[Plaidavenger]

Hey guys my car just clocked 34,500 miles and the "service engine soon" light popped up. I'm assuming the car is just telling me it needs the regular 35,000 miles service and all that is needed done is oil change,oil filter, cabin air filter, tire rotation and system checks. However i am currently down at school in Virginia, far way from the dealer and the shop I get my work done at back home. What would be the right course of action for me? To just take it to any local mechanic and service shop? And importantly how do I make sure they dont try to rip me off cause i'm driving a "BMW" and they jack my prices.

p.s. I also just had a big service done around 31,000 miles where they did brakes, air filters, fluids, etc. It seems kinda soon for another light to come on for service but i do drive my car fairly hard.

Thanks

[Efthreeoh]

The Service Engine Soon (SES) light is not part of the condition based service (CBS) system that tells you when the car needs service. The SES light is part of the on-board diagnostics system for the emissions system; it's called OBDII. The SES light means there is a trouble code stored in the engine computer that indicates there is an current error with the emissions system, or was an incident recorded by the OBDII system that the emissions system malfunctioned recently. Good news is OBDII is a Federally mandated standard, so any repair shop can scan the car and repair it. However, it looks like your car is still under warranty so taking it to a BMW dealer is the correct thing to do. If you have the set of manuals that came with the car, there is a service booklet that lists all the BMW dealers in the USA (or you can just go to BMW's website and search by your school's zip code).

[Plaidavenger]

Thanks I had no clue this was the case. I didnt mention that about a month ago I got a muffler delete done. Would that be throwing this code? Is this something that needs to be taken care of urgently?

[Delta0311]

Originally Posted by Plaidavenger

Thanks I had no clue this was the case. I didnt mention that about a month ago I got a muffler delete done. Would that be throwing this code? Is this something that needs to be taken care of urgently?

Only times I had SES lights on my 328 was when I had a CAI on, which would trigger engine running rich errors. I removed the CAI after only a few thousand miles but at like 45k miles I got another SES light because a O2 sensor went bad. I think PepBoys or Autozone will read the codes for free.

SES codes are usually emissions related but no way to know what is triggering it till you get the car scanned.

[Plaidavenger]

Update: I took it to Advanced Auto Parts and they scanned it for me. I only had a small evap leak and the tech said it might just be the gas cap being loose. Apparently its nothing thats gonna break the car or require immediate attention.

[Delta0311]

Originally Posted by Plaidavenger

Update: I took it to Advanced Auto Parts and they scanned it for me. I only had a small evap leak and the tech said it might just be the gas cap being loose. Apparently its nothing thats gonna break the car or require immediate attention.

Yeah had that happen on my 335 once when the gas attendant didn't tighten the cap. Just tighten the cap and clear the code.