I continue to sort out my used 2008 X3 with 32k miles on it and using the AutoEnginuity scanner I can see the following error code. It gets set even on a single driving cycle: ABS DSC 8 - 5DEA Unknown Trouble Code Description When I first fully scanned the car, I also had the following codes in addition to the above. However, these are not present at this time: ABS DSC 8 - 6E3C Unknown Trouble Code DescriptionVario Transfer Gearbox (VTG) - 55C4 No Message from DSC On occasions, I have seen the yellow "BRAKE" and "4x4" dashboard lights turn on, but that does not seem to be repeatable and it goes off after cycling the ignition. It also seems to be different than the trifecta of lights that others have reported. I have not been able to find anywhere what these codes could mean. I have not observed any drivability issues nor strange noises. Any pointers would be greatly appreciated.
I'm happy to report that the problem is finally solved. The culprit appears to have been the Steering Angle Sensor. As time went on, the problem became more persistent. The errors became more frequent and the issue became more pronounced as now both the Transfer Case and the SRS systems complained of illegal messages from the DSC/ABS module. This usually culminated with the addition of the Airbag warning light on top of the BRAKE and 4x4 lights. The problem seemed more frequent when it was hot out, so the summer provided a good testing ground. Also, the lights would light up not just at start-up, but sometimes later in the driving cycle. After investing into some diagnostic tools, it was interesting to see the data coming out of the steering angle sensor once the error occurred. Sweeping the steering wheel would usually yield correct angle reading closer to center. However, as the steering angle was increased, the reading would abruptly change from a value like 60 degrees to -200 degrees. I suspect that such a change in the value made the DSC/ABS module very unhappy, resulting in illegal messages on the CAN bus. It’s been about a month since the fix and so far no disco lights on the dashboard. I have attached some images of the disassembled sensor showing the possible smoking gun. You can see that the sensor brush pickup is not looking so well. I’m hoping that the new design of the sensor (since it has a different part number) makes this failure less likely in the future and that someone out there can benefit from this information.
