ELectronic Stabilisation Programme

Cassie

New Member
My '54 55kW (53,500 logged) vehicle shows a flashing ESP warning light when making a LH bend, I have to depend on a local garage ( Highland) for maintenance. After repeated attempts to have this investigated I am told there is no problem and brakes are good its just an oversensitive warning light. My Drivers side front wheel is very dirty (with brake dust ?) might this be significant ?
Any advice from members would be much appreciated.
 
My '54 55kW (53,500 logged) vehicle shows a flashing ESP warning light when making a LH bend, I have to depend on a local garage ( Highland) for maintenance. After repeated attempts to have this investigated I am told there is no problem and brakes are good its just an oversensitive warning light. My Drivers side front wheel is very dirty (with brake dust ?) might this be significant ?
Any advice from members would be much appreciated.

Are all the tyres the same, is one a lot more worn? Are they all the correct size?


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VCDS scan is needed to narrow down possibles. The 2 obvious ones are the wheel / tyre sizes not being the same and the yaw sensor failing.

Also abs sensor could make it go a bit funny but you would expect the ecu to flag this quickly


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Agreed but my favoured cause is the one you mentioned mismatched wheels / tyres. Need more information from the OP or a scan. Also think she may need to find a better garage in the near future.
 
Yep also seen it on a car with mixture of 40 and 45s. Generally the ABS complains first. Could be directional tyre the wrong way around.

That’s exactly what I had a single 45 on the back. Only noticed it after purchase and doing long sweeping corners.


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By the light flashing this is showing the system has been triggered and not a fault as such. We really do need to know the exact wheels and make and size of all the tyres on the car. Also if the tyres are directional does either "OUTSIDE" or a rotation arrow match the rotation of that wheel with the car travelling forward?
 
By the light flashing this is showing the system has been triggered and not a fault as such. We really do need to know the exact wheels and make and size of all the tyres on the car. Also if the tyres are directional does either "OUTSIDE" or a rotation arrow match the rotation of that wheel with the car travelling forward?
I get exactly this every morning on the same left hander adverse camber & corrugated road surface, it’s the only place it does it , car is cutting drive to that wheel due to loss of traction.
 
Going off in a slight tangent here but this is useful information to explain the difference between ASR and ESP.....


ASR - Anti Slip Regulation - brakes a front drive wheel that looses traction when you stomp on the gas via the ABS system.
ESP - Electronic Stability Program - Controls the car in when it gets into a spin condition by braking a wheel (any 4) It has a yaw sensor and steering angle sensor.
 
Are all the tyres the same, is one a lot more worn? Are they all the correct size?


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All tyres are 175/60R15, the rear tyres were replaced in August 2021 and have 1,000 on them the front tyres fitted 2020 and have < 3,000 on them, there is no evidence of wear at all.
 
I also get similar on some right-handers on my frequent routes in my Storm, where it's sharp/rough-surface/off-camber enough, at between 1/8th and 1/4 of a turn from central on the steering wheel. This is at speeds where I can get round them happily in my Crystal TDI, despite the Storm's wider wheels and lower, stiffer suspension. I can feel the Storm getting unsettled on turning in (feels like it's compensating with the rear brakes) and then it actually brakes the left-hand front wheel in short bursts. I get the ESP light on.

I don't think it's the ABS loom as I can take the same bends slower without incident. My suspicion is that the wheel bearing on the inside of the bend is getting pulled slightly apart by the G-forces, such that the ABS ring on the hub moves just out of range of the sensor. My Crystal one also did this on right-handers for a while, and eventually a few thousand miles later the right-hand bearing got noisy and was replaced.

So if it's happening on left-handers for the OP, my suspicion would be the left-hand (i.e. passenger side) front wheel bearing starting to go.
 
I also get similar on some right-handers on my frequent routes in my Storm, where it's sharp/rough-surface/off-camber enough, at between 1/8th and 1/4 of a turn from central on the steering wheel. This is at speeds where I can get round them happily in my Crystal TDI, despite the Storm's wider wheels and lower, stiffer suspension. I can feel the Storm getting unsettled on turning in (feels like it's compensating with the rear brakes) and then it actually brakes the left-hand front wheel in short bursts. I get the ESP light on.

I don't think it's the ABS loom as I can take the same bends slower without incident. My suspicion is that the wheel bearing on the inside of the bend is getting pulled slightly apart by the G-forces, such that the ABS ring on the hub moves just out of range of the sensor. My Crystal one also did this on right-handers for a while, and eventually a few thousand miles later the right-hand bearing got noisy and was replaced.

So if it's happening on left-handers for the OP, my suspicion would be the left-hand (i.e. passenger side) front wheel bearing starting to go.

What tyres do you use? The only time I had something to this was when I took my fast yellow one round a roundabout with off brand tyres it came with, I thought it was a fault until I put proper Contact sport 4s on and it never happened again.


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Much appreciate all the responses firstly on the tyres, the front pair are not a match - 2 different makes no direction arrows.
The warning light appears on sweeping bends and not in town driving.
Presumably the scan is an Audi Service issue ?
We'll check the brake lights.
All this input is terrific, you are a massive information source
 
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