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.

When my battery gets low or after I've disconnected it and reconnected it, these 3 lights usually come on and stay on until I've driven for a couple seconds. They usually go off by the time I've backed all the way down the dirveway. Is this the case for you or were they on while you were driving?

It happened to me, about six months ago. It turned out it was the gear of the actuator motor, on the transfer case. Opened it up, turned the gear 180 degrees put it back on, everything was fine. Then a couple of months later I got all lights again. This time I went under the car and noticed that the connector where some wires go, on the actuator motor was broken and the wires made intermittent contact. I used a tie wrap to secure the wires on the connector, and everything is OK since then.

sorry, i forgot to post that the lights came on again 2 days later.

its going in tomorrow to have the front left wheel bearing replaced, and diagnostics to find out what the problem is. i think it may be connected (wheel sensor ?)

i will post the outcome.

Metal shaving/filing from a bad wheel bearing can cause the sensor not to be able to read the exciter ring on the CV joint.

hi,
my mechanic mate took the car in today. it turns out that the lights were caused by a rear abs sensor, which is now sorted and cleared.
as for the front wheel bearing, he checked it out and there was no play in the wheel or any noise, so thats all good. but i remember the worn wheel bearing noise seemed to start straight after i had a slow puncture plugged on the front left tyre, so i'm sure its that.