Fuse, relay, ecu or more?

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DaveT1966

Member
Posts
10
Location
Ashford, Kent
Hi, don't know if anyone can give some advice regarding failure of several items.

Rear wiper motor
Intermittent wash wipe standard front wipers work on.
Electric seats
Electric windows
Gearbox indicator only showing P by gearstick and on dashboard

Cause may have been connecting Nanocom to cable when other end was already connected to OBD socket. Ooops

Car is driveable having just got us to Wales, but would like to fix before drive home of possible.

Thanks in advance for any help.
 
this could be a BCU or IDM(intelligent driver module) problem, and that's bad news...disconnect the battery, leave it so about 10 minutes, reconnect it, put ignition on pos II and leave it so 5 minutes then try to start the car...if it's a datalink issue between the BCU and IDM this may cure it BUT, BE AWARE if it's a BCU fault it could become worst after that and end up immobilised... check for water ingress at the interior fusebox and at the BCU(behind the glovebox) if you find water ingress/corrosion somewhere the most obvious is that there's the culprit...if no water ingress it's a matter of luck but from my experience in 90% of cases it's BCU, 9% IDM and 1% datalink failure...but as the electric seats and the gear position indications are involved it's quite certain that the BCU is at fault(unfortunately not uncommon), you better get hold of one asap cos it could get worst in no time

General
The Body Control Unit (BCU) is located behind the passenger glovebox and is connected to the main harness by four
connectors on its bottom edge and an additional connector located on the side of the BCU casing. Mounting the BCU
behind the fascia makes it reasonably inaccessible for intruders to disable the anti-theft system.
The BCU uses solid-state microprocessor control to perform logical operations and timing functions for a variety of
the vehicle's electrically operated systems, these include:
l Door locking.
l Anti-theft alarm and immobilisation system.
l Exterior lighting including direction indicators and hazard warning lamps.
l Courtesy lighting.
l Wipers and washers.
l Electric windows and sunroof.
l Heated windows.
The BCU also communicates with several other electronically controlled systems such as the EAT ECU and SLABS
ECU and also has a datalink between the Intelligent Driver Module (IDM) and the instrument pack. The datalink is a
low speed bus capable of transmitting and receiving messages at a data rate of 10,400 bits per second. Additional
inputs and outputs to peripheral devices are included which are necessary for determining vehicle status for particular
logical operations e.g. crank, ignition key inserted, fuel flap enable etc.
The BCU receives its power supply from the engine compartment fuse box, and is protected by a 10 A fuse.
The BCU communicates with the IDM to provide the control signals to perform power switching operations in
conjunction with dedicated relays.
IDM
The IDM is integrated into the passenger compartment fuse box, which is mounted behind the fascia below the
steering column. There are no harnesses between the fuse box and the IDM. The IDM performs the power switching
operations for several of the vehicle's electrical systems.
The IDM communicates with the BCU and the instrument pack via a serial interface. If the BCU or the IDM is replaced,
the communications link between the two units has to be re-established. This can be done either by switching on the
ignition and leaving it on for five minutes, or by using TestBook. The vehicle immobilisation will remain active until the
communications link between the BCU and IDM has been re-established.
Transit mode
 
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Thanks Sierrafery - The following morning, all faults had gone :confused:
I continued research and found more of your posts mentioning the BCU. As a result, I removed the BCU and sprayed with Nanoprotech Electric spray to hopefully keep moisture out and prevent recurrence of the fault.
 
let's hope it will stay this way... maynbe you was lucky and itr was just some moisture or something... just be prepared that it might do tricks again cos it used to have all kind of strange behaviours
 
Worryingly, all those connections, and those of the engine ECU etc etc are just tinned finish, no gold plating or anything like that, so you WILL see corrosion issues mounting up as the years pass.

I've just been looking at a Bosch V8 ECU and my spare BCU, both have visible corrosion on the pins.

Peter
 
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