Three Amigos Help

I’ve been trying to find the source of my 3A’s, I was driving my FL1 td4 54 plate on a dry warm day, pulling a trailer with an electrical plug issue (lights only on one side), straight road, not touching brakes, boom! On came the amigos! Have been on since.
Put the icarsoft i930 OBD2 on it, showed OSF wheel sensor C1035, signal low or missing.
Removed wheel sensor(later blue magnetic pickup) and fitted new Bearmach jobby after cleaning all around the hub area, it still runs on the original wheel bearings.
Tried to clear faults, showed C1032, wheel speed sensor electrical fault. Checked resistance, good continuity, so sensor must be good. Drove up road the get magnetic bearing to say hello to sensor, no joy!
Ignition on only, OBD2 now says dtc codes cleared, turn engine on and check again, says failed to clear dtc’s.
Took modulator ecu off actuator to have a nose, looks like there has been some hammer happy fitter chipping the abs plungers to maybe unstick them? Who knows, I’ve never had one apart before, so unsure how the abs module works. Question; how do I check to see if these plunger things are functioning properly?
I have also fitted a new brake pedal switch and checked the electrics to rear light clusters.
OBD2 says my HDC switch works, but the HDC active dash light doesn’t light up, unlike the amigos, which are laughing at me.
Any advice gratefully received, I’m a donkey on the edge‍

Dead man switch said:

I’ve been trying to find the source of my 3A’s, I was driving my FL1 td4 54 plate on a dry warm day, pulling a trailer with an electrical plug issue (lights only on one side), straight road, not touching brakes, boom! On came the amigos! Have been on since.
Put the icarsoft i930 OBD2 on it, showed OSF wheel sensor C1035, signal low or missing.
Removed wheel sensor(later blue magnetic pickup) and fitted new Bearmach jobby after cleaning all around the hub area, it still runs on the original wheel bearings.
Tried to clear faults, showed C1032, wheel speed sensor electrical fault. Checked resistance, good continuity, so sensor must be good. Drove up road the get magnetic bearing to say hello to sensor, no joy!
Ignition on only, OBD2 now says dtc codes cleared, turn engine on and check again, says failed to clear dtc’s.
Took modulator ecu off actuator to have a nose, looks like there has been some hammer happy fitter chipping the abs plungers to maybe unstick them? Who knows, I’ve never had one apart before, so unsure how the abs module works. Question; how do I check to see if these plunger things are functioning properly?
I have also fitted a new brake pedal switch and checked the electrics to rear light clusters.
OBD2 says my HDC switch works, but the HDC active dash light doesn’t light up, unlike the amigos, which are laughing at me.
Any advice gratefully received, I’m a donkey on the edge‍

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Why when the only faults shown relate to wheel sensors do you think the modulator has a fault?

Have there been any modulator related faults?

GrumpyGel said:

Why when the only faults shown relate to wheel sensors do you think the modulator has a fault?

Have there been any modulator related faults?

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Thanks for reply GG, no previous faults, I’m clutching at straws to be honest, I am going to swap sensors from osf to nsf and vica versa to see if the problem migrates.
Do the wheel bearings loose their magnetic efficiency? Regards dms

Dead man switch said:

Thanks for reply GG, no previous faults, I’m clutching at straws to be honest, I am going to swap sensors from osf to nsf and vica versa to see if the problem migrates.
Do the wheel bearings loose their magnetic efficiency? Regards dms

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I dunno the answer to your question, sorry.

I recon though the only thing you can achieve by stripping down the modulator is to create additional problems. First thing I'd do is put it back and hope there are no new fault codes!

Searching the forum for C1035 and C1032 doesn't give many hits, and nobody has returned with what fixed them.

Did you manage to get the sensor out 'in 1 piece' relatively easily? If so, you could try removing the new sensor and shifting one of the other (know working) sensors to the OSF and see if the OSF problem goes and the other wheel flags up. If it does, you know the bearing, wiring back to the ECU and the ECU itself are OK and the original and bearmach sensors are faulty.

I suspect though that the sensors will not come out without a damaging fight though

GrumpyGel said:

I dunno the answer to your question, sorry.

I recon though the only thing you can achieve by stripping down the modulator is to create additional problems. First thing I'd do is put it back and hope there are no new fault codes!

Searching the forum for C1035 and C1032 doesn't give many hits, and nobody has returned with what fixed them.

Did you manage to get the sensor out 'in 1 piece' relatively easily? If so, you could try removing the new sensor and shifting one of the other (know working) sensors to the OSF and see if the OSF problem goes and the other wheel flags up. If it does, you know the bearing, wiring back to the ECU and the ECU itself are OK and the original and bearmach sensors are faulty.

I suspect though that the sensors will not come out without a damaging fight though

Click to expand...

Agreed, been researching how modulators work and they are pretty basic, going to put it back together and swop sensors left to right to see what that shows, hopefully it’s not a break in the wiring loom somewhere, if all else fails I’m going to strip hub for full clean up.
I’ll post up what I find and what the results are, wish me luck, BR dms

GrumpyGel said:

I dunno the answer to your question, sorry.

I recon though the only thing you can achieve by stripping down the modulator is to create additional problems. First thing I'd do is put it back and hope there are no new fault codes!

