M45 Intelligent cruise control not working -- Help please??

[sorcereur]

I have an '04 M45 that has worked fine since new except minor issues that have been resolved under warranty. The car now has 77k miles and has given me its first real issue.I took it on a trip to Florida recently and the intelligent cruise worked fine. Upon my return, I tried to turn on the cruise control like I normally would and immediately would beep and a yellow cruise light would light up on the dash. The cruise doesn't seem to work anymore.So I would have to turn off the car and it would do the same thing each time.The standard cruise control function works fine if I hold the cruise button for the few seconds required, as long as I don't create the error condition I described above. If I have the error condition, the only way to get even the standard cruise to work is by turn off the car and starting it back up again and directly activating the standard cruise.Any of you guys seen this before? I'm kind of surprised at how it stopped worked all of a sudden. Is there a way to diagnose this without taking it to the dealer? I reset the car's battery but it didn't help.

Thanks for any help. Hopefully this thread makes some sense.

[Double E]

Cool! Another Y34 in the area!! Maybe I've seen yours. Is it silver?

Anyway, you want to look at the sensor at the front of the car at the lower passenger side. The box behind the lower grill is the emitter.

Your trip to FL certainly encountered a few bugs and there may be bugguts on the emitter. Clean it off (carefully, very light pressure, do not scratch it up) and see if it works again.

I'm doing the oil seperator mod soon...do you do any wrenching on your Y34?

[rsg123]

I agree. Make sure the sensor is clean and it should start working.

[sorcereur]

Hey, I've been seeing quite a few Y34s lately in the area. Mine's black with the rear spoiler and aftermarket wheels. If you ever see it on the road you'll know it's me. Haven't seen another like it in the area yet.

Which one is considered to be the emitter for the cruise? The box up front in the bumper area? If that's the one, I've washed the car pretty well since I got back but still get the same error condition.

Haven't really done any wrenching on the car yet because she's been pretty solid/reliable, but I may have to because I love the car and don't plan on getting rid of it anytime soon. I still get people on the roads asking me what year is that and saying they've never seen that model. Lot of thumbs up.

Thanks for the reply.

[Double E]

Yeah, it's the rectangular box. Make sure the shiny, flat front is clean.

For bugs, I have success with rubbing alcohol and a soaked cotton ball.

Let the bug mess soak for a few secs & it cleans off. Road tar will mess with it too. For tar, I grab a little fuel from the lawnmower and cotton balls and it normally comes right off. The PO of mine had the grill area removed right in front of my emitter for some reason. It came from Louisiana, so I suspect that a few bugs plus the grill caused it to error pretty often.

Mine is silver. I'm not in Cary much but I beat down 540 to the Park daily from NE Ral.

(I'm also thinking about adding a remote activated exhaust cutout after the cat!)

[sorcereur]

We are talking about the black box in the right hand side (passenger side) of the bumper with the glass looking front?I'll definitely give that a try...I've had my car since new and it didn't have a grill in front of that box.. Plus it's always been black, not shiny. Unless I'm blind.

[Double E]

That's it.

Maybe I'm thinking it used to be there? I saw an '03 while at the dealer this past week and it has the lower grill all the way across...but maybe it had no ICC? It didn't have NAV or H/C seats either.