Not long ago, I noticed the Service light was on, and I’m call it yellow, when I started my 2007 BMW 335i. Initially, I thought I just needed to reset “something” to account for a recent oil change. However, it changed from yellow to red and my A/C stopped working….what’s going on?
Understanding the Road Worthiness Service Light
The Road Worthiness service light typically indicates that your BMW is due for a service or inspection. It’s a reminder to check critical components such as brakes, tires, lights, and other safety-related systems. According to most written texts, when this light turns red, it’s “essential” to address it promptly to ensure your vehicle’s safety and compliance. I do think a red light deserves attention but does this warning mean I need to have my car towed to the nearest repair shop?
The Issue was Hidden in Plain Sight
The BMW Owner’s Manual for the 2007 335i is pretty good. On page 66, you learn that the hurricane looking light is related to the Roadworthiness test….and if you turn to pages 145-154, you’ll see what you believe is surely every combination of warning lights and indicators. That said, I have not been able to find any explanation as to why the Roadworthiness test indicator would be in red.
I should have kept the link, but in doing some research on bimmerfest.com, a user (AzNMpower32) posted that the “road worthiness test is a user reminder for state inspection that can easily be self-reset to another date.”
After reading that, I noticed the 05/2024 date displayed on my warning.
Changing/Resetting the Road Worthiness Service Date
As stated by AzNMpower32, it is easy to self-reset this reminder…you needn’t rush over to your local repair shop as long as you can work the BC and toggle switches shown below:
Though yours may vary, these are the steps I followed for my car (2007 BMW 335i) to set a new service inspection date:
- press “up” 6 times to get to display the SERVICE-INFO menu option and then press BC in once to enter SERVICE-INFO
- press “up” 1 time to display the road worthiness warning and then press in and hold the BC button for a couple seconds….this should give you the capability to change the service date
- use the up/down switch to change the month, press the BC button to set the month which will move you to the year setting
- use the up/down switch to change the year and then press the BC button again to set the year. I realize most people will use to the “up” switch to increase the year but there is nothing stopping you from setting it many years ahead. Maybe reading this post has made you curious to see what the service date is set to for your car. If you find your service date is set to 12/2039, perhaps you want to set it to the date of your next state inspection for another reminder to get that task done. This is what I did…I set the service date to match when my inspection is due.
Once the service date was changed, the service warning light went away. I yearned with hope that resolving this issue would somehow fix my A/C problem. Does BMW punish you for going over your service date but disabling the A/C? I have not heard or experienced anything like that previously but I was hoping.
Sheepishly, I hit the “max” button hoping for the miraculous and a deluge of air but, of course, nothing happened. The A/C issue is a separate issue….stay tuned for that one. I just knew that resolving the issue behind the hurricane symbol warning was going to fix my A/C.
Nonetheless, resolving the road worthiness error is an easy fix and one I’m certain you can do on your own!