abs, brake & traction control lights on at the same time
 

hi,
got in my 2001 4.4 x5 this evening and the abs , brake (hill top feature has failed) and traction control lights, all came on at the same time on the dashboard. they are all yellow in color. does anyone know what this is. surely it must all be connected? it seemed to drive with no problems.
thanks

Get the X scan, lights don't come on for no reasons. Does the speedometer still work? Does the cruise control work? If I had to guess you have a bad wheel sensor.

yes, the speedometer still works, but we never use the cruise control.

Could also be your transfer case. With the engine running have someone on the left side of the car put their head down by the front door and listen for a clicking sound when you turn off the engine. If they hear a clicking sound, the gear in the transfer case or the entire transfer case needs to be replaced.

What about EML light? Have you check you intake boot? Let me know what you find.

i went out this morning to see if the transfer box is making a clicking noise. started it up and the 3 lights were on. ran it for a bit and turned it off. no noise. i did this 3 or 4 times but no clicking noise when i turned it off. so it shouldn't be the transfer box.
then i noticed that all 3 lights had gone out. i took the keys out, then started it again ( repeated 3 times) and all the lights are off.

does my car fix itself?

Nope. Did you drive the car or just started up in the same position? If you have a bad wheel sensor you need to drive the car so that when the DSC and ABS modules don't receive a electrical signal from the bad wheel sensor it will illuminate the trouble light.

we've been out & about in it around town, car wash etc all morning, stopping and starting it. but no lights have come on.

You might have a bad soldering point in the ABS module. Common problem of the E39 (which the E53 based upon)

Check alternator output voltage as well. A sudden drop or spike in voltage can trip all sorts of crazy warning lights.