Clark Collins

ESP/BAS malfunction



After a wheelin trip on labor day my ESP/BAS indicator light and also the ESP graphic that lights up when you turn the ESP off both stayed on. The next day they were off, but now they've come back on to stay. I have a superchips tuner so I read the DTCs today and had a C123F (Steering angle sensor comparative performance) code. I then tried to clear the code, but it wouldn't clear. I checked to see if my steering wheel had gotten off center and adjusted it a bit, but the lights won't go away. I even drove it around a little in case it takes a bit for the codes to clear. I also had the "small leak in Evap canister" but that code did clear.

Has anyone had this issue and know what to do to fix it?

Shouldn't the Superchips tuner clear the code?

Of course it says in the owners manual to take it do a dealer, but I would rather take care of it myself if I can.

jedg

Is your wheels pointed straight when the steering wheel is centered? Also check that you haven't bent your tie rod and now have the front wheels pointed to much toward each other.

Mark Doiron

^^^^^ This first.

If the steering wheel isn't straight ahead, adjust the drag link and the tie rod (1/8-3/16" toe in measuring a point on the back of the tires and on the front). I've seen this several times out wheeling. Never tried using a code reader since the cause of the lights was obvious.

Another time had the lights, but steering wheel and toe in were fine. Turned out to be a bad unit bearing. Didn't have a code reader that would read ABS sensors, so no idea if it was generating a code, but it was contaminated (from running in quicksand-filled rivers) and making a grinding noise.

Yet another time I saw it after wheeling and it turned out to be a damaged wire to an ABS sensor. Dealer read the code (bad ABS sensor) and wanted a couple hundred bucks to fix the wire. So we took it back and fixed it ourselves.

Food for thought: Are you sure you're seeing all of the codes? Not all code readers read all codes. Not sure about SuperChips software. You might want to take it to a parts store with an honest-to-goodness code reader and see what you get.

Reepo

I'm no expert, but along the same lines as what Mark said, check your speed sensors. On various other threads and forums, as well as my own personal experience, it seems to almost always be the passenger rear wheel speed sensor that fails. When mine went bad, the dash lit up with the ABS/ ESP lights and it felt like the brakes were being pressed when they weren't. Once the speed sensor was replaced, all the lights went out and the Jeep returned to "normal" driving habits. Hopes this helps.

Clark Collins

Yesterday I recentered the steering wheel, that was just barely off to the driver side. The warning lights stayed on. I then checked the wires going to all four speed sensors and they looked fine. The lights stayed on and I drove the Jeep around a bit. This morning when I started the Jeep the warning lights went off, just like they are supposed to. I will post back to this thread after having the codes read at O'Rielys of they come back on

Mark Doiron

After activation, they can take several start/stops to extinguish. That is normal.

Clark Collins

Thanks for the feedback Mark. I may not have made enough starts and stops after each change.