getting ready to buy, with ABS / ASC light, what's the risk?

[root]

I found a decent shape E36, 1996 328is, 5MT, 138k, looks decent for rust (for a 1996), suspension, engine seems fine, the front suspension arm ball joint boots were a little dry (should last a couple years), weather stripping a little worn, everything else was good, except

The problems -- ABS lignt on, the ASC light (/!\) is on, and the "brake light circuit" comes on occasionally.

I didn't see ABS and ASC problems discussed on the E36 forum much, are these uncommon or easy to fix? if they are easy I would feel much comfortable jumping in on this car.

[fun2drive]

Brake Light Circuit is most likely the brake switch under the pedal. The ASC/ABS lights are something else. It could be as simple as the ABS sensors are either bad or dirty or it could be more difficult to figure out. I really doubt that it would be bad. A suggestion is to take the car to Autozone and ask them to pull the codes off the car. I don't think you will get codes for the ABS but I do think the ASC will show codes. Unless something is really wrong with the brakes like the ABS pump being dead I think the problem is solveable maybe without a huge investment.
You can not really tell until you start checking into what is good and what is bad. Hope this helps some...

[root]

the dealer said he went to his friend "with a $10,000 machine" and it couldn't read the codes.

in light of these, er..., llights the dealer offered the car at the "fair condition" level of the private party kbb price, which gives me about $1,300 to play with vs. the "good condition" price.

can you offer an estimate of the ABS/ ASC repair is the whole system is FUBAR, and / or the likelihood of such situation ? I would like to drive this car in the winter as well, and we get the most snowfall in the country here...

[hellrot325]

First ASC on the E36 sucks so you don't want it anyway. Unlike modern systems, when the system detects slippage in the rear tires it cuts throttle...boom it's off! This makes it almost useless in snow or rain (BMW saqys tuen it off to get going on ice/snow) and very dangerous (sometimes you just need to go!). I removed ASC. ABS is a different stroy...the issue can be three things:

1) ABS relay bad....cheap fix
2) ABS pump bad...expensive
3) Wheel speed sensors bad...not so bad

A BMW dealer will be able to tell you what it is. OBDII tools like the Peake will not...so forget Autozone et al.