Engine FailSafe Prog Dsc inactive
 

While driving my 2003/3.0 X5 yesterday the dash board lit up with the following messages. Engine Failsafe Prog, DSC inactive along with the DSC icon, ABS and Brake light I was able to continue driving but the X seem sluggish I parked and drove again this morning the lights were gone but the same thing happened again tonight. I searched the forum but did not find anything conclusive. Has anyone experienced this problem before?

I have had that situation before when my IAC valve crapped out. Go to Autozone and have the car scanned for codes. If there are any P codes, post them up. It could be something else, but it is usually related to somethign electrical because the engine harness has questionable pins (sometimes they are loose and do not make a connection) until they fixed this issue (more or less) in 2004.

I replaced my IAC valve and insodoing all these problems cleared up. But I was advised that if it was the harness, the act of disconnecting and reconnecting the electronic connectors could temporarily fix this, but it could occur again, as long as I did not replace the harness. I did not, and this problem has yet to occur again.

Have the car scanned and see what the codes are. This will tell you where to start.

This particular code (EML) does reset itself when you turn off the car, unlike other codes, but will continue to go back into EML until it is repaired.

Thanks lo_jack I was able to scan it usind a Bavarian coode reader/reset tool and the fault it read was "Idle control valve mechanically stuck".

Great. The IAC valve is easy to replace and costs around $100. There is a walkthrough on this site on the front page I believe that is fairly accurate. If you have a socket set and a ratchet you should be able to replace this yourself and be back up and running.