Dsc Issues On My 06 Bf Xr6T - Steering Column Misaligned

[Ale]

Guys, in desperate need of ideas on how to fix my car.

I’ll be driving along and for no reason the traction light will come on and stay on for no reason. Turn the car off and on and it goes out. Its starts off doing this once or twice a week, then slowly over the coming week it gets to the stage that 15 mins into any drive the light will come on and stay on. Pressing the button on and off makes no change, only thing that resets it is turning the car on and off. Have even tried physically turning the traction control off at the start of a drive, I then drive the car for 20 mins, go to turn the traction control on again and the light on the dash stays on.

On the most, the car will drive fine , it’s just that the light is on. But after a week or so of it coming on all the time, it seems that the DSC is tricked into thinking the car is out of control and Ive have had it kick in mid corner!!! There is a corner 200m from work that I do at 30km/hr whilst the car is cold that makes the DSC flip out every time!!! Like I said, it only does this after the light has been coming on for a week or so.

Now that I’ve explained the symptoms, he is what I’ve tried so far. Of course my first call was to Ford dealership, they scanned it and it said “steering angle sensor needs calibration”, so after paying my money, they re calibrate it and its fine for another 6 weeks. This went on 4 times, every time Ford had an excuse, first it was due for a wheel alignment, then it needed it cos I replaced the front end bushes, then it was cos I put wheels on it and they needed to put the new sizes into the ECU/ I coped it all on the chin, but everysingle time the outcome was the same.

Done, dusted, I had it recalibrated twice more after having changed nothing on the car at all, then 6 weeks ago, I took Fords advice and “next logical step” and replaced the steering angle sensor itself. Even though the error is calling for it to be “recalibrated” and not actually faulty I thought, Ok lets do it.

Guess what happened today? The light came on again!!!

Whats my next step?

PS: car is dead stock apart from wheels and intercooler upgrade

Edit, pictorial and 'wog fix' from further on...

So this morning I backed her into the workshop and pulled the column out.

Looking at this pic you can clearly see the miss alignment since last calibrated:

Sensor off the collar, quickly reveals Fraud where correct in saying that the easiest fix is to replace the column, Im assuming the white collar that the SAS rides on must be pressed into the lower bearing of the column at the same time the column is assembled, see:

I then used some vice grips to rotate the collar back and re allign the marks:

I couldn't get the collar out of the bearing, so Im pretty sure its pressing into the bearing at the same time the upper half of the telescopic shaft is, thus becoming "sandwiched" between the OD of the upper shaft and the ID of the bearing. Then the lower half of the shaft (which is the length adjustable bit) is inside the whole lot.

So , without knowing if fraud supply the collar as a separate part ( its Saturday), I didn't want to destroy it totally trying to get it out so instead did a wog fix.

Slid a strip of thin rubber between the ID of the collar and the OD of the smaller lower shaft to make up the difference, and put a hose clamp on it.:

Once back in the car, adjusted the column like I like it and did the clamp up.:

This in turn locks the collar onto the bottom half of the shaft as well as the original top half. Unfortunately, the column is no longer adjustable in length (still adjustabel height wise) but the collar shouldn't rotate on it, thus no more error.

Its far from ideal, but will do until I work out a better fix.

As long as no one was to try and adjust the length of the column, the car functions as Fraud intended. Took it for a 1hr drive this arvo, no more DSC error.

Edited 27/10/12 09:57 PM by tab

[bionicxr6t05]

If its only the steering angle sensor bringing up a code its either a wiring problem or internal module fault, make sure theres no swarf or anything stupid on any of the tonewheels etc, hard to say for sure without being there myself

[Ale]

Mate, I hear ya, these cars a prone to random electrical gliches, but I dont think this is that. Its not random at all, 6 weeks between calibrations, nothing else matters. New sensor made no difference. Tone wheel on column looks fine, when it first came up I checked all the ABS sensor and made sure they where clean.

Im no expert, but my understanding is that the DSC uses the steering angle sensor, yaw sensor, and wheel sensors to "sense" what the car is doing. When it thinks teh car is out of control it then applies the brakes via the ABS system.

Also pretty sure that the system runs through a self check procedure at some stage, and at its this point that it throws the error "steering sensor needs calibration". At first , it must only detect it out sometimes, then progressively gets worse until it throws the error every time it self checks.

I can understand why the sensor replacement was the first step, but what part of the system is next?

On a side note, does the SCT software have any access to this area of the cars electronics? The reason I ask is that if I need to get a flash tune to get rid of the DSC all together Id consider it,likewise if it can be used to recalibrate the steering sensor. But I do still like the traction control function so would like to keep that functional....

hhhhhheeeeeeeellllllllllpppppppp, I really want to get along with this car but its amking things really hard

[bionicxr6t05]

I meant the tonewheels on the hubs that the wheelspeed sensors read off... Abs self tests as soon as you reach 10-15kph, this sorta problem you really need to take to someone who knows what theyr doing, dealers have the tools but not all have the know how

[Ale]

Yep, the ABS sensors are all clean, ABS self checks as per norm, hear it all the time when I first take off, ABS functions fine and no audible noise when the error comes up.

I agree I need to find a good tech at Ford, but I've gone to 2 separate dealers now, no answers. One did say that the error is thrown up during a DSC self check, but couldnt tell me why its "calibrate steering wheel sensor". Il be back at their office first thing monday......

[ratter]

NO tuning software is going to help your problem, you need to actually get to the bottom of the problem, if all sensors reluctor wheels are ok, you may have a wiring issue or even a faulty computer, are your wheels the same size?

[Ale]

Thanx for the reply Ratter.

I checked the wheel sensors the first time the error came up, no visible anythings on any off it.

The first 3 times I had it re-calibrated( 5 months or so) was with the standard BF wheels and tyres, I then put some 20’s on it, had Ford put the new sizes into the ECU and nothing has changed, every 6 weeks since, still throws the error: “re-calibrate steering angle sensor”

[bionicxr6t05]

Make sure the sensor is clipped into the column properly, see it alot in taxis where they come loose and flop around

[Ale]

Thanxs for the tips mate, but been there, done that, but feel free to keep trying. I even disconnected the battery , thinking it may reset a timer or similiar Dont know if it should be for an hr or somthing , but having it disconnected for 5mins or so didnt do anything but have me have to reset all my radio presets and trip meters, first drive, 10 mins in, light was on.

Im off to see the Ford guys again in the morn, service manager reckons they have a technical department they can approach for more info, Why they havnt done this after the 2nd or 3rd time is beyond me, but at this stage I dont have much more choice.

I will be asking exactly what happens during this self check and whether they can monitior "live" whilst its happening and see which part of the self test is responisble for the error, see if they can narrow the search down.

thanx guys for taking the time to reply.

[bionicxr6t05]

Yep they can contact tech hotline but this is a last resort and if a problem as intermittent as this appears to be fixed there is no reason to take it further, you cannot monitor the self test as such but can self test the module on demand for any hard / stored faults which obviously will just turn up the steering angle fault, they will need to follow the diagnostic procedure listed in the workshop manual then go from there, may be abs/rcm module internal fault