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Get to your PDC unit (water issue)

E8x 
364K views 342 replies 110 participants last post by  drew_g 
#1 ·
Right, a few people have mentioned of a problem with faulty parking sensors, 'Xmas tree dash', random electrical issues, or their PDC (Parking Distance Control) showing special Icon showing up on your dash when put in reverse, like this:-



The possible cause is that there is water in the PDC holster well & it has got water damage.

This can be caused by:

Changing your rear lights. (Reusing a seal instead of a new one on the lights)

Holes in the side of the car letting water in. (black things which have filters in for air feed inside the car)

If you have this issue, here is a Brief "How To" get to the PDC Module and check for water:

First of all, start by removing the floor carpet which basically lifts and pulls out like so:


Next is to remove the plastic boot strip, located either side is 2 plastic Caps which you can remove with a flat-head screwdriver like so:

Under these caps consists of a Philips Screw.... You know what to do.

Once you have removed the Screws if you look at the bottom of the plastic panel there are 2 plugs, simply Prise them out with a flat-head screwdriver like so:

Then using some pin-nose pliers or another tool, simply pull. They are not attached; they are just plugs to secure it. Like so:

Your side panel will then be accessible more easily like this.


Next is to undo the bolt on the side which attaches some Trim to the hook:

It requires a Torx Screwdriver, but I simply found a long enough Flat-Head screw driver useful.

For more ease you need to remove the plastic panel above which holds your rear speaker in place, I however left it there because it is very fiddly to remove.

I also recommend removing the rear light for more accessibility into the PDC's well.

Now that you remove all the nessicery parts, Simply Pull on the Arch cover, pulling it out from the boot seal and out as far as it will go (don't bend it too much, it is fiberglass.)

The PDC is located down here:


Now..... Model of your car MAY differ; I noticed some of you do not have the Polystyrene Holster for your PDC Module, whereas I do:

Example pictures here:

2009 FL 3-door M-sport Hatchback:

Remy's Pre-FL 5-door M-Sport Hatchback (Notice the water issue she has)


To remove the PDC:

For anybody with a PDC holster like Remy's simply pull the tabs apart either side and pull the PDC out.

For people who have the PDC like mine, the Wire is tacked to the polystyrene, simply Pull on the wire, and then slide the PDC Module out, leaving you with this:


Now if there is water damage, and water in the well, GET IT OUT!!!

Disconnect it, get it in a bag of rice, and leave it in a warm location for 72 Hours (3 days)

Hope this helps you all.

Lee. :D
 
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#3 ·
Yea Greame, they are not perfect though....


Above the light connector in this pic, is the top of the vent.


The black plastic rectangle on the side of Remy's car is the vent.


and next to the red cable here.
 
#5 ·
blackbmw116 said:
Thanks for the follow up Lee. I will check both of the 1ers tomorrow. Prevention is better than a cure :eek2: .
That is exactly what I think which is why I took the chance and took mine apart to make a "How To" and to check my own car for this common problem.

How old are both your 1ers Greame?
 
#6 ·
your two should be the same as mine then with the Polysterene then Greame.
my mate who works for BMW said that anything after 56 the problem was supposibly rectified.

Keyword here Possibly, so still check, but you can confirm when you check them. :)
 
#12 ·
Nice one, will check today. Mine on 55 plate so should be unholstered.
Cheers
 
#13 ·
Hi All,

Please can you help. Need to get my PDC thingy out. Have managed to get to it with the help of this guide (many thanks) but can't seem to disconnect the unit from the connector thingies. How do i do that? Is it brute force or are there clips holding the connectors in? It looks like there may be but i'm too stupid to figure it out.

Please tell me how to disconnect the connector thingies safely.

Do i need to disconnect the battery first?

Thanks all, and hi.
 
#16 ·
I didn't I just made sure there was no ignition, Just wait 30 seconds after opening the boot you will hear the car do a little clunking noise, thats the power shutting down........

To be on the safe side, people do Disconnect the battery, I would reccomend it too. (even though I didn't lol)
 
#17 ·
Hi everybody ! :D

Lee's tutorial is simply brilliant, but unlucky I found it too late to solve my problem.
Today in the morning I've been to a BMW service exactly for this kind of problem - 'PDC Failure'. However, it seemed that today when I started the engine it didn't even come out this error on the instrumental panel.
The guy from the service did exactly the same steps, which I was very proud to record :) and eager to try it on my own. However, after removing the water, cleaning the chips from the white (PDC) box and putting it back, it also failed to start and work. The guy sprayed the chip with a special spray for improving electrical contacts.
At the end, I am not so sure if he did it right or just to convince me once again that it needs to be replaced ... and to charge me 600 Swiss francs :) which is not that cheap for a student.

Having this tutorial and the hands-on experience from the BMW service, I'd like to try it again on my own. Please advise me what should I do in order to make it fixed. Isn't there a chance of being 'dead' because of water and electricity is not a good mix ? :) I don't know more about electrical stuff, but I am wondering if this is a simple issue which can be surely fixed.

As a side note, the car is a BMW 120D, so it is not so ... big :) , but the sensors are just addictive . I've noticed that I don't even turn my eyes into the rear mirror on some cases when reversing, just trusting the feedback from the sensors. So, I really need them back working. I know, they make a driver kind of dumb :D

Thank you for your replies.
 
#19 ·
Thanks Remy for your reply.
I removed it from the car and I noticed that , at least, one circuit of the lowest chip from the board is oxidized. I will try to repair it.
Still, please tell me if should I go to BMW service to reset or re-soft the whole system ? Or is it 'plug&play' - just put it back and it will work ? For the moment there is no error, even the 'PDC Failure' error has disappeared. It's like having no such system on the car :) .

Cheers ! :D
 
#20 ·
Well... As its coded to your car already, you wont need to go to the garage for anything like that. What i would suggest the night before you reinstall, which is what i did, is to disconnect the battery, next morning plug it back in and reconnect the battery. This wiped out the error codes on mine and happily the unit then worked fine. Good luck!

If its a new unit, it can be hit and miss! Some work fine, some need coding. Im sure theres some techy reason behind it.
 
#21 ·
teodor said:
I've noticed that I don't even turn my eyes into the rear mirror on some cases when reversing, just trusting the feedback from the sensors.
I wouldn't do this Teodor, the PDC sensors are not able to spot ditches! They can also miss thin posts if you're unlucky. Hope you can clean your circuit board up and get it back to life! :)
 
#22 ·
@Remy: Indeed it is already coded, but it has been disconnected for a while, so the car might think now there is no PDC system installed :) . However, I will see this, but first of all I have to repair the broken circuits. But if I disconnect the battery for a night, won't all other computers reset themselves ? Is that a good idea ? Afaik, there is a security code for the radio which I don't know where it is :D .. and I suppose it isn't the only one.

@marco_polo: You're perfectly right, ditches can't be observed by those kind of sensors. Maybe a real view rear camera would help for this. Anyway, I was meaning when reversing just for very short distance, like when trying to park the car into a parking space. I guess this is a stupid reflex that I've taken since driving a car with such an useful system :). It seems that it is not so easy to get it back to life as one small chip must be replaced. At the end, buying a new one will solve this :p .

Cheers !
 
#23 ·
I disconnected mine for a good 14 hours and didn't get any issues with anything not working after. Think I had to set the date and the time again and that was it.

@marco, you are so right. Just ask blackroc hahahahahahahaaaaaaaa

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