"SERVICE ENGINE SOON"

[Tainui]

I use Costco premium all the time without issue. Assuming you do have a knock, most times you'll never hear hear it. The new sensors are very sensitive.

[Skimo100]

I hear you guys! Thanks for your inputs. I'll keep you guys posted once I take it in and out of the dealer. I'm just going to wait until the SES light comes on and take the X3 in at the dealer for a scan. Hopefully they won't give me some bs and actually "fix the problem right on the first time".

[Skimo100]

Here is the latest on the SES issue I was having. The light came back on after a while and I decided not to reset it. Took the car in to the dealer yesterday and got the car back on the same day. It turns out that my scan reader was correct. It was indeed a faulty knock sensor that was causing the SES to come on. I didn't even mention to my service adviser that I had scan the X3 with the OBDII scan tool nor that I had reset it in previous occasions, just to see if they were going to come up with some other BS. But surely enough, they found the problem and fixed it right on the first time. I hope this thread helps others having this type of problem. A relatively new knock sensor failling intermittently!!???? YES, IT HAPPENS!!!!

[JCL]

Glad it all worked out. Sensors can fail, and early hour failures are why you have a warranty.

Going back over the thread, you first had this problem in December, and decided not to go to the dealer. The gas cap was a good thing to check, but as we said in December, if it isn't the cap, take it into the dealer and get them to read the code. You are unlikely to be able to fix anything with your code scanner, and it is a new vehicle under warranty. You had an ongoing problem for a period approaching 3 months, during which time the vehicle was giving you a message on the dash to go to the dealer. You could have had a failure and they might have seen the history log, with you continuing to drive it. That wouldn't necessarily have happened, but you are adding risk to the situation. Just my $0.02. Again, glad it worked out.

[Skimo100]

The car behaved fine during that time except for the SES light being on intermittently from time to time since December. It didn't act as a hard failure. I did a reset it one or two times since December and it didn't come on until about a week or so ago, in which I decided not to even remove the fuel cap during this time just to see if it would turn-off by itself, but it didn't. Just for the record, my scanner did read the code correctly. I compared the actual diagnostic report from BMW to what the scanner read and it was exactly the same knock sensor. So it did scanned it right this time, so far so good of a scanner. If the SES light would have been flashing, that would have been another serious issue, but since the dealer told me that there was no reason to take it in inmediately, I wasn't too concerned. That's why I pushed it until my annual oil service date. I'm new at dealing with BMW cars. That's why I'm here to learn and to provide information as I learn from personal experience and to help others that may want to get their hands a bit greasy & know what a torque range is...lol...and those that their warranties have expired. In my case, I would have ended up at the dealer since the car is under warranty with only 13K miles anyway. Is good to have an idea on what is acting up in the car before you go into the dealer, that is one of the reason I bought the scanner. I feel if you are some what knowledgeable they won't take you for a ride. At least that is the experience I've had here in the USA with some dealers like from FORD. I do all my repairs and maintenace services on my FORD F150, as long as is not a major repair requiring special tools. And that truck is still under warranty. So far is working great and very reliable. Anyway thanks for your inputs, specially you JCL, since you've been following this thread since started. I'm glad it worked out right as well buddy!

Originally Posted by JCL

Glad it all worked out. Sensors can fail, and early hour failures are why you have a warranty.

Going back over the thread, you first had this problem in December, and decided not to go to the dealer. The gas cap was a good thing to check, but as we said in December, if it isn't the cap, take it into the dealer and get them to read the code. You are unlikely to be able to fix anything with your code scanner, and it is a new vehicle under warranty. You had an ongoing problem for a period approaching 3 months, during which time the vehicle was giving you a message on the dash to go to the dealer. You could have had a failure and they might have seen the history log, with you continuing to drive it. That wouldn't necessarily have happened, but you are adding risk to the situation. Just my $0.02. Again, glad it worked out.