Ge n e r al C om m u n i c at i on

About: ETM
Date: 31 July 2000

ZA-VS SL 029 2000

PAGE 1 OF 3

Subjec t:

Defender M 52 ETM
(Electric Trouble Shooting M anual)

M odel:

Pre M Y99 and MY99 Vehic les.

Complaint:

Various dealers requested an after market ETM for the BMW engine
Defender, as only engineering drawings were available.

Solution:

An ETM was drafted by the Tec hnical dept. as a fix to the c omplaint.
The two ETM s are circuit diagrams related to preand-M Y99 vehicles.
Included below is a basic explanation of what each c omponents func tion is
and how it fits into the system.

System
Explanation:

DM E: The Digital M otor Elec tronics or M S41.0 as referred to in BM W

is the elec tronic heart of the engine. It uses various sensors as inputs to
determine the optimum ignition and injection to the engine.
DM E Relay: It supplies all the sensors and actuators fitted to the
engine with battery voltage. When the ignition is switched off the DM E first
goes through a shutdown proc edure before switching off the DM E relay.
Inertia switch: When the vehic le is involved in an acc ident the inertia switch
switches off the fuel pump relay on the pre M Y99 vehicles and the DM E
relay on the M Y99 vehicles. That will stop the engine from running and
being a fire hazard. In some isolated cases it may be triggered by heavy
off road riding as well.
Battery voltage: The DM E uses this voltage to adapt the sensors and
actuators to the changing battery voltage for optimum performance.
Ignition switc h: It supplies the primary side of the c oils and the DM E with
ignition voltage. As soon as the DM E receives this signal it does a self-test,
whic h takes a few milli sec onds and gets ready to start the engine.
Intake air temperature sensor: It measures the air temperature of the air
entering the engine and in c onjunc tion with the air mass meter informs the
DM E of the air mass entering the engine. The DM E will than be able to
control the fuel injection quantity to eac h injector.

Please Initial and Route to the following for information before filing
x
Dealer Principal
x
Foreman
x
x
Servic e Manager
x
Servic e Admin.
x
x

Servic e Consultant
Servic e Advisor

Servic e Personnel - Initial Below

Parts Manager
Sales Manager

E-Mail: produc t.support@bmw.c o.za

Fax: +27 12 522 2284

Tec hnic al Bulletins are available on BM W Intranet at URL: http://bmwza01.w9/vk2

About: ETM

ZA VS SL 029 2000
PAGE 2 OF 3

MIDRAND ZA-VS-2
July 2000

Coolant sensor (X6256): This NTC sensor informs the DM E and not the
instrument cluster of the c oolant temperature. The DM E uses this
information for c old starting purposes. (Enriches the air/fuel mixture during
cold starts to aid starting)
Idle ac tuator: Like the name suggests it c ontrol the idling by varying the
amount of air bypassing the c losed throttle flap. It can adapt to various
loads on the engine. Itll for example inc rease the idling when the A/ C
compressor is switched on.
Fuel injec tors: They atomise a calc ulated amount of fuel into the intake
system for combustion. They will be switched off if their relevant c oil has a
firing fault. That is done for emission reasons, as the fuel wont burn and
might damaged the c atalytic converters, whic h in this case is not fitted to
Defenders.
Ignition coils: They c onvert the 12V of the battery to a few thousand volts,
whic h used to ignite the atomised air/fuel mixture. Each c oils sec ondary
voltage is monitored by pin 56 of the DM E. The DM E rec ognises what
cylinder is firing by looking at the crankshaft-and-camshaft sensor. When it
does not receive the sec ondary voltage signal at the correc t time it knows
that something is wrong with that specific coil and c uts it and its relevant
injec tor out.
Fuel pump relay: It is activated by pin 69 of the DM E, whic h is activated by
the DM E relay, and will switch off if the vehicle is involved in an ac c ident.
Tank vent valve: Only on M Y99 vehicles. Only the harness is fitted to these
vehicles. This valve is used in c onjunction with a c harc oal canister
connected to the tank. When it opens it allows fuel vapour from the tank
through the c harc oal canister through the valve to be vented into intake
manifold for emission reasons.
Oxygen sensors: Not fitted on the Defender. It is used to measure the
exhaust gases for feedback to the DM E to enrich or lean out the mixture.
Its done for emission reasons.
Hot film Air mass meter: It measures the air of the air entering the engine
and in conjunc tion with the intake air temperature sensor informs the DM E
of the air mass entering the engine. The DM E will than be able to acc urately
control the fuel injection quantity to eac h injector.
Vanos valve: it is used to hydraulically vary the inlet camshaft timing. That
results in smoother lower rpm idling and a flatter torque curve.
Throttle potentiometer: It is used by the DM E to rec ognise the load on the
engine and it is also used for overrun situations. In other words if the throttle
is c losed and the engine is still rotating at 4000 rpm the DM E knows that
the wheels are driving the engine. This situation is called over run.
240 ohm 2W resistor: That is the path that the c oils will follow to
E-Mail: product.support@bmw.co.za

Fax: +27 12 522 2284

Technical Bulletin Documents are available on BMW Intranet

About: ETM

MIDRAND ZA-VS-2
July 2000

ZA VS SL 029 2000
PAGE 3 OF 3

ground. The .5 B wire is only used to see if the relevant c oil has
sparked. Refer to ignition c oils.
Knock sensors: They measure combustion and will inform the DM E if
a spec ific cylinder is pre-igniting or knocking (pinging). The DM E will
than retard that spec ific c ylinders timing by a certain amount and than
advance it again in steps to the programmed value.
Camshaft sensor: It is used as a feedback to the DM E to inform it how
muc h the Vanos has moved the inlet camshaft. This sensor is used in
conjunction with the crankshaft sensor to determine the cylinder
rec ognition and rpm. Its also the backup to the crankshaft sensor. For
this reason, unlike most other engine management systems the M 52
can be started without the crankshaft sensor.
Alternator: The pre M Y99 D+ signal has got a diode inline to the
Instrument cluster.
Oil pressure: Switches off the warning light in the cluster if the engine
pressure reaches a c ertain limit.
Temperature sensor: Although it is housed in the same unit as the
DM E temperature sensor housing its dedic ated to the instrument
cluster.
Engine speed: Derived from the crankshaft sensor and used to drive
revc ounter gauge.
Road speed: Derived from the speed sensor on the transfer box and sent to
instrument cluster for the Speedo. From there the signal gets filtered and
supplied to the DM E for top speed limiting. If this signal is missing the DM E
will only rev up to a spec ific RPM level and in doing so will stop the vehicle
from reac hing its top speed.

Pierre Dieperink
Technical Consultant

Jan Ltter
Produc t Support M anager

E-Mail: product.support@bmw.co.za

Fax: +27 12 522 2284

Technical Bulletin Documents are available on BMW Intranet