Back in January I took care of all the small and not-so-small niggling items I had been dealing with--antenna not working, boot button not working (due to wire break in link harness), and upper shock mounts and front shocks. Car has been great without any issues since then. Then since a day or so ago I have had the DCS fault ABS light on. But immediately before this happened I had put the car in reverse and, when doing so, I got a steady beep tone (sort of like the beeps you get when there is something behind you but a single steady tone instead of sproradic beeps). Right after that is when the DSC and ABS light came on. From past experience these are typcially false warnings so I turned off the car, waited a minute, then started again but the warning lights are still on.

Any ideas before I bring it to the local independent?

 

Read the OBDII codes. The recent similar issue on my wife's 2006 XK8 appears to be due to a failed rear wheel speed sensor. Still waiting on the new one to arrive from SNG Barratt....

 

When I wrote the post above it was right after driving to work and the ABS and DSC lights were still on. So get in the car to go back home and when starting the car the ABS light came on but NO DSC warning. Then after 10 seconds or so the ABS light goes OFF and no other warning lights came on for the drive home. The car is off now and it will be interesting to see the next time I start it if any warning lights come on. But at this point it seems like one of those charming little glitches that often appear then go away with these vehicles.

 

drive into a couple of quick, left-right turns ( fling it). If the light and watning light come on you have wheel bearing problem.
wj

 

I think I'll pass on the flinging it around test but probably what triggered the warning was going down a rather steep ramp into subterranean parking level that suddenly leveled out. In my previous vehicle (1995 Corvette) whenever I would go over railroad tracks that would also trigger a similar warning message that would quickly go out.

 

Or a front connecting harness break.

 

Not sure what that even means.

 

A bad wire in the harness to the front sensor.

 

I was getting the DSC light occasionally until I replaced the battery. I checked and the battery was over five years old. It seems the ABS and DSC are the first signs of a low battery. Just something to keep in mind.

 

Yeah that was the first thing I did--hook up my CTEK to juice the charge.

 

After the last drive there were NO warning lights and car was in garage all of yesterday. Started it up today and the ABS light during the system check stayed lit. Then drove it down the street and after a bit the DSC light came on. I drove to where I was going and figured I would stop by the independent on the way home but after starting the car it was back to normal (ABS light came on duing the system check but went out after about 10 seconds and NO warning lights on the drive home). I will probably at least give the independent guy a call to see if there is a loose connection somewhere or maybe a dirty wheel sensor(?).

 

Re the steady beep in reverse that nobody has addressed in this thread yet, that seems like an issue with one of the parking aid sensors. You know, the ones on the rear bumper. One or more of them must being starting to go bad. The DSC and ABS things, I think are coincidental and unrelated to the beep. I'd start looking at the wheel speed sensors and rear wheel bearings for that, although depending on what the code you get when you hookup a scanner, even the ABS module is known to go bad on the earlier cars... not sure about a later car like yours.

Start by cleaning the wheel speed sensors and it's harness contacts, as well as the front reluctor rings. If you can get the entire knuckles out (fronts require ball joints to be disconnected), I'd clean em up with brake cleaner and a wire wheel on a drill.