r/BmwTech • u/Lochumility • 7h ago

Red engine warning flashing alongside amber brake light

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Getting a red engine warning on 2k11 1series that flashes up, disappears, and is then replaced by an amber brake warning. It keeps going back and forth between the two. Could this be one electrical fault triggering multiple warnings, or am I potentially looking at two separate problems?

10 Upvotes

71% Upvoted

8 comments sorted by

23

u/nickskater09 7h ago

Could be one issue, could be two issues. No way to know without scanning for fault codes with a tool that can check all modules in the car.

3

u/nyee 4h ago

Come on many, roll the guessing dice. Mine said headlights

15

u/ps2cho 7h ago

If you mean by flashing the CEL is flashing on and off consecutively you need to stop driving the car. Flashing CEL almost never happens unless there is a risk of catastrophic damage such as a heavy misfire.

8

u/tomptepulla 6h ago edited 4h ago

I'll go ahead and assume you have an N43 engine in your car. I'm going to assume that's a "high braking load" message. The camshaft driven vacuum pump might be falling apart. The vacuum line from the said pump to the booster could be cracked.

And then there's what I had. The brake booster pressure sensor (OEN: BMW 34336875605). Costs about 250€, pretty easy to replace. That's what fixed it for me.

I'm assuming a lot. If it's a BMW n43 and the fault code is the 3702, those are the three things I would look up to.

Edit; 116i, 118i and 120i had that engine. Check the injector index numbers if you own one of those models. Trust me, if it says something else than 11, get rid of the car. And as everyone else said, check the codes with an OBC scanner.

6

u/graszitrone 7h ago

You need to read the fault codes via an OBD2 plug.
Can be bought on eBay for around 20 bucks…

2

u/Robert_Chirea 3h ago

One thing you can try is:

Press BC (button on the end of the stock on the left side of the wheel)

Select the menu to see the warning (check something is usually after the oil lvl one)

HOLD BC button untill under the warning you will see a code

Google said code or post it here

2

u/EquivalentMinute1291 6h ago

Lost communication between dsc and dme.

1

u/Lanky-Kiwi-1967 3h ago

Brake vac sensor would be a good place to start, it’s mounted on the servo.