First of all, thank you for running and being a part of this forum. Even before signing up and belatedly donating, I've been digging away here for useful information. Your help has been invaluable!
I bought a 2004 3.0i M54 manual late last year with a very short MOT and a handful of problems. Seller was a really nice guy and the car is in good condition for its 145,000 miles. Had it off the road for a couple of months while I sorted the issues, took it for an MOT at the start of a sunny week in February, it passed - joy! No advisories! Can't believe it!
Took it out the next day for its first proper drive and... that's when the electrical problems started.

No wipers, indicators on dash were gone etc etc. I won't bore you with the details, the problems were caused by a loose connection under the dash. Someone has clearly been messing about there and their work wasn't the height of craftsmanship.
Solved that but now I have a persistent airbag light. I've checked the wiring, looks ok (not an expert), the central airbag module also looks good and was recently replaced. My guess is that nothing is really wrong but I can't communicate with the car's modules in order to clear the code. I get an IFH-0009 error with most of them. Seems like the issue could be the cable, INPA install, windows version, some dicey wiring or a bad module on the car.
Anyway, I think I'd rather turn it over to a friendly expert at this point as going through all of those options sounds like a pain and I want to enjoy the car.
So if anyone knows such a person, I'd be very grateful. I'm based in the east midlands and can travel an hour or two.
On the bright side, it's running great, the roof works and it's got a straight six and sport seats. I can live with a dash light for a while. Happy motoring!
