"Inspection light"

[Onion]

Compared to the "check engine" light, what does this mean? I just bought a 1990 325ic from a friend that had this car in his garage for a year and he put a grand total of 2500 mils on it last year. It only has 130K total.
He is very good about oil changes and stated that he always kept up with the maintenance (he gave me all the records on the car). The first owner was as picky as my friend. All work except the oil changes was done at Barvarian Imports here in Atlanta. I think they are high$$, but do good work.
Anyway, my friend said that the oil service light stayed on because he never had it reset (changed the oil himself). Now I have changed the oil, plugs, air filter and the car runs great, but now the inspection light is on.
Do I need to have a diagnostic run or could this come on just because the service light has not been reset in 2+ years and about 8000 miles put on it?
A little help please!

 

[Beemur]

the inspection light means that your vehicle has covered enough miles that it now needs to go through and inspection and a list of preventative maintanance tasks need to be done.

you can take it to your mechanic, or buy a Bentley Service Manual (best $35 you will ever spend on your bmw), and/or there is always the laboriously difficult and time consuming internet search, but don't put yourself out too much though.

Here is a good place to start:
http://www.pelicanparts.com/bmw/techarticles/tech_main.htm
and
http://www.bimmerdiy.com/e30

Hope this helps

 

[1985_318i]

Ebay has diagnostic reset tools. My dad got one that works on both size connectors and it works great, just make sure you have a pic of it before you order it.

 

[epj3]

Ebay has diagnostic reset tools. My dad got one that works on both size connectors and it works great, just make sure you have a pic of it before you order it.

You don't need that, all you need is a piece of wire (like speaker wire). Jump pins 7 to 19 in the service plug thing, and while it's jumped, turn the car to "run" (the position the key is in while the car is running, but dont start it) and wait for about 20 seconds. It'll be reset.

No reason to buy a tool to do something you can do with $0.005 worth of speaker wire.

 

[abellia]

Get jumper wires for approx $6 and follow the instructions below. It worked for me. http://www.unofficialbmw.com/repair_faqs/sil.html

 

[jefflewis93305]

thanks "epj3"

thanks for the info on resetting the Inspection light. I was trying it with the engine on, Jeff

 

[ericmh]

inspection light

hi i have a 1994 325i, recently purchased from an individual. it runs great, but i after i drove about a thousand miles my inspection light came on. what type of maintenance does the inspection light consist of, have recently had my rear diff. changed. do i have to reset it or how would i go about resetting it?