I've got an '09 MCS with ~55k miles. Mini replaced the engine 10k miles ago and the transmission 5k miles ago.

Started driving my car this morning and noticed that my steering wheel was way out of alignment all of a sudden, like it slipped overnight or something. On top of that, I also noticed that my DSC warning light on and I couldn't turn DSC on at all. And then I noticed that my hill-brake assist wasn't working.

All of this happened at once, over night. I am so very confused. Where in the hell do I even start with these issues?

 

Do you have a CEL and if you do what is the code?

 

The only light that came up was the DSC failure light.

I've read a few places that the hill-brake assist system is tied to the DSC system, so that may explain something. The odd thing is the steering wheel being all crooked now

 

Don't know about the steering alignment, but I had the DSC and hill start assist failure as well. Dropped somebody off in front of a hotel last February. Started the car. Put the car in reverse backed up about 2 feet. Stopped, put the car in forward - bam! No DSC or hill start assist.

Was an easy fix, dealer replace a fuse I think (after checking the braking system). They seemed to be aware of the problem. Car has been fine since.

Hope that

 

I doubt you have a steering alignment issue. You'd have to hit a massive pot hole or curb to tweak your tie rods out of whack by even just a little bit. It sounds like your steering angle sensor went bad. I have this problem on my car. It will slightly pull the wheel to the right at speeds below 20 MPH, but above that the car stays straight ahead. I had an alignment done while this was occurring on my car and it is perfectly dead on even on the track.

The sensor needs to be reset at the dealer or replaced. It's going to cost you $~125 just to read the code. I opted to just ignore it and motor on. If you really need to have DSC on your car then you'll need to get it fixed.

 

I checked both fuse panels yesterday and didn't see any marked with the DSC icon. I'll check again today. Maybe it's tied into another circuit. Won't be difficult to find a blown fuse, so if that's the issue then it'll be an easy fix.

I do have to replace brake pads (probably this week), but I don't think that's the culprit. Will find out soon.

I thought the same thing about the steering alignment. It couldn't just slip overnight. I can get codes read at an auto parts store, unless their ODB II readers won't detect a code for a bad steering angle sensor. I'll give it a try today and see what happens.

I don't NEED DSC, but I sure do enjoy the hill-brake assist. I park on a hill and live in a relatively hilly area. It would be quite nice to have. On top of that, I'm getting a bit scared about this car. Mini has already replaced both the engine and transmission due to serious problems. I'm out of warranty now and seriously fear the cost of anything happening now. I'd like to get everything fixed so I can maybe sell it later on without having to explain why different warning lights are on.

 

It's definitely a proprietary BMW OBD-II code. My code reader won't pick it up either.

 

I agree that you are having a steering wheel angle issue (not actual alignment or brake issue). Try turning the steering wheel lock-to-lock with the car on to possibly re-calibrate the steering wheel angle sensor. Otherwise it will need BMW software to do the calibration or the SZL module will need to be replaced.