oil service indicator light

[jamesthevaliant]

Does anyone know of another way to reset the oil service indicator light.....other than paying $149 for the reset tool, or taking it to the dealer?

[2000softtail]

Ground pin 7 in the service plug.

[2000softtail]

The service indicator lights are reset by connecting pin 7 to pin 19(ground). The proper way to do this is to have the ignition off and place a jumper wire between pins 7 and 19 (make sure you get the right pins!). Then turn the ignition switch to position 2 (run, NOT start), when the service light goes out, turn the ignition off. This should take a few seconds for an oil reset, 8-10 seconds for an inspection reset. All green lights should come on when the service light goes out. The difference between resetting the oil service light and the inspection light is in the length of time you have the jumper in place with the ignition on. This means that if you are resetting the oil service light, you should turn off the ignition immediately after the light goes out. If you leave the jumper in too long with the ignition on, you will perform an inspection reset as well and the next service indicator will come up as an oil service rather than an inspection.

This worked for me.

[jamesthevaliant]

okay, I have a 90 325is...I have unplugged the connector, but I can't get this to work. Are you talking about grounding the seven pin on the plug side or the # 7 socket contact on the receptacale side. Also.....There is no pin or socket contact in the #19 position on either side. 1 more thing: you say jumper.....can I use a piece copper wire? Please help

[jamesthevaliant]

well, I gave up and hooked the connector back up, and now my car won't start. It cranks, but it won't turn over. Any ideas on what happened?

[jamesthevaliant]

Hey silverfox....thanks for the bright idea! Grounding pin 7 on the diagnostic connector sent a spike back to the ECU, frying the whole unit.

Taking your car to the dealer to have an indicator light reset: $10.00

Cost for towing, diagnostics, and 1 used ECU because I listened to some freaking moron on the web: $550.00

Not believing everything that you hear: PRICELESS

Don't try this at home BMW owners.

[Jared at Pelican Parts]

Unfortunatley, this is why I dont reccommend this way of resetting the light. Im sorry that your ECU got fried.

[umnitza]

No WAY.

No offense but grounding Pin 7 is the SAFEST thing you can do.
There is NO way that what 2000Softtail told you did that.

I've done this with a $.01 piece of wire only about 20 times on both my wife's E38 7 series and my own M3/4. I have several friends that have E30s, E36s, etc.

Works every time. Something else went wrong.

[umnitza]

one more thing - the dealer cost to reset your lights shoudl be $0000

Even my VERY expensive dealers in the area do it for free.

[Jared at Pelican Parts]

Actually you need to ground pin 14, but I dont reccommend it

[jamesthevaliant]

It is not anyone's fault but mine....I was just venting; for obvious reasons. There is nothing I can do about it now. I will just take it to the dealer next time. It seemed simple......

[Jared at Pelican Parts]

James,

Im sorry that you had to end up replacing the ECU. Before taking it to the dealer, you may ant to invest in one of our code scanners. They are neat little items that allow you to diagnose engine problem by extracting codes from the ECU, and at the same time, it allows you to rest both the oil and serivce indicator lights.

[Bijan]

I tried grounding Pin 7 on my 88 325 and it worked fine. But it didn't work on my 94 325ic, even though both have the same service plug. Is the procedure any different for the E36?

[Bijan]

never mind it has worked.

[Wayne 962]

I recommend using the $50 tool from Peake Research. Suppose you're tired one day, or you slip, and you ground the wrong pin? Not worth mucking around with...

-Wayne

[openminds]

Here is a link to the page that I used to reset mine. Worked Great!

Oil Change Light Reset

Hope this helps

[mc30707]

Thanks for the reset tip. It was a quick and easy fix.

[Jared at Pelican Parts]

I have to take the time and stress to all our posters here that Pelican officially does not reccommend you reset the light in this way.

With that in mind, reset at your own risk..