How to Fix the BMW E92 Steering Lock Faulty Warning

The following How-to guide covers diagnosing and fixing the red steering lock faulty warning.

This guide only covers where the steering lock is still functioning, but the warning light and message continues to show.

The same process can be applied to E90, E91, E92 and E93 vehicles.


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Tools Required

• A laptop with the following software installed:
• EDIABAS ToolSet 32
• BMW INPA
• A K+DCAN OBD2 (OBDII) to USB cable
• Buy one with a Green PCB not White

Disclaimer: Any information given in this guide is to be used at the readers own risk. I take no responsibility for injuries to the reader or damage to their vehicles. If this guide is followed correctly, no harm should occur to either the reader or the car.

Please read through the entirety of this guide prior to undertaking any work, and take due care.

Symptoms of a Faulty E92 Steering Lock

Your car will play it's warning sound and display the following message in iDrive (if you have it):

Steering lock faulty
Electronic steering wheel lock is not disabled once the engine has been switched off.
Engine cannot be restarted.
If the engine is running, do not switch off.

and will display a red padlock over a steering wheel warning light / icon in the centre upper Board Computer (BC) display, combined with a warning triangle icon in the lower BC display.

Step 1 - Diagnosing the Steering Lock Fault

If your steering lock continues to function despite the warning, then your first port of call is to check your battery's health.

You can check the voltage being supplied via the hidden BC menu. Follow the instructions in this how-to guide to access and unlock the hidden menu. Alternatively, you can test the battery using a multimeter.

Record the voltage both with the car turned off and on.

Acceptable car battery voltages:

• Engine off, ignition on: 12.4V - 12.6V
• Engine on: 13.7V - 14.7V.

You can also get a free battery health check at your local Halfords store. This will check all aspects of the battery health, such as cold crank amps (CCA).

If your car battery is outside these parameters, you should replace it as it could be the cause of the warning light.

Step 2 - Open EDIABAS ToolSet 32

If replacing your battery did not resolve the problem, or your battery is ok, continue by plugging in your OBD2 to USB cable and run EDIABAS ToolSet 32 (Tool32.exe).

Click: File > Load SGBD, Group file or press F3

Step 3 - Open cas.prg

In the window that pops up, navigate to the Ecu folder within your EDIABAS install directory and open the file called "cas.prg"

Step 4 - Select and Run the ELV Counter Reset Jobs

In the window called "Select Job: CAS" that appears once step 3 has been completed, scroll to and double click each of the following jobs in turn:

• steuern_elvcounter_cas_loeschen
• steuern_elvcounter_elv_loeschen

It should display "Job Done" at the bottom of the window after each of the above jobs is double clicked.

Once both jobs have been run, the steering lock faulty warning should now have been cleared.

Remove the OBD2 cable, turn your car off on and on again to check this fix has worked.

If this guide only works for a short period of time, say a couple of weeks, then it is likely that your battery is ready to be replaced.

If this guide has not worked at all, you may have a genuine mechanical problem with your steering lock, which you should get checked as soon as possible.