Re: '98 740il DSC light coming on (archive)

Thanks for the comments. All I have to do to cheer up is drive! I *really* like this car. FYI: Dealer said they called the factory about this whole adventure. They had seen this behavior in a "few" other cars. Said it could be caused by using a non-BMW cell phone in the car (interesting theory since I do use my phone frequently- with hands free unit!) They replaced the main brain and at least one sensor. We'll see what happens.

thanks again to all who replied.

ps any recommendations for extended warranty? My dealer says they cannot sell me a BMW one cuz car was originally registered in Canada. I don't know what that has to do with anything but... was going to search the internet for 3rd party extended warranty. TIA!

Bill, Welcome to the board. Wish your entry could be under happier circumstances. Sounds like
you're doing all you can with the Dynamic Stability Control light problem. As I'm
sure you know and have been told, these are complicated cars and the DSC is a complex system based on inputs from the wheels and
the the systems that accelerate or slow them.
If the DSC light blinks on under normal driving(straight-ahead no-braking), my guess is that either the module that process all
the inputs from the sensors is bad, or it is getting spurious feedback from one of those sensors. If the dealer has replaced the main module that controls the DSC (I'm assuming there
is one and it's not a function of the main computer), and that didn't fix the problem, seems they need to start replacing the feedback sensors. If they've already done this (in 3 trips to the
dealer, I would have guessed they would),
all I can say to cheer you up is that if they replace enough parts (wheel assembly, etc.) eventually the problem will go away. Since this is at BMW's expense,(your time but their parts and labor) that may be a painstaking process.
Good luck.

I am a new BMW owner (3 months). Bought a '98 740iL w/ 40K. Very clean. Very nice. Very still under warranty. Which appears to be a good thing as I have had it to the dealer on 3 separate occassions to "fix" whatever is causing the DSC light to come on. I can not see any rhyme or reason as to when it comes on. Typically, I'm just driving on the interstate and 'blink' on comes the dsc light.

If you don't have any ideas of what might be going on technically, try and say something nice to make me feel better about BMW. I so love the car but just can't afford to be taking it to the dealer once a month- Life's to short for that.

Thanks in advance.
Bill

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