BMW 1 Series FlexRay System Causes Electrical Chaos

Hi there! I had a pretty similar issue with my 2003 BMW 3 Series last year. I have some experience working on cars, but electrical problems always make me nervous. My car showed almost identical symptoms, complete audio failure and unusual system errors. After struggling with it for a few days, I took it to my regular workshop. Turned out it was just a faulty connection in the main wiring harness. The mechanic found a damaged plug that was causing all these weird electrical gremlins. They replaced the connection and cleaned up some corroded terminals. Cost me about 95 Euro and fixed everything. Before I can suggest more specifics, could you share your engine type and if you're getting any specific error codes? Also, have you noticed if the problems get worse when driving over bumps or during wet weather? This might help pinpoint if you're dealing with the same issue I had.

Thanks for sharing your experience! I have similar symptoms on my gasoline BMW 1 with 58668 KM. Pretty worried about this as I just had my latest service done and everything was fine then. The errors seem more frequent when driving on rough roads, and I've noticed the warning lights flicker a bit. Really hoping it's just a loose connection like in your case and not the entire FlexRay system. Did your mechanic have to keep the car for long to diagnose and fix the issue? Also, did you notice any battery drain during this time?

Hey again! Since you mentioned the symptoms get worse on rough roads, it really does sound similar to what I dealt with on my BMW 3 Series. My mechanic only needed the car for about half a day to diagnose and fix it. They actually found the damaged connection pretty quickly once they started checking the main harness points that typically get stressed from road vibration. And yes, I did notice some battery issues! My battery would drain faster than usual while all this was happening. I think it was because the electrical system was constantly trying to reset and reconnect various components due to the faulty connection. The constant rebooting of systems was putting extra strain on the battery. Given your mileage is relatively low and you're seeing the same symptoms over bumpy roads, I'd bet money it's a wiring issue rather than a full FlexRay system failure. My repair was way cheaper than what I initially feared. The mechanic just had to trace the harness, found the bad connection near the firewall, and fixed it right up. Quick tip though, if you decide to take it in, ask them to check the ground points too. After my repair, the mechanic mentioned that cleaning and securing all the ground connections helped prevent similar issues from popping up again. Been running perfectly for over a year now without any electrical gremlins coming back!

Thanks so much for the detailed info! This definitely makes me feel better about the whole situation. I'm going to book it in with my mechanic tomorrow and specifically ask them to check the wiring harness and ground connections like you suggested. Really hoping it's just a connection issue like yours was, the symptoms match up perfectly, especially with the battery drain and bumpy road correlation. Your experience has saved me from panicking about a complete FlexRay failure! Will definitely clean those ground points regularly once it's fixed. Thanks again for your help, it's great to hear from someone who's actually dealt with this and got it sorted without breaking the bank!