[RRG]

We’ve made it to Istanbul! But a stupid glitch has reared it’s head that I don’t properly understand so I’d really appreciate any thoughts on this one:

Drove straight to Bari in southern Italy, took the ferry to Igoumenitsa in Greece then followed the brand new and spectacularly mountainous motorway all the way across Greece to Turkey.

As soon as we exited the EU, the GPS must have informed the electronics so they decided to throw up a problem! Typical – never had a problem before in 3 years and 30,000 miles!

This is what happened: cruising along a straight but bumpy dual carriageway at around 60mph and suddenly there was a ‘bong’ from the dashboard: it was alternately flashing “HDC inactive” and “Air Suspension inactive”. Also the brake warning light and the ABS warning light were illuminated. I stopped and a quick look around suggested nothing untoward. On restarting all the error messages and warning lights disappeared and everything continued to function as normal.

In Istanbul today I’ve probed a bit further. I connected the brilliant Hawkeye tool (I’ll try to write something more about this separately but I wouldn’t be without it) and uncovered the following:

On interrogating the ABS module the following error message was stored:
- DTC 29: Steering angle implausible
I re-calibrated the steering angle sensor and cleared the fault code

On interrogating the Air Suspension module the following error message was stored:
- DTC 50: CAN Bus Failure. Short circuit to +ve. Sporadic Fault, Currently Present
I cleared the fault code and checked the suspension in all high modes and all appeared to be working fine

So as it stands there appears to be nothing really wrong with the car but this sort of thing hardly inspires confidence. Can anyone throw any light on what is/has been going on? CAN Bus Failure doesn’t sound too good to me – but then again I don’t really know…

By the way the car’s electrical system has been checked over carefully very recently. I’ve had a new battery fitted, the alternator is in good condition and I have an internal voltage meter fitted so I can see that the voltage has been healthy at all times so I would suggest it’s not a basic voltage / charging / earthing issue.

Many thanks for any suggestions / thoughts

Best regards

RRG

 

[vinniman]

RRG.

I just replied to your first posting on this forum & my concerns on the electrical or suspension side could be inter-related dude !
Check the battery terminals, as these could be attracting moisture and upsetting the supply of electrical current to the truck ?

Have you considered taking any other spare sensors apart from the MAF as I would be worried about the air suspension as well.
My initial thoughts were your ride is nearly 8 years old and your air bellow vehicle suspension system could be switched to coils.

Cheerio,


Vinniman
'88 Highline
Perth, W.A.

 

[Moto One]

RRG,

First what a great adventure, please post a Trip report if possible.

As for your problems or Glitch, it seems as if you have checked all the common causes for multi warnings, but I would still keep an eye out for a ground fault. Maybe not at the Battery, but between the engine and body.

I'll be looking forward to your report on the Hawkeye tool.

Mark.

 

[RRG]

Thanks Gents

I hope to get around to writing about the Hawkeye sometime in the next week or so. In short, however, nothing but praise for it.

regards

RRG

 

[umitbat]

Hi guys.
I am in istanbul.
Watch for stations you take gas if your rr is a diesel.
Look for OPET or Shell.

 

[Norval]

Hi. I had the same two warning messages when driving on the motorway a couple of years ago. Turned out just to be the steering angle sensor. When I asked the dealer why this would set off the Air suspension inactive message as well he said they're related... Hope this is all it is for you.

looking forward to hearing about your diagnostic tool sometime.

How are you getting home from Cape Town??

 

[Stevemfr]

They're definitely related: disconnecting and reconnecting the battery w/o resetting the steering angle sensor will also lead to a 'air susp inactive' message.

I just checked the RAVE for the location and R&R procedure for the steering angle sensor (which I'd never looked at before). It's not pretty. The steering angle sensor is located at the bottom of the upper steering column - basically somewhere above your knees. The official procedure entails removing the entire lower dash. Not overly complicated but it does require a bit of work. I hope it doesn't require replacement although it's probably fortunate that you have to deal with this in Istanbul rather than central Africa.

I'm really excited to read about your (ad)venture. Please continue to keep us informed. Good luck, and if we can be of any help...

 

[Stevemfr]

What happened to the 'Edit' button in this forum?

I meant to ad: the steering angle sensor is one of the primary sensors for the DSC system which includes HDC (and ETC, CBC, EBA, not to forget EBD :roll: ). The DSC can also incapacitate the air suspension so that spring rates remain constant in critical situations. This leads to EAS inactive messages when there is an issue with the steering angle sensor.