Please Help !!!!!

[clats]

Hi Guys,

I have a 54 plate 3litre diesel with 75k on the clock.

A few weeks ago a few amber lights came up on the dash these included the ABS, 4X4 and traction control. The car was driving fine however.

I took the car to a friend who has the diagnostic equipment and a fault code came up saying Speed Wheel Sensor on front offside. I have bought this and the car is due to go in next Tuesday so I thought all was well.

Today however on the way to work the dreaded Trans fail safe programme has come up !!!!!!! Do you think this is linked to the speed wheel sensor and is coming up as a result of that ?

The car is driving absolutely fine no loss of power at all so I am just praying its a case of changing the speed wheel sensor and Job Done !

Does anyone have any ideas ? Could it be something alot worse or is the trans fail safe in relation to soemthing completely different ????

Any help would be great as im not sure if I should drive the car home from work this eveing now.

Thanks

[Sanj]

Drive it home and change the ABS sensor. You should be fine after that.

x555 had a dash that lit up like a Christmas tree and it was just the sensor.

[Ubatoid]

I wouldn't flap too much until the wheel sensor has been changed. Low battery voltage can throw up errors too so may be worth putting a meter across the battery to check it.

[clats]

Thanks I'm going to see if I can get it on a computer today just to see if there are any other fault codes. It's booked in for next Tuesday for the sensor so fingers crossed ! The car is driving fine which is a good sign I hope ! A bit of panic set in because u always think the worse I suppose ! The car has been great up to now so hopefully it's just that sensor ! Thanks for the replies though !

[clats]

Quick update !

Car has gone on diagnostics and the following faults came up

Speed wheel sensor front right
Brake light connection (all brake lights are working)
Gear box safe mode

The bloke then cleared the codes and told me to take it for a drive !
Car drove spot on however the amber lights remained on the dash ie the traction control, 4x4 and abs and brake lights

The trans fail safe has gone and didn't come back either

He re connected it to the diagnostics when I got back and the only code was the brake light issue !
As I say all brake lights are working !
Iv left it with him as he is going to have a look at it.

When I originally had the amber lights on and had it tested the speed wheel sensor came up as the fault ! Consequently I bought a replacement. Do u think I should ask him to change it anyway ?

As I said once he cleared the faults and I drove it for a couple if miles the amber lights remained on but the diagnostics says brake light connection ?

Confused ????

On the plus side I don't think it's anything major is it ?

[X5Sport]

One thing to try is to rotate the steering from full lock to opposite lock. This might clear one of the faults as a battery change can trigger one of the warning lights. The lock to lock is the standard way to clear it. If you've had transmission warnings as well, that may point to a previous bad battery issue as the low voltages can cause all sort or weird fault codes - most erroneous.

Have you checked all 4 brake lights? Post facelift models have a system called 'Brake Force Indication' which will bring a second (upper) pair of lamps in the light clusters on under extreme braking only. You will only get them to light under very high, emergency brake applications. The idea is that it wakes following drivers up to the fact that you aren't just slowing down, you're stopping - and quickly!! With ABS you get no tyre smoke as the clue for the following traffic to notice. Just a thought.

[Raj]

It might be battery/alternator related. The X is a pain when voltages drop and all sorts of random errors get thrown up.

[clats]

Thanks for the suggestions I will ask the Indy I'm using to consider those issues.

Iv just had a quick call from them however to say that they took the car for a drive whilst It was plugged in to the diagnostics. They said the graphs showed that 3 of the 4 wheels were fine but the front drivers side wasn't "working" and it was highly likely I be the speed wheel sensor that was originally showing up !

They have now changed the sensor but unfortunately they are saying it hasn't made a difference according to the diagnostics ! They then asked me what work I have had on the car which is zero as the car has run like a watch in the 2 years I had owned it. I asked why and they said because it looks like the drive shaft has been out before and they were wondering if it was linked ? I couldn't help them as like I have said I have never had work done

They then say it may be a abs pump which is bad news !!! Also the mentioned that a signal should be sent when the wheel turns and maybe this isn't working properly ! They r putting the car back up on the ramp now as we speak !!!

Any thoughts based on this update guys ?

Be grateful for any help thanks

[X5Sport]

Have they done an end to end check of the wiring from the sensor back into the car loom - might be a broken wire which is a lot better than a new ABS Pump. Too often dealers rely on test gear rather than doing the basics - like is the wiring intact!! The sensor might be fine but the loom it connects into faulty. If they've changed the sensor and there's no improvement then the wiring has to be placed on the 'suspect' list.

Driveshaft might have been out for a gaiter change - another common issue - if one developed a hole or was damaged.

ABS works by 'counting' pulses from the wheel sensors and if one changes relative to the others when braking then the ABS knows to do something and modulate the brake pressure to that wheel to stop the skid.

[clats]

Cheers X5Sport to be honest once the fault codes had reset the only one remaining was "brake light" something so maybe I will ask them to check the wiring into the sensor ! How difficult is that though to check all the wiring ? I'd imagine it's mean removing certain things etc to physically be able to see all the wiring is it ?

[clats]

Surely if it was something like an abs pump I'd notice a change in how the car drove etc ? Even when the trans safe warning came up the car was driving perfectly ! No loss over power or anything ! That's got to be a good sign surely !!

[X5Sport]

Wiring check should be really simple, especially as they should have the vehicle wiring diagram!! Disconnect the wiring plugs at both ends, place a bridge loop of wire between the right pins at one end and do a loop test using a meter to check continuity from the other end. It the loop test shows the wire is fine then plug it all back in again. If not, then go looking. They could even bridge that pair out by making up a 'fly lead' to run between the sensor and computer plugs and see if that works.

The other warnings all point at electrical system/battery - possibly even a bad/dirty connection on the battery itself. The ABS should always fail 'safe' i.e. inoperative but with full braking available - just without ABS support.

When my battery was dying two years ago, the car three all sorts of oddities up, none of which were real - except the knackered battery!!

[clats]

Good news !!! It was a wiring fault ! To be fair to the Indy as I arrived to ask about wiring he said he had just found the fault and the break in the wire !

Even better he reckons the new abs sensor we put on was faulty as it was still not reading on the graph properly ! He put the original back on and hey presto all working fine ! I will be taking the new sensor back for a refund !

To be fair it's the first time iv used this Indy as he was close to work and I will definitely use him again ! He charged me a grand total of £30 for the whole Job !!! Can't be bad can it ! I gave him a decent tip though lol

Glad to be back and running properly ! The car goes great and I love driving it ! Just glad it hasn't come at a couple of grand bill !

Cheers everyone for the advice though much appreciated

[X5Sport]

Excellent news!! Really pleased for you too..

All too often these days 'Technicians' (we're not allowed to call them Mechanics any more!!) forget the basic engineering tenet - K>I>S>S, or Keep It Simple, Stupid! How many times I had that said to me during my training days...and how often the simplest answer was usually the right one. I can even remember once after a frustrating time trying to get a police transceiver to play nicely being quietly asked by my Senior Wireless Tech "Is the power supply on?" It had tripped and I hadn't noticed....complete Muppet

These days they go off to using their whizzy toys and when that doesn't give them an answer they understand they're stumped and fall back on the 'just change everything until it works again' mode - which of course costs us the customer an absolute fortune!!

[Ubatoid]

Nice Job. Dont be afraid to give your man a name check here.