Baby BMW Forum banner

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
 
See less See more
11
#202 ·
Jord_559 said:
Quick question.

Does this unit control front sensors as well? Mine seem to have packed up, but the rears are still working so i'm puzzled lol, no warning lights or anything?
Yes the module controls the front sensors also, you may have a faulty sensor that is causing the fronts not to work?
 
#203 ·
Cubz1 said:
Jord_559 said:
Quick question.

Does this unit control front sensors as well? Mine seem to have packed up, but the rears are still working so i'm puzzled lol, no warning lights or anything?
Yes the module controls the front sensors also, you may have a faulty sensor that is causing the fronts not to work?
Quite possibly so. It's going in to BMW October 12th for its timing chain recall.. Gonna get them to investigate a few things!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#204 ·
I bought a 54 plate 120i yesterday, on the test drive I noticed that the parking sensors didn't work, but as the rest of the car was good I bought it anyway. I'll certainly be checking for pools of water where the ECU is & trying to dry it out.

The salesman gave me the "they all do that sir", but in this case it sounds like that may actually be the truth.
 
#209 ·
After finding this problem unexpectedly yesterday I'm going back in today as rain is looming and will check light cluster for fitting and putting that bad boy in a freezer bag as seen previously! Will also pack out the bottom of the poly to raise it slightly. Nothing else you can do really, which sucks!

Sent from my SM-G901F using Tapatalk
 
#210 ·
Firstly thanks for the guide it was very helpful. I managed to get to my PDC which is/was housed in the polystyrene casing.

I can report there was no water or any apparent leaks from either seals on the side vent or back light cluster on my 2010 (10 plate) e87. Is it possible they rectified this issue by 2010?

Anyway for piece of mind i bagged up the PDC unit and cable tied it to a secure cable which was running above the vent.

Thanks again
 
#213 ·
Time for me to chip in now!

Long story short, my PDC unit failed and i narrowed it down to this water issue. Today has been sunny so i thought i would take it apart and get a bunch of pics...

There was about 2 - 3 cm of water...









I think this one might be unsalvageable using the old rice trick! So gonna have to look for another!
 
#215 ·
Yet another 'PDC knackered' post... 2007 facelift 123d M Sport here.

Fun, fun, fun: PDC light started flashing the other day then packed up altogether. Did a bit of Google-Fu and found this thread (thank you Lee!). Removed all the relevant plastics and found the usual 2 inches of water in the well. PDC = buggered (one of the chips on the board was legless! No hope of repair as there was nothing left to solder to).

I eBay'd another PDC unit, managed to get the same part number, so no re-code luckily, plugged it in and sensors work again.

I've slapped a load of silicone around the vents on both sides of the boot (the other side was awash too) and have drilled some holes in the plastic bungs. Do I also need to drill the bungs in the chassis box section? Is that where the water in the wells comes from or is it all coming in around (through?!) those vents? I don't have a damp rear seat problem...

Just re-reading the thread; I might check my rear lights too.
 
#217 ·
Hi All,

Owns : 2007 E81 M sport BMW 120d

So... After being a Lurker here for the last couple of weeks searching for answers to my problem, i find myself here. another victim of the swimming PDC.

I first noticed that the PDC was not working a couple of weeks back, it would throw an error every time i started the car. that stopped completely, so after some research i found this post. which is amazingly informative btw! i always thought that the water i could sometimes hear sloshing around in the back, was diesel. when i followed this guide to get to the PDC area, true enough there was a swimming PDC unit, (the other side is fine)

I removed the PDC dried it out, drilled some holes in the plastic bungs so this cannot happen again, i think the water has come in through the light cluster, I've changed the lights in the past, so this must be how it got in.

i also discovered that it can cause wet seats, (true enough the back seats were slightly wet), with water seemly coming from the bolts that hold the seat belts in, but i cant be sure.

what puzzles me to no end, is how do i remove this water, and how did it get there? it seems to be under the seats, inside the frame of the car!?

I've removed 4 bungs from underneath the car, little water came out. still can hear sloshing around. i'm completely stuck and just want to remove the water from the chassis, took the car to a Indi, told me to check in with a body shop because he has no idea. :cry: :cry:

does anyone have any experience with this at all? - am i missing something after reading this thread over and over? :?

p.s my PDC unit no longer works, i wonder if its a fuse or its just toast, it didn't look to bad after id dried it out, im having issues finding a replacement on the web. any ideas on that?

