L322 2003 steering angle sensor

Hi all

I’ve done a bit of search but couldn’t really find any answers.

my L322 td6 has a strange steering angle fault. Unless something else is tricking the steering angle sensor.

I have not done anything with the abs system the only things I have done that has any effect on the front wheels is replace all the front control arms and one air suspension assembly (air bag and strut). This fault has not happened immediately after this work.

New tyres in factory size. Happened a just under a week after.

so the fault I’m getting according to icarsoft is steering angle plausibility. However when I go on live data the steering angle sensor reads fine even with the error messages on, before the fault has been cleared.

it takes about 20 miles of driving but isn’t always in the same place. Doesn’t appear to be speed dependent or related to potholes.

I mentioned the tyres earlier because someone before me had put 275/40r20 on the car which is a slightly smaller overall circumference. I’m not sure if this would play a roll?

The old control arms were very worn could replacing these cause it?
Could it be something as simple as needing a new battery? Since it’s been colder and it pre heats before start up I get hdc inactive but the hill descent still works which I’ve read is due to a weak battery.

I have also gone into my field and forced the traction control and abs to work and it works absolutely fine but then obviously not at all when all the warning lights are on.

any thoughts?

You could have the battery tested at a garage to rule it out with a shunt test.
Does the Icarsoft read the angle as it turns and if so is there any glitches in the readings if you turn it slowly?

Mark Piercy said:

You could have the battery tested at a garage to rule it out with a shunt test.
Does the Icarsoft read the angle as it turns and if so is there any glitches in the readings if you turn it slowly?

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Yes the icarsoft does which is what I’ve done and I’ve done it as a graph and it seems pretty even. The extremes left to right are the same except one way is a positive number the other is the same number but negative.

Check the battery first then as said, they are a cause of many problems electronically, especially on this model RR.

Mark Piercy said:

Check the battery first then as said, they are a cause of many problems electronically, especially on this model RR.

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Just been out to check the battery.
Ignition off engine off 12.19V
Ignition on engine off 11.68V
Ignition on engine off headlights on 11.5V
Engine on 14.5V
Engine on lights on 14.2V

car starts fine in the morning and when left for a few days. However a few times when I’ve been tinkering around on it at the weekend and not starting it it can go flat just from the computers waking up.

With that voltage it looks like your battery is shot, you should have about at least 12.6v standing, your charge voltage looks good,
looks like new battery time, you want the biggest that will fit in and we are talking about 3mm clearance and 120ah 1000cca.

It needs to be shunt tested and compared to a norm.

So a new bit of information to add this light has come on 4 times in the last 2 days. Every time it’s come back on after I cleared the fault but it took 20 miles for that to happen.
When it came on last night I didn’t clear the fault so it’s still stored in the cars ‘brain’ and today no fault has come up. nothing else has changed at all except the fault is stored in the car. No lights are on and abs and traction control work fine.

109inches said:

So a new bit of information to add this light has come on 4 times in the last 2 days. Every time it’s come back on after I cleared the fault but it took 20 miles for that to happen.
When it came on last night I didn’t clear the fault so it’s still stored in the cars ‘brain’ and today no fault has come up. nothing else has changed at all except the fault is stored in the car. No lights are on and abs and traction control work fine.

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Shhh stop right there!! Don't say a word and back away from the issue

Unfortunately spoke too soon about this. Never had an issue with steering angle sensors on cars on the past.

do steering angle sensors usually fail completely or are they intermittent like this?

still takes about 20miles before the fault shows.

when my one played up it was intermittent at first, until the claws on the rotor gave up fully then it became a complete fail.
its possible to change without having to take steering column all the way out but they are coded to the car

109inches said:

Unfortunately spoke too soon about this. Never had an issue with steering angle sensors on cars on the past.

do steering angle sensors usually fail completely or are they intermittent like this?

still takes about 20miles before the fault shows.

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I had the steering angle sensor fault on my 2002 L322 come up after driving a few miles after getting it front wheel aligned.

I re-calibrated it using Hawkeye and never had any other issues with it again..

Hazarding a guess....if the arm you replaced was that bad..... when driving "straight" now, the sensor could possibly read a degree or two different from before and it's noticing this change and throwing a wobbler.

Have you re-calibrated it?