I just purchased a 2011 M3 and regret waiting so long to do so. I love the vehicle ! It is a car however that requires studying the user manual(s) in great detail. One confusing feature is the numerous indicator and warning lamps. For example, when the air temperature is at 37 degrees F or below, a warning lamp appears briefly and then disappears. The first time that it occurred I had no idea what it meant. Referring back to the manual I finally discovered that it was a warning that "black ice" may be present and to exercise caution. It did not not show a picture of the warning symbol. Is there an index of indicator and warning lamps ( with pictures ) available anywhere ? I would like to have something that I could carry in my glove pocket that I could refer to when the symbol is not obvious. Any help would be appreciated.....
You make a great point. Several years ago my daughter was driving her new 2006 325 on a busy Atlanta perimeter highway at the peak of rush hour. The car was her hard-earned pride and joy. A warning light came on (picture of a hood open, with squiggly lines coming from it) but it made no intuitive sense to her, so she called me while still driving. I suggested that it might mean overheating and to pull over when it was safe. She did and consulted the owners manual (probably for the first time; I had already read it thoroughly) and could not find a corresponding symbol with an explanation. Her next call, from the side of the road, was to the selling dealer. She was placed on hold, and waited next to busy traffic, feet away from her door, for ten minutes. No help from that dealer advisor. She then tried a second dealer (she still had their business card from when she was car shopping) in another town, and they told her that the description of the symbol made no sense to them, but if the car was behaving properly, just drive it and come in (a 75 mile trip) when it was convenient. She did continue driving, after checking back with me for approval, and the light went away. We still don't know what it meant, but a comprehensive, easy to follow, listing would have been much appreciated by the side of a busy highway. I had my own similar experience, having just rented a Mercedes at the Munich airport. The owner's manual did not tell me what was wrong, just to bring it to a Mercedes dealer. I just took it back to the rental agent and got another car. Maybe this is a Bavarian thing with warning lights that are not intuitive to Americans.
My wife ran into the same issue with her 535i. She called the dealer first and they didn't know what it was but they swore that it was in the manual "somewhere". It wasn't and it ended up being the infamous HPFP,
They aren't in the manual because they're in iDrive. Warnings symbols in the cluster are accompanied by a text explanation at the top edge of the control display. To recall a missed warning or see additional information, use iDrive: Vehicle Info > Vehicle status > Check Control. You can also recall them singly via the BC controls on the turn signal stalk (select the Check Control function, press BC to recall the first stored message, press again for the next and so on). A small warning triangle appears above the trip odometer when there are stored messages to review. All of this is explained in the manual under "Indicator and warning lamps" ("At A Glance" chapter) and "Check Control" ("Controls" chapter). Cars without iDrive receive a different owner's manual which provides a ten-page legend to the dash symbols, at the end of the "Mobility" chapter.
Thanks DBrownell for an interesting story. Point well taken. Generally speaking if the symbol is green, it is informational; yellow is a warning that something is amiss and perhaps needs attention (door ajar, etc.); if the symbol is red you should shut down the vehicle immediately and seek help. The dealer did a poor job of familiarizing me with the car. I had the opportunity of picking up my M3 in Greer, S.C. where BMW pays for one night's stay in a motel and buys you dinner. They then spend 2.5 hours going over the car with you and then you get to drive the track in one of their cars with a professional driver. You then drive your car home. I would have known a lot more now than I do. NotTheStig - I have studied the manuals that accompanied the car more intensely than I studied my organic chemistry textbook in college. I can assure you that there is no ten page legend that explains the symbols. I haven't tried your procedure yet, but will do so soon. Thanks for the info !!!
Same here except I'm not sure yet which textbook I'd list in the #2 spot. Note that BMW supplies completely different manuals depending on whether or not the car was ordered with iDrive (i.e., the navigation system option). If your M3 has iDrive, I'm not surprised you couldn't find the legend in the manual, because it ain't there. That section appears in the non-iDrive edition only. All recent owner's manuals can be downloaded in PDF from bmwusa.com, here.
Thanks NotTheStig for the info & link. In the supplementary owners manual, I did find some symbols and their meaning, No where close to 10 pages though. As DBrownell mentioned, the symbols are not intuitive - maybe to Europeans (?). I downloaded the manual from the link you provided ( w/o idrive ). Will check out when time permits. My M3 has Mdrive with paddle shifters and is a gas to drive!!! Especially when you deactivate DSC. One really has to use caution though - it performs like a rocket sled in that mode. Thanks again for your help - jbowman
Happy to oblige. Assuming we're looking at the same manual (2011_M3series_ownersmanual_withoutidrive.pdf), you should find what you seek starting on page 163 (of the book--165 in the file).
