Warning lights on after battery has been disconnected

[Pangit]

My 2013 Aygo recently had a new clutch fitted by my sons friend, who has don e some jobs for me previously. The car drives perfectly well after the work, however 3 dashboard warning lights are on and don't seem to clear. I understand that this is not unusual after the Battery has been disconnected for a while. The lights which are illuminated (orange) are the ABS light, the VSC light, and the "slip" warning light. Does anyone know how to reset them. We have checked for fault codes, with a device that reads ABS codes, and there are no pending or stored codes. I did read somewhere that if the Battery is reaching the end of it's life, and not holding full charge, this can cause this problem....though have not checked the Battery yet.

Any advice would be appreciated.

[mrfixer]

First things first...  Modern car electronics give trouble if the supply voltage is not stable and within specification. Typically this means 12.0 - 14.5V.  Check relevant fuses. Check the Battery condition and charging circuit output. Ensure terminals and earthing points on body and engine are sound. You can get pretty good battery/alternator testers from Amazon for about £20.

[Pangit]

Thanks for your response.

Off to Europarts to pick up a tester, although I don't think there is much doubt the Battery is getting dodgy, it's probably 10 years old. I am sure I will replace it, and hope it clears the problem.

The car did something strange yesterday.......was driving along, probably the first time I'd driven in the dark, so headlights were on. I noticed that the 3 warning lights had cleared, and there were no warning lights illuminated. Took me a few moments to notice that the speedo was now behaving erratically, with the needle moving all over the place, up an down by 10 mph or so, even though my speed was constant. Then a few minutes later, the 3 lights came back on, and the speedo returned to normal. I read on line that one of the causes of erratic speedo can be a failing Battery. Hopefully another indication that the Battery is the culprit, there not being enough voltage to keep everything going at once. Fingers crossed !!

[Pangit]

Damn, Battery and alternator both checked out good with the tester.........so still no closer to solving.

[mrfixer]

Does sound like a power supply problem to me.  I would check and clean main electrical terminals and earth points. Check no earth left off/loose during the clutch job.

Also check the power supply circuit path for the ABS/VSC (I don't have a circuit diagram to hand but on many vehicles the ABS is powered via a relay).

[Pangit]

Thanks again. I did give the Battery terminals and clamps a good clean when I disconnected the Battery for testing, and as soon as it stops raining, I'll go out again, and make sure that one of the earth connections hasn't been left off or is loose. I borrowed a Haynes manual from the library, so will have a look at the circuit diagrams.

[Pangit]

I'm still at a loss as to what the problem may be. Have checked the various earth connections, but still the problem exists.

On the few occasions I have driven over the last week or so, the symptoms now seem to be fairly predictable.....when the vehicle has been sat for some time, the 3 lights are on when I start the car, and drive off. The car drives and brakes normally. Then most of the time, after a short time driving, all 3 lights go out, and here is the weird thing, the speedometer needle becomes unstable and moves up and down around the actual vehicle speed. After driving a short distance more (a few minutes) the 3 lights come back on, and the speedo needle settles down to normal again.

During the recent spell of bad weather, I have visited lots of sites online, and read various posts about the ABS light and VCS light being on, and how to remedy. Most refer to fault codes, and a defective ABS sensor at one of the wheels. However, as stated previously, I have no current or pending fault codes, and am assuming that this would indicate that the ABS sensors are fine. However, something that has cropped up on a couple of threads, is a defective magnetic index ring in the wheel bearing. Am I right in assuming if this was the problem, it would not throw up a fault code ? Does it sound feasible that a defective magnetic index ring could cause the warning light issue being seen ? One of the wheel bearings was replaced some time ago, so could the index ring have been slightly damaged, and the problem only now showing itself, as happened to a guy posting one of the threads.

Clutching at straws maybe, but I need to get this resolved.

[Mooly]

This may not sound very helpful but if the problem has only occurred since the clutch work was done then you have to go back over everything that was done at that time.

This has all the hallmarks of a 'manmade' problem, don't go down the rabbit hole of wondering if its this or that. If it was 100% OK before the clutch (no warning lights) then it is related to something that has been done in that work.

