2006 X5 4.4i DSC Fault codes no Lights

[Zulu95]

The guy I mentioned bought a mini LED in Radio Shack at that time. Any of the electronic supply houses (Digi-Key) or even fleabay should have them.
You confirmed my hunch BTW.

[crystalworks]

Originally Posted by Rugerman21

I thought I would go on a hunch and remove the Instrument cluster and did-assemble it. Sure enough the 2 LED's for the DCS error light and whatever light is to the right of it the LED's have been removed. I have to guess that was easier to do than for however to actually fix the reasons the light was on. The light was on due to the Transfer Case Actuator Gear being bad. $9.22 part off E-bay and less than 2 hours labor. My guess is the used car dealer I bought it from. That way they could show me the lack of error lights being lit. Damn that pisses me off. Cannot prove it was them but I doubt the people that owned the car for 11.5 years knew enough to take the Instrument cluster out and apart to remove that LED. Now I have to find a replacement LED to put back in. Anybody got the specs for that LED ?

That sucks and is super shady! I'd be hella pissed. This is also why Carly was a decent investment even though their business model cheeses me off some (in-app purchases/upgrades). Plug it in on the test drive and see if there is any problems...

Don't forget to sync that actuator gear or you will have driveability issues and eventually re-failure of the gear. Ask me how I know.

[Rugerman21]

Yes shady is the word. So difficult to find honest used car dealers these days ..hahaha That is kind of an oxymoron I suppose. I do not mind doing the work it is just that these crooked bastards tried to hide things. That is an issue for me.

[Rugerman21]

No Radio Shack close to me any more and I do not see an LED that looks to be a surface mount on their website. Digi-Key only lists a few and they show no pictures of them so not sure what I would order from them. I will have to keep looking I suppose.

[Rugerman21]

Hey Crystalworks, I cannot find anything on that sync procedure for the actuator gear you mentioned, either here or online. Have a link to it by any chance ? I did find the surface mount mini LED's had to buy a roll of 100 but oh well for $10.00 it is worth it.

[crystalworks]

Originally Posted by Rugerman21

Hey Crystalworks, I cannot find anything on that sync procedure for the actuator gear you mentioned, either here or online.

transfer case actuator calibration? - Bimmerfest - BMW Forums

Some related info in the above thread. It's more of an adaptation reset pertaining to oil condition and startup position or something along those lines. But not doing it does seem to affect longevity and smoothness.

I know that on the X3 we purchased the PO had done the transfer case actuator gear, but not done the reset of the adaptation. It drove okay, but had clunking at certain driving conditions... no lights pertaining to the Xdrive for about 10,000 miles.

We lived with the slight clunk until it got worse and worse and finally threw the light trifecta and made the clicking noise upon shut down. I replaced the actuator gear and took it in to have the transfer case oil changed and the adaptation reset. The X3 now drives like a new vehicle. Buttery smooth under all conditions.

YMMV but I will be having someone reset the adaptations anytime I do the actuator gear going forward. Wish I had the capability to do it myself.

[wpoll]

Originally Posted by crystalworks

YMMV but I will be having someone reset the adaptations anytime I do the actuator gear going forward. Wish I had the capability to do it myself.

I'm pretty sure that the reset (via DIS) is only relevant to the oil change.

And clearly important. Your X3 experience indicates this.

The actuator gear isn't indexed in any way (otherwise you couldn't swap it around 180 degrees when it wears) so there's no way for the system to know where the gear itself is, therefore there's nothing to reset. It self-aligns the first time you fire up the car after changing the gear - it's a closed loop servo system.

I need to get DIS up and running myself - so I can do the oil change and adaptation reset - no t'case issues on my car but I have over 200,000kms on the factory oil - time to change it methinks...

[hpy540]

What is pn of gear. I had an occassional 4x4 light. Not often.

[wpoll]

Originally Posted by hpy540

What is pn of gear. I had an occassional 4x4 light. Not often.

BMW don't sell the gear separately but tons of others do, like ECS...

https://www.ecstuning.com/b-odometer...07566296gr~od/

There's cheaper sources, like eBay...

Transfer Case Motor Gear Carbon Fiber Reinforced Nylon For BMW X3 X5 E53 E83 New | eBay

[Rugerman21]

The gear was $9.22 off Amazon and it worked perfectly. The procedure for getting the Actuator Motor off my 2006 X5 4.4i was even easier than the YouTube video's showed. I did not have to drop the cross member to get to all 4 e-tork bolts holding it in and was less thn 1 hour to do the whole project.