Active Steering Code 614A and 6146 after battery disconnection

[dannyt]

I was installing a wireless charging tray in my 2013 135i, I disconnected the battery to make sure I didn't screw anything up. Wouldn't you know it that was a huge mistake.

After re-connecting my battery, everything I installed worked fine, but I have a few different faults, the worst of which is the active front steering (AFS). the steering wheel is heavier than normal and it's tilted 20 degrees to the left.



---- All Error Codes (from BimmerGeeks ProTool) ----

CAS A10A - (locks work fine seemingly unrelated)

PGS A097 - (comfort access, I am aware my door handle is not working so it could be this)

DSC 5E52 - Active steering inactive (see below)

AFS 614A - Motor Position Angle Not Initialized

AFS 6146 - Control unit under voltage, cannot activate (it is getting sufficient voltage)

FZD A670 - Sunroof (works fine)



---- I have tried ----

-clearing codes

-doing left/right steering reset multiple times

-reseting steering angle calibration through DSC module on ProTool (successfully)

-driving around the block

-driving 50 miles

-charging the battery

-coding the battery

-checking power steering resivoir



---- Additional Diagnostic Information ----

-wheel speed sensors are all seemingly reading correctly

-steering position sensor is also seemingly reading correctly

-AFS throws an error when you try to calibrate the angle manually

-On DSC module live information page, the cumulative steering angle is not changing and is stuck at -1440 degrees, it could be because the AFS is not initialized.

-battery voltage at AFS is ~14v when car is on

-internal voltage at AFS is 5v as it should be

-My battery is seemingly healthy, it holds a charge, it seems to be relatively new (unknown service history)


---- Thoughts ----

I'm pretty much out of ideas, Im leaving the battery unplugged and charging overnight to see if it'll re-initialize when it's reconnected. It's a hail mary.

I'll keep the post up to date with a solution for future searchers.

The only other thing I can think of is that the alignment is mechanically bad, so there is no way to rectify the computer system in it's current state. I'll take the car to the dealer if I can't fix it.

Please help if you've run into this issue yourself and if there's something I'm missing. My troubleshooting has been guided by reading nearly everything I could find about the DSC and AFS systems. It seems unlikely that a hardware component is broken considering the battery disconnection is the variable that "caused" the issue. At worst it could be a fried AFS or FRM.

---- ProTool Screenshots ----

View post on imgur.com

---- UPDATE - SOLVED ----

I ended up taking the car to the dealer, cost me a chunk of change but the car is now behaving as normal. All that was required was re-initialization through an ISTA service function. It seems like this functionality is missing from ProTool (as least as far as I can tell) and thats why I couldn't get the car working properly again. The Tech who fixed the car was somewhat tight lipped about the exact function he used, but he did verify the feature as a "service function" in ISTA. ISTA appears to be freely available for download with some configuration on the forums so best of luck to those who run into this same issue. A k-dcan cable, and a windows laptop should solve the problem.

[JimD]

Before I bought a better scan tool, I disconnected my battery when I had codes Torque would not see or get rid of. I never had any issue like you describe. When I got the new tool, I noticed I had a lot of undervoltagmessages which I cleared. They have not come back. But I never got an issue with the car due to disconnecting the battery. Biggest issue was resetting the time and the radio presets. I hope you get it resolved.

Is it possible that the steering issue is unrelated to the battery disconnect other than the timing? No cause and effect.