Thank you all for the thoughts. The chorus of responses to buy a scanner is point taken. I did start gambling with $ here but don't have that much into it. I have strongly considered the purchase of a good scanner but did not for a few reasons. I am not sure how long term this vehicle is for me, I sold my last bimmer after 13 years but this one I took on on a bit of a whim. If I were to purchase a scanner I wanted one that would program too as I have a need for that with the used lcm I put in already. Those are a bit spendier than the foxwell scanner. In this instance I felt like I had specific enough symptoms and had addressed enough common culprits that someone with experience could give me a pretty decent idea of what could be going on given the symptoms. Otherwise I wouldn't have wasted anyone's time posting. So again, point taken on the scanner front, but if anyone does have any experience with similar symptoms to my specific symptoms, I would gladly read your thoughts.

A cheap laptop (Window base xp duo core) and the correct OBD II cable with the correct software can have you scanning all the modules in a BMW and also coding the BMW. You can start with an easy to install software like BMW Scanner 1.4 and move on to INPA.

Thanks for that tip, I do have an old windows 7 laptop and some xp software lying around. Can you link to an example of the OBD-2 connector I would need? I can figure out the software piece. Much appreciated

This post may help you with Windows 7 and BMW Scanner 1.4.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-s...bit-linda-cai/

As for a provider of the interface and software, you can look that up on the internet. Don't recall who I bought my stuff from or if they are still selling this stuff.