HELP, DSC Control Unit?

[IYIarv]

So I took my 07 M Coupe (BTW, 20k miles) to the body shop to repair a dent in the fender and door a couple of weeks ago. (BTW Fairfax BMW in NOVA STINKS, stay away). When I picked up the vehicle on my way home I had three dash lights pop up: ABS, BRAKE, DSC Warning all in orange at the same time.

Fairfax BMW body shop (HORRIBLE) told me to drive it a while and that it would go away. The lights came up every morning and after driving went away in the afternoon. After a fight they took the car to service. Service said there was a DSC low voltage warning fault. Service cleared the error codes supposedly and said it wouldn't come back. IT DID. After a second fight with the body shop they took it to service again NOW service is telling me that I need a new DSC control module and that will cost $1500. I told them to give me my car back and I want a second opinion.

Now I NEVER had a single error light in my dash prior to the body shop touching my vehicle and i'm not a believer in coincidences when it comes to stuff like this.

To add to the drama three days ago I was out driving in the rain and I got the defective bulb warning light as my right headlight went out. I turned the car off and restarted it and the headlamp came back up and the light went out. Again I have never had an error light on my dash.

Any suggestions on how to proceed? I was debating whether to pay a different dealership another $150 for diagnosis. The body shop refused to claim any responsibility.

Thanks for the help.

Marvin

[IYIarv]

Today is the first day in its 2 weeks of being a problem that the lights have been on for more then just a morning. They have been on since yesterday afternoon.

[Huz-Z]

Unless you can accurately diagnose this yourself, I think you have no choice but to seek out another, and hopefully much more reputable, BMW dealer to look into this. You could try an independent shop, but even if they give you the right answer, the original BMW shop that did the work will not acknowledge the independent's opinion.

[Vanne]

Damn Marvin, that sux bad, I often think about this when I drop my car off at the dealer/indi, (my car is there ATM too) and hope it doesn't happen to me. No surprise the body shop won't take any responsibility. Bastardised scumbags that they are. Hope you get it sorted and I wish u all the best.. sorry I am not any more help.

[earlgrey69]

For what it's worth I had the DSC issue with my car as well. 2007 with 19-20k miles on it at the time. Call me crazy but the lights seemed to be dependent on the weather. The hotter it was outside the greater the chance it was of the lights coming on. Could be a coincidence.

[elerner61]

If your battery is anywhere near 4 years old, you may want to replace it and see if that has any affect. At roughly $140, it's rather cheap and takes only 20 minutes to swap out.

With all the various things I've read regarding voltage sensitivity in our cars over the past 2.5yrs I've had mine, that would be the first thiing I would do.

[Huz-Z]

Originally Posted by elerner61

If your battery is anywhere near 4 years old, you may want to replace it and see if that has any affect. At roughly $140, it's rather cheap and takes only 20 minutes to swap out.

With all the various things I've read regarding voltage sensitivity in our cars over the past 2.5yrs I've had mine, that would be the first thiing I would do.

That's a great idea. And its ten bucks cheaper than a dealer's charge to look at the car. So if it turns out to be the issue, you get the problem fixed and a brand new battery, plus with ten dollars saved for a case of beer to celebrate!

[Finnegan]

Originally Posted by elerner61

If your battery is anywhere near 4 years old, you may want to replace it and see if that has any affect. At roughly $140, it's rather cheap and takes only 20 minutes to swap out.

With all the various things I've read regarding voltage sensitivity in our cars over the past 2.5yrs I've had mine, that would be the first thiing I would do.

+1

[IYIarv]

Its funny you guys mentioned the battery because I accused the shop of damaging it (I was guessing) since the warning was "DSC low voltage." All my radio stations/seat presets were still stored when I picked up the car...I would have assumed the first thing they would have done before working was to remove the negative terminal.

BMW service didn't even run a diagnostic on the battery which I also though was weird. Now if you're not annoyed with BMW this might do it. My battery is 1 year old so I tried to get them to give me a new one under the two year warranty. They told me I had to pay service to do a diagnostic on it ($150) and if the battery was bad they'd waive the charge. If not i'd be out the $150.

The battery voltage these past mornings were around 12.3v which seems a little low but not horrible. I might just gamble and buy a new battery in hopes that solves it!

[StickMon]

Radio presets are stored in flash memory in the head unit.
When I replaced my battery, all I had to reset was the clock, and maybe the window "auto-ups".

[Krypptic]

This just happened to me. Had to replace the abs hydraulic regulator which also controls dsc. 1500 is not for a new module, rather the repair kit. If you're already springing for that might as well get a new one for 2300 and have a warranty on it.

If you check, your abs shouldn't be working. If it does, then you have a different problem.

[pungo]

They didn't by chance have to do any welding? Like Stud Welder for pulling dents and didn't disconnect the battery?

[Jstic]

Did they do a front end alignment? If so, they may have not recalibrated the steering angle sensor, which will cause the three yellow dash lights. Also, I have seen a situation where the steering wheel was turned while the Z4 was up on a lift with wheels removed, and this destroyed the steering angle sensor because the battery was still connected when they turned the steering wheel (steering angle sensor is active even when key is not in ignition).The three yellow lights came on immediately the next time the car was started. The code showed a VIN mismatch between DSC controller and steering angle sensor. It turned out that the steering angle sensor was shot, so it was not being recognized at all, hence a code mismatch fault.

You will need the specific code that is being thrown.

[IYIarv]

No front end alignment but they did repair the paint on my left rear wheel. Supposedly that consists of them jacking the rear up and spinning the rear tire for repair. This is so frustrating.

So annoyed with BMW service I think after the repair i'm switching to Mercedes.

[Clearancediver]

Based on your comment that the lights came on after being in the body shop....and your further comment that the same lights were there in the morning and went away in the afternoon..... You have a weak battery. Replace it and your issue should go away. A voltage reading of 12.3 indicates a weak battery. The cars are sensitive to low voltage. I would also suggest using a battery tender (CTEC is my recommendation) anytime the car isn't going to be driven for a few days. There is a constant drain due to electronics monitoring of system ... even when turned off.