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Here is my story:
I had the error coming up one day. All came as a surprise as I left my car parking for 3 hours and when I came back the light came on.
Here is what I tried:
1. Disconnected the battery for one night: No change
2. Disconnected the battery for one week: No change
3. Hook the car up to a brand new diagnostics computer at a non BMW dealer and reset the error: No change, warning came back
4. Took the car to a BMW in Germany(!) and diagnosed a sensor failure in the DSC/ABS unit. Tried resetting the error: No change, warning came back
Here is what I had to do:
Have the unit replaced at a final cost of 1700 Euros (bargained from 1900 Euros). The unit alone cost 1500 Euros. I tried every possible way to get one second hand or other sources on the internet. Also looked at the possibility of having it repaired (only a few companies do it in Germany) but got a nearly 500 Euros quote plus the cherry on the cake meaning reprogramming the unit at a BMW service.
Briefly about the unit:
BMW decided to put everything in one unit including the brain, sensors, hydro pumps and all the rest needed for stability, traction, anti brake and anti spin control. This makes this unit extremely expensive and apparently when one gets replaced it needs to be re-taught/programmed for the car taking about 2 hours. For this reason if you get a second hand one or get your one fixed it still costs a lot to have it fitted and programmed. And there is no guarantee that it won’t break again in 10 miles. If you get one from BMW you get 1 year guarantee at least.
Goodwill?
Having had 90k miles, 5-year old car I was refused any support from BMW, even in Germany. Although this is a relatively high mileage I am very disappointed with BMW not providing any support as this is a common problem to the e90 models. They do know about this problem, at least they should try not to make enormous profit on this unit. If they at least had a reasonable price on this unit, I’d have accepted the problem, but after this the message to everyone is this: If you haven’t had this problem with your e90 you can expect it to happen anytime!
It is a fantastic car, but a terrible rip-off when you need to fix such a small problem. At the end of the day, it was only a sensor...
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