2007 Mini


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Recovered to us this Mini was a non runner. The recovery guy said it was a fault with the key. The steering lock would not engage and the ignition wouldn’t switch on.

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There were faults in various modules alot relating to traction control.

Knowing these systems we accessed the module and read live data

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As you can see on this data the 2nd to last reading says the vehicle is moving. This is the reason the steering lock won’t engage.

The information from the traction control unit goes to the CAS unit behind the dash. Reading live data the 4 wheel sensors were ok. So knowing this system we know an open circuit can cause a false reading like this. With accurate wiring diagrams we were able to trace the correct wires and find a damaged wire in the loom.

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You can see green residue on the grey wirer where the copper core has oxidised and broke. A simple fix and the car is up and running again.

Only if your experts in the complex electronic systems on vehicles can you work out a fault like this.

The Grand Tour

The Grand Tour: Jeremy Clarkson’s first show since Top Gear praised:

The Grand tour – We all know Jeremy Clarkson’s name from Top Gear. Since he left BBC and the show, followed by Richard Hammond and James May, The Grand Tour will be he’s first programme, also with the presence of the last two. This new show was launched on Amazon Prime streaming service and it’s been said that is basically “Top Gear with a boost”, since there are more means, financially speaking. The cost of production, the scale of the programme and even the technical support is bigger than he had before and that can be noticed in the quality of the first episode already aired.

What people are saying is that this new show tastes really like Clarkson and his mates, what means that Top Gear fans will be happy. But while The Grand Tour is being reviewed so well around the globe, the BBC attempt to revive Top Gear is not. These are good news to Clarkson, Hammond and May. We can already expect three seasons, throughout three years of twelve episodes each. One episode will approximately have an hour and they will be freed one per week.

Some say they should be shorter a bit, but throughout Twitter you can mainly see good critics from the fans, even though Amazon does not release the viewing numbers to tell for sure if the pilot was a success. From my point of view, the programme will be fine if they keep the quality as good as this first episode. It’s funny, it talks about cars, it shows you around the globe (in the pilot we can see the desert of California, United States, and then Algarve, Portugal, for example), it has all the things it needs to be a success. The only thing missing is the celebrity driving car to see how fast it can go and the score board to tells us who is the best. Apart from that, there’s nothing missing. Probably, it has more than he had in Top Gear.

2013 Audi A3 Blower inoperative

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The vehicle was brought in with no Blower. We stripped the dashboard to gain access to the motor and control module

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The motor was found to be open circuit which would normally mean a new unit. But hear at Widnes Auto Electrical we are experts at repairing electrical motors for various applications.

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The motor was stripped and repaired saving the customer over £175 against a replacement unit.

 

2009 DODGE JOURNEY

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Recovered to us not running. Cars like this can be hard to work on because information and diagrams are scarce, but with our experience and proven test process we can be confident in tackling these sorts of jobs.

Customer said they pushed the internal button for central locking and car cut out.  Vehicle started but wouldn’t change gear as it’s automatic.

It was found that fuse 38 listed for central locking and mirrors was blowing as soon as ignition was switched on .

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Using specialist equipment we can trace the source of the short in the most efficient way.

Disconnecting all doors made no difference. Then disconnecting the relevant loom narrowed it down to the engine bay. More testing confirmed that the problem lay within the fusebox/body control module  itself.

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A new part was priced at over £500,but we were confident in our diagnosis to tell the customer of our findings. Luckily we managed to source a 2nd hand unit. Once plugged in and all the fault codes cleared and various systems reset, the car started first time and ran great.

MERC C63 AMG

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This fine example of the C63 came in via another garage with headlight trouble.

The wiring to the lights was checked first as to gain access to the bulbs and hid controllers the bumper has to be  completely removed.

The wiring was found to be ok so with the bumper removed we tested the bulbs and controllers

DSC_0813     the testing found one of the HID controllers to be at fault. An o.e unit was sourced, another happy customer.

2010 Ford Fiesta non runner

 

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This Ford was brought in to us with intermittent non start issues. When the fault was apparent it was dead on the key and the immobliser light flashed quickly.  Through experience of these faults we knew this signified that there was a communication issue between the GEM module and the ECU in the engine bay.

Accurate wiring diagrams and test procedures are key to finding these kind of faults. Through proven test procedures the fault was traced to a damaged plug in the engine bay. The plug repaired and a test drive later all was well

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Another car with water ingress

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 DSC_0568Here at WIDNES AUTO ELECTRICAL we are experienced at the removal and repair of these and other similar control units.

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2007 Honda Accord


IMG_20151201_205746Into our workshop this week was this Honda with a parasitic drain which was switching between 200 ma and 400 ma at regular intervals. The first thing we had to do is to find which circuit the discharge was on. Once this was found by checking which fuse when removed made the discharge dissappear, we had to trace all the components on thus circuit.

Due to the nature of the discharge we didn’t suspect wiring as these type of discharges tend to be more erratic. So we started the process of disconnecting the various components. When all the components were disconnected the discharge was still present. But through experience we knew that one of the systems on the circuit which was the Stereo/satnav system would also have Bluetooth capabilities and the module for this was buried behind the dashboard. When we eventually got access to it, it was warm to the touch even though the car had been off for a while. The component was disconnected as the customer had no use for it, the car reassembled and a happy customer picked up the car knowing his problems had been sorted.

The Bluetooth module was buried deep behind the centre console.

The Bluetooth module was buried deep behind the centre console.

2008 BMW X5

Into our workshop this week was this BMW X5. The customer complained of the airbag light on since he had the car valeted. A simple code read on the vehicle identified the passenger occupancy sensor fault. Which is the device that tells the car if somebody is sat in the front passenger seat.
The first thing we checked is the connections under the seat in case they had been disturbed during the valet. All was Ok.
Next we mimicked the resistance that the sensor would have by unplugging the sensor and replacing it with a resistor of equal value. The airbag light went out and acted as it should.
So a new sensor was sourced from the dealer, the seat removed and stripped (not an easy job).

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The sensor seen here can be damaged easily by kneeling in the centre of the seat cracking the delicate circuit

2007 VW GOLF

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Into our workshop this week was this VW. Both doors on the drivers side were completely dead,central locking, windows, door mirror all dead. Knowing how these things work were confident that if we could get the drivers door back on line the rear door would start working again. So we stripped down the drivers door and checked the wiring through the hinge for any breaks, all was Ok. Next we got the wiring diagram for the door systems so we could check all the correct feeds and earth’s were present and also check the can high and can low signals with our pico scope.

Correct wiring diagrams are essential for accurate and quick diagnosis

Correct wiring diagrams are essential for accurate and quick diagnosis


All connections were good so the problem had to be the door module. A new module was sourced from the agent, fitted and coded to the car.
Everything on the drivers door all worked perfectly and the rear door came back online also.
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The door module is also the electric window motor.