Traction control fault... I think!

[Benny No.1]

I'm have a bizarre problem. I will be driving along and after a short amount of acceleration or braking i get a red exclamation mark in brackets (same as when the handbrake is on) pop up on my tacho, shortly followed by the traction control symbol with a exclamation mark next to it, then the runflat symbol comes up, then in the reverse order, the whole time the red exclamation mark and traction control symbol lights are lit on the tacho. Then as quick as they appear they are gone!!!!

Any ideas? Its going in for its first oil service on Monday and I have highlighted it to them.

[KenL]

Sounds like a fault, but try resetting the tyre pressure monitoring system.

[JAMIE1131]

That sounds very much like a wheel speed sensor fault, all three systems (brakes, traction and runflat) depend on wheel speed sensors to operate. I had the same failure last week on my car.

[Benny No.1]

The wheel speed sensor is what I thought, as all the systems looking at the turning speed of the wheels i.e. run flat monitors and traction control are flashing up. And as soon as you settle down to a steady speed it disappears suggesting that the system checks again and sees everything is fine.

to KenL, when it first happened i did that but it made no difference.

As this is happening more frequently I'm guessing the sensor in one of the wheels is detearating, so just as well its going in on Monday!

Jamie1131, did your garage have the part in stock? how long did it take to fix and were you seeing the intermittent fault im seeing?

[JAMIE1131]

Sytner Leicester had it in stock, it took about 2.5 hours from me arriving at the dealer to it being fixed and I wasnt even booked in. Then said MINI emergency services could even do it but the guy that turned up was a sub contractor and didnt have the correct diagnostic equipment. It wasn't intermittent for me, the lights started flashing and then stayed on.

[KenL]

Quote: Originally Posted by JAMIE1131 (original)

That sounds very much like a wheel speed sensor fault, all three systems (brakes, traction and runflat) depend on wheel speed sensors to operate. I had the same failure last week on my car.

Aha, I think you are correct.

A friend of mine with a late R53 Cooper S had his in the garage recently for the same fault.

All these modern gadgets on cars are a pain

[KenL]

Quote: Originally Posted by Benny No.1 (original)

As this is happening more frequently I'm guessing the sensor in one of the wheels is detearating, so just as well its going in on Monday!

Small point, but there are no sensors actually in the wheels.

Tyre deflation detection is done by monitoring the speed of the wheels. A deflated tyre, with a smaller circumference has to rotate quicker to keep up.

[red_S]

Quote: Originally Posted by Benny No.1 (original)

I'm have a bizarre problem. I will be driving along and after a short amount of acceleration or braking i get a red exclamation mark in brackets (same as when the handbrake is on) pop up on my tacho, shortly followed by the traction control symbol with a exclamation mark next to it, then the runflat symbol comes up, then in the reverse order, the whole time the red exclamation mark and traction control symbol lights are lit on the tacho. Then as quick as they appear they are gone!!!!

I`m having the same problem. The warning lights come in the same order of appearance, usually after driving in a runabout. In the users manual it says this indicates a fault in the DSC and the car should be taken to service...

[djam43]

Over here in the US lots of R56 owners are having that problem. The fix is replacment of the "steering angle sensor module" SZL. This sensor controls a lot of functions in the car including traction control

[earlgrey]

I had this problem before and it's resolve. The faulty part is Steering Column Switch Cluster. Have it replace with the new one, which have to be re-programme 1st, problem solve but spend some bucks on it.