Update....

Unlocked the cluster and with engine running, a/c max, lights on and radio on, my voltage is 11.2 - 11.4. I believe my alternator is toast? I'll be getting another this evening to install. I hope this solves most if not all of my ABS/ DSC issues!

Thanks for the tip and help guys!!

I think it is supposed to be between 13-14v while car is running, but I could be wrong, good luck Big J i'm going to check my voltage on the way home too!

Funny thing though, my "trifecta" only really comes on when at highway speeds after a certain amount of time, and either stays on for a power cycle or two, or goes away at startup. For example when we went for a drive at lunch today, the lights went out at startup. Now I'm going to see if the lights pop back on again when we are on the highway going home (about 18 miles highway), should be very interesting, almost to say if my module was in need of replacing that the extended heat of the engine running at 4k rpm's or so on the highway has deteriorated the module and is affected by temperature?

Ricky, probably the module is overheating... get it out now and send it to the folks that repair it with lifetime warranty before the internal damage (contacts moving too many times) is irreversable...

You still can drive 200 kms without the ABS module... their turn around is good...

check ebay, they are selling the repair service there...

I'm going to use service on ebay for "Bosch 5.7 repair", email is [email protected] most likely, just need to get car scanned with GT1 again to be sure I don't have a wheel sensor bad. Although when I removed and replaced the one on the front right when I did my bearing, it was barely dirty believe it or not! So I doubt I have a bad sensor.

Actually got a response from the gentleman (his name is Matt) who runs the company (Cheap ABS) and he does Bosch 5.7's for 139 plus shipping and said he has good success with X5 units. BBA Reman and Module Masters charge about 300 and he says that their repair methods should be similar, there are about 10-12 failure points on the modules that can be fixed that he looks at. I actually believe him in that the module repair at 300 dollars is overpriced when you get a new module for about 450.

I highly doubt I have alternator problems because I have no other electrical gremlins going on (although I will update with voltage later on) so that would help narrow it down for me.

:thumbup::thumbup:

Well unlocked cluster and although I'm missing a few lines on my display (a small pet peeve), I monitored voltage of alternator all the way home yesterday, stayed pegged at 13.5 - 13.6 volts, never dropped below 13 even idling in traffic, and never overcharged either so I ruled out alternator in my situation (thankfully), trifecta lights remained out today so I will scan with GT1 in the coming days, if you read previous pages my last codes I was throwing were indicating "brake stop switch" faults, if I still throw those codes I will replace said $22 brake stop switch, and if trifecta remains I will rebuild module.

INPA has a screen that shows the brake light switch operation - not sure if the "fault" will appear on the INPA's screen but might be worth looking at it... do your brake light operate as designed?

Yeah I have no issues with brake light operation, have LED tails too. I just remember when I scanned my car previously that was the fault that appeared, for all I know it may have stored a different fault from yesterday. And for all I know the brake switch fault could have been unrelated and I really am having gremlins from needing to get my module repaired.

I'll keep posted on if it pops on at all today on the drive home, so far so good.

The main problem with the dsc/abs module is the aluminum bonding wires. If these bonding wires detach, your dsc/abs module will give you false trouble (error) codes. This is due to the fact that the module doesn't "see" the sensors, so it takes them as being faulty. If you find that your lamps illuminate only when the vehicle warms up, a simple hair dryer or heat gun to heat the module usually exposes the problem.

In the future, I may design a wheel speed sensor tester for BMW hall effect sensors. This will test the sensor(s) with no connection to the vehicle.
This will be valuable, as a faulty dsc/abs box will give you false information about your wheel sensors.

See here: http://www.xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-foru...-included.html

Hope this helps ( I have felt your pain! )
Good luck. :thumbup:

Well I drove home yesterday and no trifecta popping up, this is definitely an intermittent issue. Will post results when I get scanned, too many other things to complete right now, still have to do my left side wheel bearing and CV boot, get tires re-balanced and get alignment before I worry about ABS module.