The GT1 should help a lot.

Jay, since you mentioned right wheel bearing, there was someone who got the trifecta of lights after replacing his wheel bearing. Turns out the the wheel sensor can only read from one face of the bearing. Can the bearing face be damaged or its somehow loose/misaligned?

In another thread, I remember some mention of a plastic clip that's related to the right wheel sensor too. I can't remember if it holds the sensor or not but kind of makes sense.

Since its kind of a coincidence, you might want to check the right wheel speed sensor and bearing area.

However, I would definitely see what the GT1 finds and just run the test plan. Why guess? :D

here was my solution to the trifecta of lights. Mine was the MFA boot slipping off and it throw the code so i would pop the boot back on and clear the code and everything was fine. It happend a few times till i really secured the boot

i'll get scanned with GT1 this week and let you know what the problem is, i'm praying its a sensor and not the ABS module needing a 300 dollar rebuild.

I only mentioned being related to my wheel bearing because I have been driving with a bad wheel bearing for a couple thousand miles now AND HAVE YET TO FIX THE FRONTS, should have clarified that yes they are still bad, and I'm thinking the vibrations have perhaps caused excess wear to one of the sensors and/or vibrated it loose. It's only a hypothesis though. I really should get under the car and clean all electrical clips and connections out too as I'm sure there is grit and grime all around.

Speedometer works fine by the way, just thought I'd mention as someone earlier said something about rear sensors being related to the speedo not working.

MFA boot? what is that?

I have the older pre-Xdrive transfer case so does that not apply to me?

well I am on the trifecta list also now[I think I been through every problem with this X5] .
I had the alignment done on Friday so I am hoping that the wheel senor is the culprit. But I also just rebuilt the transmission last week the mechanic said that my wheels where different sizes and that was damaging my transfer case................?
Ricky Bobby let me know how You make out............................................... ..................

Just read the thread from ZULU 95 this problem, Holy Cow........................You should read it..................

dont know what size your wheels are but if the aspect ratios arent correct with tire sizes then yes you are putting wear on your transfer case!


I'm also waiting on a fellow member to scan my car with GT1 or I will also be calling an indy shop since they have Autologic, perhaps I'll have to bite the bullet and have a shop fix it along with my wheel bearings at the same time, I've been putting off the repair for too long and obviously its just causing more problems.


I doubt steering angle sensor though, this light just popped on on the highway while I was driving and hasn't turned off yet. Only DSC symbol, yellow BRAKE and yellow ABS lights. If it says its a wheel sensor first I will try that and see if it fixes the problem and if not at least its reassuring that $225 gets you a quality repair service on Ebay for the module (BBA Reman with lifetime warranty)

much thanks to fellow member Neil "neilrmp" will be scanning my X tomorrow or Wednesday with GT1 so I will post up what we find, I also will visually look at the wiring under the car to see if I see any fraying or damage to any of the sensors beforehand.

This is a great post from Bimmerfest, very comprehensive about the issue, and it also points out the GT1 faults that show whether it is bad sensor or bad module, as well as the pinouts from the ABS module so you can test the module itself.

Bimmerfest - BMW Forums - View Single Post - 2002 E39 ASC BRAKE ABS lights on => Diagnostic Procedure & Parts Location

^sometime I wish Bluebee own an X5 and on Xoutpost too. Her posts on bimmerfest are so useful with information and links. Her organized skill is amazing.
When I had the trifecta symtom on my E39, it was the broken solder at pin7 in the ABS module (quite common in an E39 since the placement of the ABS module.) I send it out to BBA to have them fix it with lifetime warranty, buying their auction on eBay when they were running a sale on there. Drove a week without ABS.
RickyBobby, you will have to diagnose all the possible cause and eliminate one by one until you can find the cause. GL.