Summer season is here
With the weather getting warmer we are starting to see more cars with A/C issues. Here is a Peugeot RCZ […]
READ MORE -A busy week in our workshop with amongst other vehicles this jaguar that had various communication issues with ABS, TRACTION AND STABILITY CONTROL, ELECTRIC PARKING BRAKE. Other garages had tried to get to the bottom of the issues but had given up.
First we plugged in our new dealer level diagnostic equipment AUTOLOGIC and got various fault codes all attributed to the ABS MODULE . The ABS MODULE is situated behind the o/s headlight, a visual inspection of the area showed signs of damage leading us to suspect it had been in a crash and so could have possible wiring damage around the front of the vehicle. 
The bumper was removed and the loom inspected and various broken wires repaired. This fixed the ABS problems.
The electric handbrake was then investigated. A common problem with this can be the module at the rear of the car above the dif. Luckily with close inspection of the loom leading to this we found a previous repair job had failed so a new stronger repair was carried out.
A factory reset was then performed and everything worked a treat!
We are seeing more and more cars with water ingress into wiring looms and control modules especially Fords and Renault.
Here we see a GEM unit with water ingress causing all sorts of sporadic faults with wipers, warning lights and intermittent starting. The water here was from condensation off the heater matrix 
Here at WIDNES AUTO ELECTRICAL we are experienced at the removal and repair of these and other similar control units.
This came into our workshop this week with no sidelights and the customer having already had it into his usual garage which couldn’t locate the fault. . All the obvious checks were made first like bulbs,fuses and switch.  Through diagnostic live data we could see the switch sending command for sidelights so that eliminated the switch and the wiring to control module.
We then unplugged the module to start checking continuity between it and the sidelights only to see this! 
 The plug onto the module was just as bad, but unavailable as a spare part. Luckily second hand parts were sourced locally and fitted. The customer was extremely happy at the savings against new parts and a quick and proper diagnosis.
 
2003 Audi A4 – Solving the mystery power modude issues
Into our busy workshop this week from another garage was this Audi with no wipers and indicators. The other garage had tried another convenience module but the fault remained.
Being experienced at VAG systems and with both faults being on the steering column we could trace the fault from there
Using accurate wiring diagrams, the signals from the steering column go from the steering column control module to the power distribution module then that module tells the devices to work.
The signals were getting to the power module but it wasn’t sending them out.
A new module was sourced from the agent and plugged in no coding is necessary with this part
Pico scope is the most reliable way to test wiring and can signals.
The new power distribution module
Into our workshop today was this Focus RS with an ABS light illuminated.
A quick serial scan showed front sensor faults. We performed a live data check by going for a run in the vehicle and found no communication with the front sensors.
2012 355hp
Once exposed the wiring was excessively taught
once the car was lifted and the sensors examined the trouble was obvious. The common issue with the RS model is that because the car is alot wider than the regular car and they haven’t extended the wiring looms to the sensors, the wiring is stretched excessively and can become open circuit. Repair looms were sourced from the dealer and repaired successfully.