[greentiger]

Hey guys,

I live in London, England and we don't really ever get much snow over here. Over the past few days, we've had a couple of inches and it's messed everything up big time.

tl;dr: driving in snow with traction control (DTC) off, now DTC, ABS, Airbag, TPMS warning lights are on and ABS and DTC are definitely busted. Thoughts?

Anyway; I'm driving along and I'm finding that I am frequently getting stuck on slushy/icy roads with the DTC light flashing on and off like it's trying to provoke a seizure in me. Having had a more simple vehicle before this one (no fancy electronic doodads) that had a nice manual gearbox, I have a general idea of how to drive on ice/snow (highest gear possible).

The problems started as I entered my road, which has a slight incline. The car simply would not move forward, even when placed in second gear (it is an automatic). Every time the wheels would spin a little, the DTC would kick in and kill it. So, I turned off the DTC and start tapping the throttle to try and nudge the car forward. It starts to freewheel on the slush a bit, and even though DTC is off, it still seemed to kick in at some point and lock the wheels up. Eventually, after a few minutes of slipping and sliding on the spot...everything broke.

The ABS, DTC, Tire Pressure and Passenger Airbag lights all came on at the same time and now the wheels spin freely without any system kicking in to try and stop them. Frankly, I prefer not having the DTC in this situation as it was just being a huge pain in the butt, but now I am concerned that everything has broken.

Any thoughts?

Cheers! And a Merry Christmas to all!

[jlstyle]

Had exactly same lights came on my car when I got stuck in the snow.
And I also turned my DSC,DTC off then tried to go up a hill for about 5 min then lights came on and stayed there for 4 hours.
Just drive the car in the dry road for a bit then all those lights will go off.
No worries.
They are only warning lights.

[noro]

That simply means the ECU gave up on you. If you let the wheels spin for a while and go nowhere the system believes there is a problem with itself. With the system off you should be back to no-gizmos mode where you basically have an open diff and are fully at the mercy of your right foot.

[vadim]

It looks like the problem is with ABS. What part of it I can not possibly know, but that is the common denominator for all the systems mentioned.

Have it looked at as soon as you can - not safe to drive around like this.

Merry Xmas and Happy New Year!

[aesfah]

had the same thing happen today. cleared up after a restart. the airbag malfunction light is the scariest by far.

[BMW Fanatic]

Okay this isnt a bash at you but at everyone in england right now.

I lived there my whole life and recently having moved to canada i can say that england does not get bad weather compared to here. Everybody's been complaining about the last few days and how bad the snow's gotten but to be honest have you gotten like 6 feet of snow? -32 degrees celsius everyday? even that picture of car stuck under 6 feet of snow was taken here in canada right by me! if anything has died in your car it has nothing to do with weather but more to do with faults and poor driving. i have driven my 325xi in 34 degree heat and -32 degree cold and it performs faultlessly and yes the dtc lights do come on because the car does slip out of turns but i never let it go out of control because im not scared to drive like most people.
and to further extend everyone in england has all season tires so that doesnt help anything.
oh and lastly m1 + m2 are the best gears to drive in when moving off through snow and going around turns as the car just eats anything (my car hasnt been stuck once yet even with all the snow)

summary; SNOW DID NOT KILL YOUR DTC. IF IT DID THEN EVERYBODY THAT EXPERIENCES SNOW AROUND THE WORLD WOULD HAVE BMW'S DYING ON THEM EVERYDAY.

well its late and my rant is over as i had to get it out somewhere, hope the cars okay and goodnight .

[creepy coupe]

Originally Posted by BMW Fanatic

I lived there my whole life and recently having moved to canada i can say that england does not get bad weather compared to here. .

Yes but it's not compulsory to fit winter tyres here either, if it were, we wouldn't have a fraction of the problems we currently get in bad weather.

[MrDummy]

its funny in a way cause I just read the owners manual about this exact same thing in my xi. Cause I am getting heavier snow now.

[marcel b]

guys, put some wintertires on and your problems will dissapear. Sure, it is an investment, but in the end you do not pay more as you are not using your tires at the same time. In Winter / colder temps wintertires are so much better. You will enjoy your car more, and are far more safe. Just my thoughts.

[greentiger]

Thanks for all the feedback everyone; I have yet to check the car today, but fingers crossed everything will have sorted itself out.

Funnily enough, I lived in Canada for a number of years and have in fact experienced blizzards that dump 4-5 feet of snow in one night. It's really like comparing apples and oranges; we are simply not equipped from an infrastructure standpoint to deal with this type of weather.

Thanks for all the ideas guys!

[cotmfk]

Originally Posted by marcel b

guys, put some wintertires on and your problems will dissapear. Sure, it is an investment, but in the end you do not pay more as you are not using your tires at the same time. In Winter / colder temps wintertires are so much better. You will enjoy your car more, and are far more safe. Just my thoughts.

Ditto. Winter tires ftw.