dsc light forever

[miloh]

Hey y'all,

I love this forum. I browse it a lot for entertainment and when I need help on things. I've had this 4x4 triangle light on my dash for maybe 5 years. I got this car at 80k from carmax in 2009 as a fleet vehicle. It had a lot of dealership service records and was a beauty for a few years.

Around 2014 the 4x4 light came on. I brought it to a shop and they did the YAW sensor. The light went away. In 2015 it came back. I brought it to the shop and they said the SAS needs to be replaced as it says no input. They quoted me the repair and I asked if I needed to do it. They said not really. It was really expensive through them.

So years go by, parts are installed, the front suspension shits itself, etc.. I just lived with the 4x4 light.

Today I did the SAS sensor under the steering column. It took forever and it really sucked seeing missing screws from past repairs. I finally found a separate clunk noise: the footwell vent. I didn't disconnect the battery. I had lights off. I replaced the sensor. Car fired up, the 4x4 light is still on. Drove it maybe half a mile. Got home, set my stuff down. OK, I just need to calibrate the sensor. I go out to my car, launch INPA, read fault codes again to make sure nothing came up. Nope, just the steering angle invalid. Before I clear them from the DXC8 module I go read the input from SAS. It's at 0 and doesn't change when turning the wheel. The car is currently off and ignition is in position 2. I go to crank, it dies. I get the trifecta and one headlight, a chirp from the security system. It’s for sure low voltage right now.

A possibly unrelated thing is my blower motor pulses, which I suspect is the blower motor resistor AND since that started happening 3 months ago, the business CD player ejects when opening the door without ignition on.

So I have a few questions.
Could it really just be that I had the key in the ignition to open the steering for a while and the battery died so all I need is a jump?

I can't remember if I've ever switched the battery and although I don't suspect the CD player is related to the blower motor resistor, could the CD player be related to the battery and my battery is finally gone?

I had the YAW sensor done ~50k ago. INPA didn't flag anything other than SAS invalid. INPA did register the car was on with ignition on and reported the other analog sensors in DCX8 but the SAS was still 0 after replacement. Do I need to calibrate it before it reads input? I know it needs to be calibrated before the light goes off, but I’m wondering if it should’ve shown something after a fresh replacement.

Thanks if y'all can help!

[andrewwynn]

You can’t do anything until battery charged and car runs.

Dsc/abs will not usually clear errors until you drive a bit.

Clear all codes and drive around the block. If you can’t get a value from the SAS there is probably a wiring problem or doa replacement.

[CapeX5]

What Andrew said for sure. But, you installed a new SAS? It will need to be coded to the car I am pretty sure. So, look into that before chasing your tail trying to make it work. I need to do mine as well, but there are videos out there on just taking the original one apart and cleaning it. FYI

[Clavurion]

Like CapeX5 said steering angle sensor has to coded first with for example NCS. Then sensor initialized (0 position setting) with diagnostics.

[miloh]

Thanks, I jumped it no problem. It runs and drives fine, I guess I just drained it.

So, I tried to code the SAS. As far as googling and searching has led me, there seems to be coding and calibration. Coding matches the SAS to the DSC module? So like it registers that it was replaced and needs calibrating? Then you have to actually calibrate it, right? Like set the 0 position through INPA?

I tried using INPA. Read analog value is 0 for SAS, the error memory said not SAS initialized. I went to E53->Chassis->DCX8->Activate->Steering Angle Calibration. When I run it, while wheels are straight, ignition on 2 not running, it says "calibration failed realisation."


I tried ediabas tool32 also: load DSC57.PRG, run the test_lenkwinkel and it results with an error. I forgot that error already.


EDIT:
Ok, I realized I have NCS-expert from the diagnostic software I installed. I'll try running that later and get back. Thanks a ton for y'alls responses.

[wpoll]

This might help... its for an E46 but the process is the same for the E53 (mostly!).

Ncs Expert code BMW 330D steering angle sensor | OBDII365.com Official Blog

[Clavurion]

Originally Posted by wpoll

This might help... its for an E46 but the process is the same for the E53 (mostly!).

Ncs Expert code BMW 330D steering angle sensor | OBDII365.com Official Blog

Looks very familiar.