DIY: Disabling the SES light

This is a 15 - 20 minute max project.

If there's gauges on your steering column you are going to need to adjust them as far forward as possible to allow room for the instrument cluster to come out.

Lower your steering wheel all the way and pull it out as far as it will go and relock it in place. Place a towel on top of your steering column to prevent scratching the front of the instrument cluster.



Remove the two torx 20 screws at the top of the cluster



Pull out gently and the cluster will rotate forward



Remove the banana shaped plastic piece from the cluster by pressing down on the tabs on each side and pulling forward



Pull the cluster forward and rest it face down on the steering column



Remove the two wiring harnesses from the back of the cluster as illustrated







Once the connections are free slide the cluster out carefully



Lay the cluster face down on a soft towel and remove the 4 torx 10 screws



Once the screws are out the gray cover will lift right off



Remove the two small knobs from the front of the cluster, they will pull right off with little effort



Turn the cluster face down again and gently lift internal circuit board out of the cover and lay it back down facing up. Remove the black cover by sliding a small flat screwdriver or something similar under the cover and gently lifting at the two points illustrated until it comes off




The led that we are going to block is circled



Cut a small piece of dense black foam that is slightly larger than the hole with the led and stuff it in making sure it is a nice snugg fit so that no light will seep through.




Put everything back the way it came out and you are finished.

Called that one.

there's an easier way to disable the SES light.

STAY ON TOP OF YOUR CAR MAINTENANCE.

Originally Posted by MrMotorwerk

there's an easier way to disable the SES light.

STAY ON TOP OF YOUR CAR MAINTENANCE.

Yes, because thats why HPF cars have an SES light.

Originally Posted by MrMotorwerk

there's an easier way to disable the SES light.

STAY ON TOP OF YOUR CAR MAINTENANCE.

Originally Posted by MrMotorwerk

there's an easier way to disable the SES light.

STAY ON TOP OF YOUR CAR MAINTENANCE.

You sir, are a genius, I can not believe nobody thought of that!

I just use electrical tape...probably easier to find than black foam. Nonetheless, the black foam looks better and is probably cleaner.

Originally Posted by bigjae1976

I just use electrical tape...probably easier to find than black foam. Nonetheless, the black foam looks better and is probably cleaner.

I'm sure either works fine.. the foam was just the first thing I saw that worked.

Originally Posted by MrMotorwerk

there's an easier way to disable the SES light.

STAY ON TOP OF YOUR CAR MAINTENANCE.

^^^^^^^^ditto

what is causing the SES? no cats?

The NickG kit, as it uses the factory DME leaves my car with the SES off, however, due to my car's abused past, when turning the car on, the "dsc", "brake" and "abs" light all come on. I should do this treatment to those, lol

Sorry to bump an old thread, however what does cause the SES light to come on in the HPF? No cats or what?

Originally Posted by BMW_Matt

Sorry to bump an old thread, however what does cause the SES light to come on in the HPF? No cats or what?

From another thread

Originally Posted by HPF Chris

Of course. We control both the intake and exhaust cam and have programmed them in a table that allows us +/- 20 degrees based on both rpm and boost. It is truly remarkable how much power you can pick up by advancing/retarding the cams based on rpm and boost. That's the main reason our kits have virtually no turbo lag, it's because we've set the cams for the maximum power at lower rpms as well as tuned the cams for the maximum performance across the entire powerband.

JP (our engineer) told me back in 2006 that we have a choice, either leave the cams at their factory settings and "not" have the service engine soon light come on, or we can pick up 30-40rwhp at several points in the powerband by moving the cams to optimize the M3's performance. I asked why can't we do both. He said because the DME looks at the camshaft position sensors and determines that the camshafts are not within the range set from the factory. So I chose to have more power and leave the SES light on. If we tuned the DME, we could possibly change those limits to allow our settings and not have the SES light come on, but we really haven't spent (or wasted) any time with DME tuning on that car since the factory computer doesn't run the engine. You can't even see the SES light with our kit anyway.

Chris.

Gotcha, thanks.

Originally Posted by MrMotorwerk

there's an easier way to disable the SES light.

STAY ON TOP OF YOUR CAR MAINTENANCE.

Lol welcome to the F/I section.

Originally Posted by Evil Twin Rob

Lol welcome to the F/I section.

One would think if you spend $20k+ alone on a turbo system, not including other mods, they could afford simple maintenance

Originally Posted by BMW_Matt

One would think if you spend $20k+ alone on a turbo system, not including other mods, they could afford simple maintenance

Its not about maintenance.

Originally Posted by MrMotorwerk

there's an easier way to disable the SES light.

STAY ON TOP OF YOUR CAR MAINTENANCE.

This fuckin' guy.

Originally Posted by TitanSilber ZHP

Its not about maintenance.

I know. I was mocking the guy who said that.