I can't reset my service lights

[Vince70]

Hi I wonder if someone could give me a bit of advice..
What it is I always do my own servicing on most of my cars and recently have just given all 3 BMWs in the family a service..

I've done the 19 and 7 service reset trick on my z3 and on my fathers compact a few times now without any problems but on my own 1997 1800 ti Compact it won't work for some strange reason and wondered if anyone has come across the same thing before.

[Mike Fishwick]

Perhaps pin 19 is not fully grounded - try linking pin 7 directly to the engine by a large battery charger-type clip. It does not take very much resistance before the logic system decides that pin 7 is not fully grounded.

Otherwise - is your resetting link connected by pins which make really good contect with the data link socket? A loose piece of wire can often rattle around and set up enough resistance to fail.

Also - silly question perhaps - did you remove the link while the ignition was still turned on? I have had a bit of brain fade before, and turned the ignition off before removing the link, in which case the SI lights do not reset.