ABS, BRAKE, DSC lights resolved!

[ake53]

hey everyone.
So when I purchased my E53, I had those three lights on.

The owner told me it was because of abs sensor that needed to get dusted off. BS!

So I finally brought it to my friends shop in Springfield MA. He mostly fixes high end vehicles. I seen a few Land Rovers and Mercedes Benz being diagnosed there at that time.

So anyways he tried to diagnose the problem by clearing the codes. But as soon as he clears them, the abs shuts off and brings lights back on.

So he checked the speed sensors, abs module. and than found out it was the Steering angle.

So he calibrated the sensor and that took care of the problem.

This probably happened when the battery died. I had the X parked outside for about 2-3weeks in the sun and the battery had a low crank rate to begin.

So I purchased a new battery. Bosh with higher crank rate.

So now, I have no lights on the dash, and my ABS brakes work.
Person brake tested me while I was driving it home from the shop.
The X has good stopping power...and ABS kicked in for 3-5 seconds.
It feels nice to see the dash being clear.

I have a few dead pixels on both LCD screens. Anyone Know where to get them fixed?

Also I bought a K&N drop filter from bimmerboy12 from bimmerfourms.
Awesome seller, quick shipment.

[tmv]

Good to have those sorted out.
For the pixels, you can replace the ribbon yourself if you're confident enough (I did .) The ribbon cost about $30. Or you can contact BMWNA for a Goodwill Replacement. It will be cas-by-case. They offer 50% part for me since my X5 and my E39 have never ever seen a $tealer for service. That came out about $700 with labor The third option is to contact VODO repair in CA. They will do it for you with lifetime warranty for about $250~$300. They are pretty fast with their service but you will be driving w/o the cluster for a few day. You will be able to drive the X w/o the cluster but you MUST keep it under 100mi (IIRC) or the tamper dot will appear on the cluster when you have it back in (It shouldn't matter in your case since you have it on already)

[ake53]

Wow. Yeah I will do it myself than. Any write ups here on how to get that ribbon cable on? And I seen a tool to do ribbon cable on eBay? Would I need that? How complicated is it?

[HPIA4v2]

Originally Posted by alex77ae

Wow. Yeah I will do it myself than. Any write ups here on how to get that ribbon cable on? And I seen a tool to do ribbon cable on eBay? Would I need that? How complicated is it?

I'd let the guy do it for ya, I've seen the instruction and you'll need that soldering tool to make it easir (even that still risky).

Have you asked the dealer for goodwill?, it considered safety issue by BMWNA. in my case BMWNA give me a new cluster and I paid 1-hr labor (and the labor rate is BMWNA rate not retail so $95 + tax for me). It was the best route.

[ake53]

Ok that sounds like a good resolution. I already contacted
Bmwna customer relations and they just asked a bunch of questions on the vehicle.
So I will reply to them and see.

[TwinTurboGTR]

Yeah, sometimes BMWNA will do good will and sometimes no. Last year I contacted BMWNA for goodwill on my cluster. They said they couldn't do anything even though I said I couldn't read the mileage or warning indicators on the OBC.

Funny thing was the rep asked for my mileage 3 times and I kept telling her, "I don't know, I can't read it."

And their final answer was still, can't do anything. Awesome!!!

[TwinsPoppa]

Okay, so you got the trifecta of lights and resolved it by re-calibrating the steering angle sensor.

A few questions for clarity please.

1) Did you install a new steering angle sensor and calibrate it or just re-calibrated the existing?

2) When you realized it was the steering angle angle sensor, did you try resetting it by turning the steering wheel lock-to-lock?

3) When you say-recalibrate, you mean with the GT1 or dealer system , correct?

Thanks for sharing your results.

Originally Posted by alex77ae

hey everyone.
So when I purchased my E53, I had those three lights on.

The owner told me it was because of abs sensor that needed to get dusted off. BS!

So I finally brought it to my friends shop in Springfield MA. He mostly fixes high end vehicles. I seen a few Land Rovers and Mercedes Benz being diagnosed there at that time.

So anyways he tried to diagnose the problem by clearing the codes. But as soon as he clears them, the abs shuts off and brings lights back on.

So he checked the speed sensors, abs module. and than found out it was the Steering angle.

So he calibrated the sensor and that took care of the problem.

This probably happened when the battery died. I had the X parked outside for about 2-3weeks in the sun and the battery had a low crank rate to begin.

So I purchased a new battery. Bosh with higher crank rate.

So now, I have no lights on the dash, and my ABS brakes work.
Person brake tested me while I was driving it home from the shop.
The X has good stopping power...and ABS kicked in for 3-5 seconds.
It feels nice to see the dash being clear.

I have a few dead pixels on both LCD screens. Anyone Know where to get them fixed?

Also I bought a K&N drop filter from bimmerboy12 from bimmerfourms.
Awesome seller, quick shipment.

[FITZUNI]

I had the same problems, I replace the battery and all the symptoms went away. I went with NAPA battery cheap but got more juice.

[ake53]

I did not replace the steering angle sensor,
The guy who owns the shop recalibrated the sensor with a Gt1 I believe.
But very serious diagnosis went in finding the problem, all fuses, wiring was checked.
And the steering angle reset did not work if it's not calibrated.
So far 300 miles and no lights. Passed state inspection.

[TwinsPoppa]

Originally Posted by alex77ae

I did not replace the steering angle sensor,
The guy who owns the shop recalibrated the sensor with a Gt1 I believe.
But very serious diagnosis went in finding the problem, all fuses, wiring was checked.
And the steering angle reset did not work if it's not calibrated.
So far 300 miles and no lights. Passed state inspection.

Thanks for the info.

Maybe people who get the same problem, and the reset doesn't work for them, can just try getting the steering angle sensor re-calibrated first before replacing it.