Does anyone know if there's a company making service-light reset tools for E46 BMWs? I have one for my E36 made by Peake Research, and it works quite well, but my E46 is nearing the end of it's warrantee, and I'll be doing my own oil changes from now on. I'd like to be able to reset the lights.

Oh you mean the one for the E36 doesn't work for the E46? That's good to know, I was gonna try to use it on my cousin's 323i.

I couldn't find the connector under the hood of the E46. I suppose it could be there and I'm just blind and/or stupid. Any enlightenment would be appreciated. :)

Oh, heh heh. I'll see if I can find it on my cousin's 323i and let you know if nobody gets back to you before then. Or, I wonder if the exec vp would let me look under his 328i's hood. :D

If I am not mistaken, I think BMW got rid of the diagnostic port in the engine compartment shortly after going to OBD II (not sure exactly when though). Check your manual, on the E36, the OBD II port is under the dash on the driver side by your feet. They may have kept it in the same location on the E46.

Originally posted by jmciver
Check your manual, on the E36, the OBD II port is under the dash on the driver side by your feet. They may have kept it in the same location on the E46.

While it's true that there's an OBDII connector under the driver's side dash (which is the case with my other OBDII vehicles) the BMW diagnostic port is still present in the engine compartment. The one in my 99 is on the passenger side close to the strut tower. I don't know if this is the case with the E46s though.

I just thought of something. The Shark Injector has an application for E46's so there must be a diagnostic port for it to plug into.

Ok, so there may be a diagnostic port on the E46, but A) will the E36 reset tool fit into it physically, and B) is it electrically compatible, or am I going to fry something by using the E36 reset tool on the E46?

Bungy, I emailed Peake Research and they indicated that it will work fine. They make only two connectors for the diagnostic port. Since you have one for the E36 that is the same connector for the E46. Now it's just a matter of finding the port. Still haven't looked at my cousin's 323i...

I've had no luck finding any port that might use the E36 reset tool on the E46. I found the little OBDII port under the dash, but the reset tool won't fit that one. Perhaps there's a different tool that WILL fit that port? I hate to think that I'll have to take the car to the dealer to reset the lights after each oil change....

Dang it I still haven't looked over at my cousin's car but this is crazy! Someone here's got to know where it plugs into. Unfortunately most of these guys are E36 guys so they might not know about the E46 too much. :(

I know. Damn me and my high-mileage drving habits! The car is still new, but I've got 20000 on it already, and the warrantee is up after 30000. It'll be cool because I can start modding it, but nobody has any maintenance experience yet, so the knowledge pool is a little small... :( Maybe I'll e-mail Peake, but I doubt they'd be much help.

Yeah I had emailed Peake before and their reply wasn't very helpful.

Just got done with an oil change, afterwards I ran a ground to pin 7 of the diagnostic port for ~3 seconds and the oil light is reset. Got the info off of unofficialbmw.com.

The fault code reader sure would be handy to have...

Since you have a 2000 model year E46, the location of the 20-pin diagnostic port should be in the engine bay, passenger side behind the front strut tower inside a boxed area.

On some 2001 model year E46's, BMW has eliminated the 20-pin diagnostic port. There are 2 ways to reset the service lights then. Thru the instrument cluster or with an adapter to hook up onto the 16-pin OBD2 connector port.

My Peake Reset tool will sometimes NOT reset certain '99 MY BMWs. I do not know why. I'm better off buying a real BMW reset tool. ($100+)

Oh yeah, some guys at work try to gound pin 7 and doesnt work and end up using the BMW reset tool.

Talk about right from the horse's mouth! Thanks Jon, I was hoping somebody would know the answer. Good thing someone on this board is a BMW service technician. :)

Jon - That's what I thought, but the only thing behind the passenger-side strut in the engine bay is the ABS unit. Here's a pic:

OK, *here's* the pic...

Whats the production date of your vehicle and how many miles do you have left over till the next service?

You may have to reset the service lights thru the instrument cluster.

The grounding of the pin works just fine. I have NEVER had my car into the dealer to reset lights. I've always done it myself with a 6-inch piece of wire. People who buy that tool are idiots. If you take that "tool" apart, you will see that all it does is make a ground between the two necessary plugs. So why wouldn't using a piece of wire work? Gee, rocket science.

Joe,

Trust me, grounding the pin on some post '99 MY BMWs on the 20pin diagnostic port will not reset the service lights.

On the older vehicles yes and most 1999 E36 as well.

And again, grounding the pin with a jumper wire or test light is a big risk. Grounding the wrong pin can let the smoke out of a control unit like a $1200 DME.

I bought the car in August of 2000, and it had just come off the boat (still had the spring stiffeners on and the battery kill thingy was still installed, too), so I'd guess the build date is somewhere in the May/June timeframe. Sorry, I don't have that car here, so I can't just go and look. :(

Joe, plus Bungy's question is about an E46 that apparently doesn't have the same diagnostic port that the E36's do, or none at all.

Well, I've got the OBDII port under the driver's side dash (it's square), but no circular port under the hood like the E36 cars. So I have to reset the light using the OBDII port, or through the instrument cluster (I'd love to know the procedure for this one...).

Yeesh I'd think the instrument cluster would be a bear to do. You'd probably have to pull it out?!? Imagine that every 7-8k miles. :rolleyes:

Originally posted by Rel44 M3
Yeesh I'd think the instrument cluster would be a bear to do. You'd probably have to pull it out?!? Imagine that every 7-8k miles. :rolleyes:

Well I kind of gathered that it was a software thing. Maybe one of those "hold in this botton, pump the gas, and turn the key all at the same time" type of procedures. :)

I hope it's that easy. ;)

Originally posted by Rel44 M3
I hope it's that easy. ;)

Me too. :) Jon, can you enlighten us?:book:

Ok but its gonna cost ya!

Just Kidding.

For the E46;

Get inside vehicle and with ignition switch off, press and hold down on the left button on the instrument cluster then turn the ignition switch to position #1.

Keep holding down on the button and the word "tESt" will appear on the cluster. Then the word "rESEt" will appear. When the "rESEt" word flashes, let go of the button and press it again.

It should reset back to 15,500 miles.

I'm doing this off the top of my head.

Awesome! Thanks! I've actually done that, but I didn't know that I needed to hit the button the second time. So if you hit it the second time when it says tESt, then it goes into a self-test mode or something?

That procedure isn't documented in the owner's manual, is it?

I want to say, "No way!" but I haven't checked, so I don't know for sure. But I'm betting it's one of those "not for the user" type of features (like the self-test mode for the instrument cluster on the E36).