Thanks for taking the time to read, and glad to have finally joined this wonderful forum :D :D :D :D
 
#218 ·
You've done everything right so far. Those two chassis legs join into the swimming pools with yet more plastic bungs.

You've already added some sensible drainage, so I'd just make her water tight as possible, and leave those bungs out underneath for a while to allow the chassis to dry. You could try some compressed air in there, if you have access to a compressor? Or possibly attack it with rags / desiccants / heat / dehumidifiers / etc?

I'd leave the rear seats out if you can, for the minute.
 
#219 ·
Hi Marco Polo,

Thanks for the quick response :D - Yes, currently the back seats are removed until i'm sure its all sorted, this is not a problem.

I've re tightened the rear lights and kept an eye on those, and even after heavy rain, everything remains dry, so i'm confident that its tight now.

i will search when i can for any more plastic bungs, i removed 4 i believe, 2 fairly close to each other on each side.

i don't have access to a compressor, but that something i can consider should i come across someone with one. what i have done is bought 4 1kg bags of silica to lump in the car to see if this helps with the seeping from the seat belt bolts as mentioned in above post. (at least that's where i think its coming from)

I'm really hoping that i can find some bungs and release the water inside - it sounds like a lot in there! :eek2:

Also - My dried out PDC unit seems to not work, but i cant be sure. it wont even pick up there is one when its plugged in, no error etc - do i need to code this in or does this indicate that its fried? could it be a fuse? just making sure before i start the hunt for a new one.
 
#220 ·
If you plug in a working PDC module it should simply work again. Fuse is 1000:1

I wonder if you can park nose-down on a very steep gradient, to get gravity to help the water on it's way out of the seatbelt holes?? I haven't been under an E87 is a couple of years, can't remember exactly what's what anymore I'm afraid! :redface:
 
#221 ·
Ah, must be duff then :( :( .

Ill check the fuse. but cant see it being that. :rollseyes:

Ta for all your help Marco, if anyone else gets the same issue - and manages to resolve one way or another, do tell :D :D

i will post back here when i sort the problem,

i will try the hill at some point.

Ha :lol2: - no problem Marco - i appreciate the weigh-in anyhow!

For now,

Hop
 
#222 ·
Hello!

I am new to this forum and i also have problems with my PDC unit. I have 2008 120d e82, front&rear PDC.

Yesterday I had a look into my boot where PDC module is located and found 3 inch of water :D So I disconnected the PDC module as I saw on previous posts and put it in the bag of rice. Now I am waiting for a miracle :redface:

But here is another question. I should get yellow warning sign, telling me there is something wrong with the system. My system didn't even inform me about any problems with PDC, to me it seems like it doesn't know that I even have PDC. My button for turning off/on PDC is not responding (LED light not working), I don't have any "PDC failure" or sth like that on my dashboard (Fuse is OK). How do I know that (after proper drying and reconnecting) my PDC module is working.

Do you have any suggestions what might be wrong. I will try to remove the battery for a while, trying to restart the system, maybe it got used to this failure :wink: ...

And I was also reading sth about testing sensors with gear selection (1st for front and R for rear) and listening to the sensor. Is this possible with PDC unit disconnected (I guess not).

Thanks guys, have a nice day regards from Slovenia :bigsmile:
 
#225 ·
I recently changed my rear lights and seems the seal wasn't quite right and a week after installation after lots of rain I had the dashboard Christmas tree effect and my parking sensors went all funny.

I went to a local indie and he said it was probably the common water damage and was looking at £175 parts + labour for the work. After some research I came across this thread and removed my PDC unit. It had already been wrapped in a thin freezer bag so my car had had the problem in the past. Water had somehow got into the bag and PDC and started to cause damage. After a few days in a bag of rice, I wrapped the PDC in cling film and 3 layers of decent freezer bags and sealed with tape, I put my boot back together again and it all worked perfectly! Thank you for this thread :)

P.S. There's a BMW breaker on Ebay called 'cladan74' who stocks alot of PDC module model numbers and sells them for £65.
 
#226 ·
This post has been a godsend!!!!

However, now a different problem......

I've just recoded the car for the lci rear light upgrade......all good!

However, now my pdc doesn't work....for the first time, giving me the yellow warning sign???

The pdc unit was wrapped in a sandwich bag (due to the earlier fix) so I don't think it was that.....

Any suggestions?

Many thanks
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top