, it sounds like what was happening to my 04 530i. I don't think my error message said anything about fluid leakage (although it may have). But I did get a couple of different messages of varying severity relating to steering and/or suspension (I have both active steering and sport/active roll stabilization suspension). They seemed to happen when the weather turned colder. I was already scheduled for a service app't anyway, and they told me that it was a software problem. My repair order says "read out fault memory ... Fault 613 E for lock mechanical .... Per Bulletin 32 07 05 need to reprogram and coded the entire car." ..... They did the reprogramming 11/30/06, so the good news is no more steering/suspension error messages AND the warning screen in the idrive goes away on its own; bad news is I got the software version that kills the eyebrow lights!

Spyder44

Euro

I have the same problem as well on my 05 545. I live in Western PA though and have put it down to severe cold. I put the car in the garage of course, but if I need to do a quick run to the store (8mo pregnant wife....quick runs are a norm), I tend to not let the car warm up. If I am patient and actually let the car warm-up for 5 minutes prior to screaming to the store, I do not have that issue. It prob has something to do with the viscosity of the fluid and all that. My thoughts would be to check the level and then just let her warm up for a couple before tearing into the twisties.....

TexaZ3

Had the same thing happen twice on my 04 530i over the last month. Went to a dealer and they found a leaky steering rack line, the rack was low on fluid - fixed the leak and topped off the fluid - was fine ever since.

ivan545

i had that problem a while back and the dealer found the fluid to be low and no leakage, but another problem was with the active steering so they replaced the entire unit, that's what my service advisor told me.

Member545

I had the same issue, only on very cold mornings, below 20 degrees F. Happened 4 times in one week. Took it into the dealer and they said they found no issue, but it has not happened since... They did do a CIP/PROGMAN upgrade for another issue at the same time.

550i now

Had exact same problem and warning. Only happened when car was cold. Dealer found fluid low, and no leaks. Fluid added, end of problem.

EBMCS03

Tony! Any reports back from the dealer? anything wrong? or just low fluid?

rodybmw

Is this the error message that you got? I had this last year and in my case the problem was a faulty level sensor which was replaced. It has been fine since then. Judging from the responses there can be a variety of things that can give this particular error message (leaky lines, faulty level sensor, software).