I'm Lonely....lets throw a fault......

Had the day off today, had to get the Girlfriends Fiat 500 MOT'd, so I gave her a lift to work, she works in the Surrey Hills near Westcott/Gomshall....very nice area and very hilly.

Dropped her off and I needed to get some Surgical tubing to fix the fall away rest on my compound bow so I went to where I remebered a Angling shop was...not there anymore so as I pull out of the car park, the bells and whistles start along with HDC Inactive, Air Susp. Inactive, DSC Inactive and (crap yer pants time) Trans. Failsafe Prog.

Oh feck me thinks, but she is still changing gear smoothly and no jerking at all....and unlike the other messages which cycle between eachother...the Trans message only appears once....hmm maybe it was a glitch.

Anyways, I pull into the Local Tesco, park up and out with the All Comms.....

These are the screenshots.....

ABS Module:


EAS Module:


Engine Module:


Gearbox Module:


Instrument Pack Module:


Transfer Box Module:


Cleared them all down, and make my way to another Tackle shop....no reccurance....happy days.

Pick up what I need from the tackle shop, and decide it is about time I washed the poor thing, so off to the local Hand Car Wash place, cross their palms with silver and she sparkles....still no fault messages.

Head home, and park up....30 minutes later time to get the Fiat 500 out of the garage, so I pull forward and leaving the engine running I get the 500 out, and put the Rangie back in front of the garage again...still no issues....

Get the 500 washed and in for the MOT.....all fine.....

Get home, move the Rangie out of the way again and put the 500 back in the garage...still no issues.

Time to go get the girlfriend again.....

45 minute trip down to Westcott again, and park in her work car park...engine off, radio on.

She jumps in, start engine, pull 3 yards forward....feck me....bells and whistles again.....drive home....

Park up and out with the All Comms....same faults logged as above....

Cleared them all down, one pops back up....the Instrument Pack code for the EBV Function fault.....cleared it again....this time its gone....start engine....no warnings, but the fault code reappears.....I then clear it, and it doesn't reccur again....even after a few on/off's of the engine and ignition etc....hmmmmmm

Knowing the issues with battery voltage I checked the battery....12.53V at rest, engine off, no loads......engine running at 2k rpm, batter yvoltage is at 14.42V so I am assuming the battery level is fine.....

I think my first port of call is to find the ABS ECU and check all the connections thereto.....

I am beginning to think these things throw faults just so you'll pay them some attention.....

Anyone any other clues as to what I can check??

hmmm... can bus related me thinks ?

not an iffy ABS sensor cable or something maybe ?

2.0_hippo said:

hmmm... can bus related me thinks ?

not an iffy ABS sensor cable or something maybe ?

Click to expand...

Possible....I have replaced both front sensors one when I get her and the other in December...maybe I should take a goosey at the rears.....

I have hear/read about ABS ECU connections corroding...so I am gonna hunt that down and take a look at the pins and connections....as from the fault messages, it appears the ABS ECU isn't communication on the CAN Bus as you say....so maybe it is just a loose connection, hence why one minute it functions fine and next it throws a wobbler....!!

from what iv heard, some of the early 322's experienced faulty SRS / ABS ECU issues....

i had some random faults on my SRS ecu a few months back...(basically the car thought it had been in a crash and it stuck on the hazard lights and unlocked all doors)

lucky it didnt deploy the air bags !!!! LOL

funnily enough, the faults disappeared

2.0_hippo said:

from what iv heard, some of the early 322's experienced faulty SRS / ABS ECU issues....

i had some random faults on my SRS ecu a few months back...(basically the car thought it had been in a crash and it stuck on the hazard lights and unlocked all doors)

lucky it didnt deploy the air bags !!!! LOL

funnily enough, the faults disappeared

Click to expand...

I remeber your thread....that was what tipped you over the edge to get the Faultmate if I remember right....

Hmmmmm....so a good check of the ABS ECU is in order I think....

Any clue on replacment price??

Saint.V8 said:

I remeber your thread....that was what tipped you over the edge to get the Faultmate if I remember right....

Hmmmmm....so a good check of the ABS ECU is in order I think....

Any clue on replacment price??

Click to expand...

indeed your correct ! LOL

it didnt find the problem ! it disappeared

weird cars ah


i was going to fit a replacement, so was going to buy a second hand one as from what i hear, you can quite easily install a used ECU with the help of a fault mate to change the relevant settings

SRS ECU is located in the center armrest console i think

otherwise their around the £220 mark

saint its your battery m8

wil2813 said:

saint its your battery m8

Click to expand...

Even with the engine running ?
I can understand if it did it when starting the engine...

There almost all abs faults and loss or signal would say your connections on your abs ecu they all lead that way, I'm sure your sort it , maybe with hippo if he was rooting about an upplug of a connector and reconecting was enough to make a better connection .

wil2813 said:

saint its your battery m8

Click to expand...

