Resurrecting this 2 yr old thread... so my wife's 2012 528i is having this same exact error code. I searched on google and this thread came up on top.
I'm using this Foxwell code reader I got from Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B019QCG5RE
I don't drive the car regularly and my wife originally said that she felt there's something different about the car. I test drove it the other day and here's the symptom that I noticed: when the engine temp has gone over the quarter mark, the radiator fan would kick in at what seemed like max rpm. From inside the car I could feel vibration on the steering wheel when the fan kicked in.
I plugged in the code reader and this is what I got (see photos). I reset the CEL but it came back the next day.
Car is 100% stock. Car is driveable and not in limp mode.
Dealer asked $250 just to diagnose the problem. Going to look for indy, but wondering if anybody here can help?