Could any wiring loom/connections etc have been physically damaged while doing the heavy clutch work?

 

[mrfixer]

I still think is a bad earth or bad multi-connector somewhere.

I would double-check the engine block earth strap to chassis. It bolts onto the gearbox and IIRC the bolt are hidden under the Battery tray. Check everything is clean and tight.  Also try running a wire direct from the alternator body to Battery earth to see if that does anything.

[Derek.w]

Is the fuel gage needle also eratic if so check earth on dash and 5 volt power unit feeding insterments.

[Mjolinor]

Modern cars can do this if the Battery is not connected quickly and cleanly. If you half connect then let it disconnect and connect again quickly they can log faults.

Have you tried disconnecting it again, leave it ten minutes or so and connecting it cleanly.

Not hopeful but always worth a try.

 

[TonyHSD]

If speed sensor or magnetic ring at fault a fault code and warning messages will appear. Perhaps something else and likely related to the clutch job. 

[Phil White]

the drive shafts need to be removed to replace the clutch. There is a chance that an ABS Sensor wire or Sensor has been damaged doing the work. Get a code read done on the ABS system as a fault on a sensor or wire will also bring on the VSC and slip light.

[Pangit]

I have a code reader that reads ABS codes and engine codes, and I have no current or pending codes....that's why this whole thig is baffling, and have gone through my Haynes manual and checked everything that would have been removed for the clutch job. Have been under the car and in the engine bay to see if I can see any damaged wiring, checked earth points, tested Battery, etc. etc. All in vain. It's probably staring me in the face !!!! If it would just stop raining, I'll get under it again, and go over everything once more.

[Vandals01]

It could be some what related:

Recently, I've changed the Clutch on my sister's Toyota IQ.  Upon completing the job, 3 lights came up: Check Engine, ABS and VSC.  So I hook it up to my car reader next day, it came up with O2 sensor bank 1 sensor 2 open circuit.

What happened was: When I changed the clutch, I broke the down steam O2 sensor by accident (Ops). It also triggers ABS and VSC light be default.  Ordered a FAE O2 sensor from AutoDoc (£60), replaced it, clear the code, all the lights were gone.

The OEM O2 sensor I believe is Denso.  To my knowledge, NGK and Denso are the best.  If I did not broke that sensor by accident, it could very well last the lifetime of the car.  Sad to say, they are also expensive (£110+). FAE sensor is a budget choice with decent reliability.

[Pangit]

Finally, problem solved 🙂

I have continued to dig around looking for anything that could have caused the fault following the clutch replacement.....but no success.

Where we live, there is only one road in and out, so during the recent Bognor floods, I had to go out. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, I hit a pothole, which I couldn't see due to the water, with the nearside front wheel. Shortly afterwards, the speedo stopped working, the power steering warning light came on, and I finally got a fault code P0501 (Problem with VSS sensors, cables, or connections).

I took off the wheel, to see if I could see any problems, which I couldn't.

Some time ago, I noticed that the anti roll bar drop links were in poor condition, so with the MOT approaching, and the fact I had the wheel off decided that I would finally fit the ones delivered. Whilst turning the brake disc, I could feel that the wheel bearing was very "rough". The offside bearing was replaced not too long ago, and since there is 140k on the clock, assumed the nearside would need changing soon, so I had bought 2. I decided to change that as well. My problem became obvious when I removed the swivel hub. The plastic magnetic index ring on the back of the wheel bearing was partially missing !!!! There was only around 1/3 of it in place.

After fitting the new wheel bearing. and the drop links, I took the vehicle out for a test drive.....everything operating normally, and no warning lights.

The only thing I can think of, is because the bearing was worn/needed replacing, there was some lateral movement possible in the bearing. When the drive shaft nut was removed, and the drive shafts were removed for the clutch job, the lateral movement, no longer being restrained by the nut, somehow damaged the index ring.......can't really see any other way it would be damaged.

[Mooly]

Thanks for the update, and pleased to hear you finally found the cause. Well done.