Engine off, no loads Battery Level is 12.53V
Engine Running @ 2k Battery Level is 14.43V

Car spins rapidly on starting and will always fire within a second of flicking the key!

What makes you suggest battery in consideration to the above figures being as per the 'book'?

Anything less than 14.1V running could indicate a tired Alternator or battery, and it is generaly considered above 14.2V to be acceptable as the norm.

The drive into work this morning (1hr of stop/start) and no issues to report....

Saint.V8 said:

Engine off, no loads Battery Level is 12.53V
Engine Running @ 2k Battery Level is 14.43V

Car spins rapidly on starting and will always fire within a second of flicking the key!

What makes you suggest battery in consideration to the above figures being as per the 'book'?

Anything less than 14.1V running could indicate a tired Alternator or battery, and it is generaly considered above 14.2V to be acceptable as the norm.

The drive into work this morning (1hr of stop/start) and no issues to report....

Click to expand...

For once, it's unlikely to be the battery based on those voltages. Is it dry in the rear quarter? Water in there seems to affect all sorts of things.
Not sure where the ABS ECU is on yours, it's under the dash on the P38 I believe. ABS ECU failure is not that uncommon on the P38, maybe the L322 will suffer in the same way. My first stop would be as you have said, connectors and also relevant earth points.
Bonne courage

Datatek said:

For once, it's unlikely to be the battery based on those voltages. Is it dry in the rear quarter? Water in there seems to affect all sorts of things.
Not sure where the ABS ECU is on yours, it's under the dash on the P38 I believe. ABS ECU failure is not that uncommon on the P38, maybe the L322 will suffer in the same way. My first stop would be as you have said, connectors and also relevant earth points.
Bonne courage

Click to expand...

The ABS ECU is mounted under the bonnet, on the bulkhead/firewall to the cabin....next to the battery bay.

It is a stupid design IMHO as the electrical connection is made vertical downwards (the ECU mounts upright on the Modulator) and is 'L' shaped with the connector on the base of the 'L' pointing upwards (I will take a photo shortly so you can see) and from what I have heard and read, it is prone for water to collect in the connection point (due to its upward facing) and cause issues.....

Considering the lack of faults reported this morning and with it being sporadic yesterday, I am assuming a poor connection could be the culprit casuing intermittant faults......well heres hoping in anycase!

So....lunch time came and went, I made the trip to the car park - 10 minute walk from the office!

Here is the ABS ECU mounted on the side of the modulator...


To remove the wiring plug, get a flat blade screw driver and carefully lever the locking slide, the plug will move upwards by approx 3-4mm during this process....




Underside of plug...


ECU Connection Pins....



As can be seen, annoyingly they all look very clean....so a quick squirt of contact cleaner in anycase, and reassembled....

Will see what happens over the next few days.

If it happens again, I am wondering if it could be temperature related...as it gets warm where it is next to the LPG Vapouriser which is plumbed into the Engine Coolant at 105degC and just above the L/H bank.....hmmmmm.

It may be the photo, but the big flat pin bottom right looks far from clean, I can even see green traces, the pins immediately above it and the 4 bottom left also look suspicious.
Looks like it's another candidate for the LR plastic bag mod.

Datatek said:

It may be the photo, but the big flat pin bottom right looks far from clean, I can even see green traces, the pins immediately above it and the 4 bottom left also look suspicious.
Looks like it's another candidate for the LR plastic bag mod.

Click to expand...

Hmmmmm....now you mention it I can see a discolouration - could be the photo...only 45 minutes of my working day left (Start early finish early here!!) so will go and double check....might be something there!!

Saint.V8 said:

Engine off, no loads Battery Level is 12.53V
Engine Running @ 2k Battery Level is 14.43V

Car spins rapidly on starting and will always fire within a second of flicking the key!

What makes you suggest battery in consideration to the above figures being as per the 'book'?

Anything less than 14.1V running could indicate a tired Alternator or battery, and it is generaly considered above 14.2V to be acceptable as the norm.

The drive into work this morning (1hr of stop/start) and no issues to report....

Click to expand...

saint i had exactly the same symptoms,aa roadside called all checked and all good battery and charging, sent me on my way (Even though my dash was like a xmas tree lit up every other time i drove it) as the battery was fairly new i called into my locall indy where i purchased battery from, he put a strange machine on it what checks cycles and different readings etc etc ?? and advised a trickle charge ??? Strange i know but i did as asked and no problems at all now for over a month,give it a go theres noting to loose

mine has just started crying its weeping oil from the sump on the gearbox, very similar to your saint, but at least i have ordered all the bits to do that this weekend.

Then i have just noticed quite a nice oil leak, which looks like my rocker cover gaskets
So at the weekend im going to climb all over it and check my PCV hoses, although i know the main hoses are in good condition im not sure about the rest of it.

then next weekend I'm going to give changing the rocker cover gaskets a go,