Can I borrow an ABS Module?

[bmwildman]

My Good car has a scrambled cluster- ABS, traction control light, no Speedometer, P0500, etc. I checked the wheel speed sensors at the ABS connector, and they all look good, so it looks like the module has to be sent out for repair.

I need to drive the car, and have a functioning Speedometer and climate control at least. I can do for now without the ABS.

I read here that to install another ABS module would require re- coding. My spare car is also a 2000 E39. I would like to borrow its good abs module and put in my daily driver until the repaired module comes back, but I don't want to have to code either car as a result of this temporary swap. Has anyone tried this, will the speedo come alive again, and will the swap not "corrupt" something else in the car(s) that will require a re-coding?

[KevinMullins]

You can swap them just fine. There may be no traction control or abs due to coding and calibration stuff, but it'll work for speedometer and whatnot. Takes 5 minutes to try it.

Do you have the means to even pull codes from the DSC module?
Did you check the wheel sensors with a multimeter and also inspect the wiring/connectors?

[bmwildman]

You can swap them just fine. There may be no traction control or abs due to coding and calibration stuff, but it'll work for speedometer and whatnot. Takes 5 minutes to try it.

Do you have the means to even pull codes from the DSC module?
Did you check the wheel sensors with a multimeter and also inspect the wiring/connectors?

I did check the wheel sensors with an Ohm meter, and they all showed the same types of readings "forward", and the same types of readings "reversed". 3 of the 4 are new (one to two years old) sensors. I don't have a way to pull codes. I need to get some type of software/cabling for my six cars, but all that has me intimidated. INPA, GT something, etc? I do have an older laptop that runs windows XP. To pull codes now, I use an OBD II reader.

Also, the problem is a little bit intermittent. Once in a while I briefly have a speedometer, but most of the time dead.

[jdjg]

do you have DSC or ASC?
if you have AEC, you do not need to recode a "new" ASC/ABS module....

[KevinMullins]

He mentioned it was a 2000 E39...should be DSC.

For those starting out with software and such INPA is the way to go. Easy to setup, easy to use, hard to mess anything up, etc, etc.
And theres a few interfaces out there that will do both ADS and OBD so you can do either (older cars vs. slightly newer)

[Poolman]

If you have a Garmin--you can use that for the speedometer--I did when sending my unit out to be rebuilt--other than the problem of not having the speed read,,there's no problem with driving the car

[bmwildman]

I tried to clear the p0500 code with my Peake tool under the hood, but it gave me an error "unable to communicate". I think this is the p0500 code which means "corrupted data on the CAN Bus". This might be why the climate control system is haywire and un controllable. I think it uses the same CAN Bus.

[KevinMullins]

P0500 - Vehicle Speed Sensor Malfunction

Swap your DSC modules and see what codes remain.