What does the "inspection" light in the center of the dash mean?

Is it serious and can I driver the car?

What does the "inspection" light in the center of the dash mean?

Is it serious and can I driver the car?

Mines been on for a while. I believe (yeah I should know for sure) that it needs a mileage checkup. That is a certain mileage has been reached and a BMW tech needs to inspect and reset light.

Mines been on for a while. I believe (yeah I should know for sure) that it needs a mileage checkup. That is a certain mileage has been reached and a BMW tech needs to inspect and reset light.

TAke a 12 guage single piece of Romex and ground pin #7 from the diagnostic port in the engine bay to any good ground point, (engine bay ground wires are good locators for grounding points) turn the key to the "on" position, don't move it to start, however, and hold it there for a good 10 seconds, then break the grounded connection from pin seven (pull the wire).

if this doesn't reset your service indicator, then the batteries on your SI board have gone dead (other good indicators of that are listed in the current issue of the roundel, jumpy guages, etc)

there is absolutely no reason in the world to pay someone to reset the light, or to buy one of those 50-75 dollar "service indicator reset" tools.

IT worked on my old 84 633, 87 M6, 89 325i, and works on my current 98 528I and my dad's 98 323i.

Hope that helps you guys.

what about paying someone to inspect the car?

BMW service intervals are varied over the years, but usually its just like this, first your oil service light comes on. when you do that they reset the light. the next time you need service the inspection light comes on. its just a more in depth service, and to tell you the truth i've only been working for bmw for 6 years, so i dont know what the procedures were for your car as far as insp.
oh yeah, and every 2nd insp service is different. currently on the insp II you get new plugs and air filters, etc., depending on what vehicle you have.


as far as resetting it, yeah i use the grounding pin 7 method, too. i think its funny that they sell these reset tools when all you need to do is ground pin 7! sometimes you need to wait longer for it to work if youre doing insp. and not oil serv.
the only car this hasnt worked on is my '83 E23, which has a messed up cluster board. thats on the list of things to fix. a long list i might add

If you have "too many cars to count", hopefully you can pay for the inspections... :dunno

lol but it might just be an electrical issue, some times the lights can randomly come on

just get a reset tool, thats what i did, well worth the $$ as you'll need it again at some point sooner or later -- just keep up on your maintence!! however if it does not reset like mine did when i first got it, you'll need to get a new SI board. i bought one off ebay that was newer technology and didnt rely on batteries, it was expensive at $200, but well worth it now that my guages function properly!

I never meant to imply that my 12 guage wire method was any kind of a substitute for regular maintenance of your car. I change my own oil, brakes, etc. (and do it regularly) the only thing I haven't launched into yet are shocks, because I don't have a spring compressor yet.

I would still submit that unless you are springing for one of the tools that reads codes and resets airbag lights, there's no need to buy the tool that only resets the service lights, as the 12 guage wire will work just as well for that.

Sorry for any confusion.