E46 M3 - DSC + ABC lights on.

[georgejoshington]

I was driving (gently) today and the DSC and ABC lights appeared in yellow on the dash, accompanied by the all-purpose 'bong' sound which I've heard before as an alert that the outside temperature has dropped to 3 degrees or lower. Upon getting home I had a good look around the car and noticed a bloody great big nail in the offside rear tyre. Could a slow puncture have caused these lights to come on?

I've done extensive googling and read many forum threads and it appears that there are a multitude of reasons that these lights come on, although most seem to relate to failing/dead/mucky sensors in the car.

I've checked the brake fluid level, I've let the car rest before turning it on again. I've checked the tyre pressures and reset the TPM - no change; the yellow lights are still on.

The worst part of all of this? I was due to be handing the car over to a new owner tomorrow - only yesterday the thing was given a pretty much clean bill of health at Bartlett's. Pretty gutted, and hoping I can salvage this sale without too much grief for either party.

Any thoughts, anyone? Seems crazy that the slow puncture and the warning lights could be unrelated...

[anonymous-user]

Failed abs wheel speed sensor. Very common and easy to replace.

Thing is there are 4 of them and you need to know which one has failed. Its usually the rear left but you need a code reader

[SPORTSTER]

usually the rear drivers side

Edited by SPORTSTER on Tuesday 23 June 10:13

[Sir_Dave]

If the abs sensor has failed, the speedo tends to to stop reading as well.

[anonymous-user]

Sir_Dave said:

If the abs sensor has failed, the speedo tends to to stop reading as well.

Only if its the rear left that fails as that provides the speed reference for the speedo.

[hman]

or the abs computer.

[Sir_Dave]

lord trumpton said:

Only if its the rear left that fails as that provides the speed reference for the speedo.

Ha ha, was coincidence that mine was rear left then lol.
Although tbf, i just scanned it with INPA and replaced the one that was broken.

[robbiekhan]

Could also be DSC Pressure sensor (there are 2 of them). Mine failed some weeks back and I had to replace both. Same symptoms.

Best bet is connect up a diagnostic tool, that will tell you which sensor has triggered the generic "Something is wrong with the wheels/traction/braking system" lights.