[midster]

The emission light has been on all day today. It is the 5th day i have this car and I cannot believe I have to send it back to the garage!

[ParadigmDawg]

Well...sure, it's a diesel. Won't be long until BMW has a "dieselgate" just like Audi and CEO's will be carted off to jail....

In the end, it works out for the consumer. I had my Q5 tdi for 2 years and made money off of it.

[BMWZ4]

Could be something as simple as fuel cap. Probably nothing

[Ragnarkov]

Originally Posted by BMWZ4

Could be something as simple as fuel cap. Probably nothing

My mother in law's Honda civic light came on a long time ago. Complained for days. Reseated her gas cap, and it was gone after about 30min of driving. All it needs is for a leak big enough so the system can't pressurize within spec, and it'll trigger it.

definitely something to try before taking the car in, might save money, or at least means no downtime of driving fun.

[ND40oz]

I had to have the fuel filler pipe replaced in mine. My first service adviser tried to blame it on me not putting the fuel cap on correctly. I asked him to demonstrate how to put the fuel cap on correctly so when it happens again we're sure that isn't the problem. He avoided me when I came in the next week with the light on again.

[Sea-Tac]

Originally Posted by BMWZ4

Could be something as simple as fuel cap. Probably nothing

Good call. That’s the first thing I would be checking.

[diegole]

midster
I am having the same issue on my brand new G03. What was the problem on yours?

Thanks for your feedback!

[Lilliana]

diegole, have a 18 X3 have the same thing last month was at dealer and it was Fault 118002 Mixture too rich during winter with cold ambient temp , was told that they had to change program if you just do short drive to work Etc.. were the engine does not get hot eoungh to burn off the fuel collected in the oil, they changed the oil and reprogamed it, well have to go back again this month the light came on again so ???

[nlk10010]

The one on my '18 (delivered end of April, 2018, 3300 miles on the odo) just came on today as well. First thing I did when I made my first stop was "reseat" (whatever that means) the gas cap. Started her up and the light was still on.

I made a couple of more stops and after that noticed the light was out. I need to bring the car in in a few weeks for its first service, so we'll see then. Look, I like my SA and trust the service department, but I'm sure they have a ready-made list of excuses as to why this happens. At least the car didn't go into limp mode in the middle of the Midtown tunnel like my 640ix.

[KTMF]

Not sure which engines you guys are running, but here are a couple of bulletins out for the MIL light on.

[nlk10010]

Originally Posted by KTMF

Not sure which engines you guys are running, but here are a couple of bulletins out for the MIL light on.

Thank you KTMF, but MIL?

The manual says the light is "Emissions", the first SB listed says "SES" (Service Engine Soon).

Inquiring minds want to know.

[KTMF]

Originally Posted by nlk10010

Thank you KTMF, but MIL?

The manual says the light is "Emissions", the first SB listed says "SES" (Service Engine Soon).

Inquiring minds want to know.

I know, many names for the same light. Malfunction Indicator Light - think that may be more of an Audi term, I traded from a Q5.

[Qsilver7]

Ditto...the OBD II emissions warning light is usually called one of three things...but they all illuminate for the same reason:

• CEL (check engine light)
• SES (service engine soon)
• MIL (malfunction indicator light)

The first thing you should do is get the code read when this light pops up...and you can do this with a simple generic OBD II scanner/reader...or an expensive one. There are too many reasons to just randomly toss out as to why the light came on. If you pull the code(s)...you can usually google the code (ie [b]BMW OBD II Pxxxx[b] {where x = the actual DTC code}) to find reasons/solutions why the light illuminated. This is based on all the discussions that have occurred since 1996 when the federal OBD II mandate was implemented to bring a standard to the industry across all car manufacturers.

And in most state, you can usually get these codes read for free from your local auto parts store (Pep Boys, AutoZone, Advanced Auto, O'Reilly's, etc)...with the exclusion being California and Hawaii (AFAIK).

There are too many areas of the emissions system to just randomly toss out why the light illuminated. You can see in the DTC (diagnostic trouble code) chart below what the breakdown of the generic OBD trouble code can represent:

[dan321]

Originally Posted by diegole

midster
I am having the same issue on my brand new G03. What was the problem on yours?

Thanks for your feedback!

This happened to me last week. It was on for a day then went off. I took it to the dealer and they replaced the automatic flappers in front of radiators. My SA said he'd seem this error and fix about three times in the last year.

That yellow light is just a general error that might any one of a lot of different things. You need to get the error read out or take it to the dealer and have them look at it.

[nlk10010]

Just took mine in for the one year service, state inspection and the intermittent (what my manual calls) emissions light. Got to Bayside at 7:45AM, figured it would be the "mixture too rich" adjustment mentioned here so I could wait and be out before 10:00AM.

Boy, did I have it wrong.

My SA who, at least in my experience, is top-notch, called it the "check engine" light and said, because I'm getting an inspection, she doesn't know what she'll find relative to emissions so I need to be put in a loaner "forthwith" and she would let me know when the car's ready.

OK, well, I got a brand new (~1600 miles) X3 (and I didn't even buy my car from them), so I'm not complaining. But I hope this doesn't turn into a marathon, no smoking and no pets in the loaner and I've got a dog that smokes.

Update: Got the car back and was told that they need to order a part for the light. Implication being that it wasn't an emissions issue, the light was giving a false positive. I don't know if that's the straight scoop or not but I've got my inspection sticker and the car isn't being held in the shop. That's all I care about right now.

[Lilliana]

This could about Piss me off, had to go the Dealer a couple months ago and had engine light Fault 118002- too rich, now I get a light P0171 - too lean ???? would not be so bad if I did not have a 5hr one way to get to the dealer.

[Kingfisher]

mine came on two weeks ago...scheduled a service call and poof, then light went out after 4 days...not going to worry about it

[tonyb15re]

Penny from the Big Bang Theory had the check engine light on for years, whats the panic

You could always ask someone with Bimmerlink (other products are available ) to pull the error codes for you or simply take it into the dealers, they should be able to do a quick diagnosis.

I'd be surprised if you cannot call the SOS service via the head unit and ask them to pull the diagnostics remotely, assuming you have that service of course.

[TheMooseMan]

Originally Posted by tonyb15re

Penny from the Big Bang Theory had the check engine light on for years, whats the panic
...

The best comment!

[titomi]

Originally Posted by TheMooseMan

The best comment!

And you remember how that ended, right ?

[TheMooseMan]

Originally Posted by titomi

And you remember how that ended, right ?

Somebody made a compilation of (possibly all?) moments where people point the "check engine light".

By the way, she has the BEST solution for the problem: put a sticker on top of it!

[tonyb15re]

Great to see many nations united by one TV Show