Searching the forum for C1035 and C1032 doesn't give many hits, and nobody has returned with what fixed them.

Did you manage to get the sensor out 'in 1 piece' relatively easily? If so, you could try removing the new sensor and shifting one of the other (know working) sensors to the OSF and see if the OSF problem goes and the other wheel flags up. If it does, you know the bearing, wiring back to the ECU and the ECU itself are OK and the original and bearmach sensors are faulty.

I suspect though that the sensors will not come out without a damaging fight though

Click to expand...

Forget to say, it’s the later type sensor, they seem to be a better design so came out relatively quickly, haven’t done the left/right swop yet so will have to see how well the other side comes out, fingers crossed.

Check that you've got brake lights the problem could start there

I know nothing about FL1 abs sensors but have fixed a few on other cars. So, in case it helps........
If you still have a sensor fault after swapping sensors I would check two things:
1) Assuming it is a two wire sensor. Check the voltage (ignition on) to ground on the two wires and compare to a known good corner. I don't know the system well enough to say what they should be but a simple comparision should give an indicate if anything is wrong. You could have either bad connections (eg corroded connectors) or a damaged cable.
2) Check the reluctance ring. Again, I don't know the FL1 but I assume there is a reluctance ring on the axle (either a toothed ring or a ring with slots cut in it). I have known these to either corrode away or corrosion under the ring will cause the ring to expand and crack. The crack is very difficult to see but will cause a bad reading on the sensor.

In the case of the cracked reluctance ring. I had this on a vauxhall and the symptoms were an occasional ABS light (generally at higher speeds) and, when it got worse, a grinding noise from the brakes on very gentle braking, just before stopping. I initially though this was just rust on the disc but it turned out it was the abs firing sporadically.

Ah, I did say I knew nothing about the FL1 abs system, didn't I?
I just managed to get RAVE working (it was not playing nicely with windows 10) and now know that post 2002 FL1s appear to have active sensors with the magnetic elements in the seals of the wheel bearings. I know nothing of that sort of setup so you might want to ignore what I posted previously....

Dead man switch said:

I’ve been trying to find the source of my 3A’s, I was driving my FL1 td4 54 plate on a dry warm day, pulling a trailer with an electrical plug issue (lights only on one side), straight road, not touching brakes, boom! On came the amigos! Have been on since.
Put the icarsoft i930 OBD2 on it, showed OSF wheel sensor C1035, signal low or missing.
Removed wheel sensor(later blue magnetic pickup) and fitted new Bearmach jobby after cleaning all around the hub area, it still runs on the original wheel bearings.
Tried to clear faults, showed C1032, wheel speed sensor electrical fault. Checked resistance, good continuity, so sensor must be good. Drove up road the get magnetic bearing to say hello to sensor, no joy!
Ignition on only, OBD2 now says dtc codes cleared, turn engine on and check again, says failed to clear dtc’s.
Took modulator ecu off actuator to have a nose, looks like there has been some hammer happy fitter chipping the abs plungers to maybe unstick them? Who knows, I’ve never had one apart before, so unsure how the abs module works. Question; how do I check to see if these plunger things are functioning properly?
I have also fitted a new brake pedal switch and checked the electrics to rear light clusters.
OBD2 says my HDC switch works, but the HDC active dash light doesn’t light up, unlike the amigos, which are laughing at me.
Any advice gratefully received, I’m a donkey on the edge‍

Click to expand...

I was hoping to offer some amazing revelation and solution, but it does sound like you're approaching the problem in a methodical way. I have had plenty of fun on my FL1 with those friendly three chums, and on mine it has been related to front wheel sensors or the Yaw sensor. In each case, my diagnostic kit told me where the problem was. In fact, the telemetry was very helpful as I could see that there was an intermittent fault on the left front sensor before that caused the amber buddies to appear in their full threesome.

I am not familiar with the icarsoft kit - can it give telemetry? In which case, go for a slow drive to ensure that the ABS sensors on all four wheels are giving sensible readings on the straight and in corners. But assuming the Teeves 25 works the same as the Teeves 20 in my car, you should be able to clear the fault before it comes back on the move.

The HDC will not work while the triple buddies are laughing at you. The whole ABS, TC and HDC system will be in fail-safe mode. Which is polite speak for disabled and not working.

I doubt the problem is in the modulator.

What I would do is:
1. clear fault codes, power everything up and if three amigos cheekily make a reappearance, read new fault code.
2. If the fault code is not instructive, download the telemetry on a slow drive (the later ABS units disable active reading of road speed, but telemetry will store this) - see whether this provides a clear idea of what is going on.

If the OSF sensor remains an issue, then (1) the new sensor is at fault (or there is an issue with the installation) or (2) the ECU cannot see the sensor signal - bad connector connection, broken wire etc.

PS Just because the replacement sensor is new doesn't mean that it is not fault-free...

Good luck and let us know how you get on!!!

archman said:

I know nothing about FL1 abs sensors but have fixed a few on other cars. So, in case it helps........
If you still have a sensor fault after swapping sensors I would check two things:
1) Assuming it is a two wire sensor. Check the voltage (ignition on) to ground on the two wires and compare to a known good corner. I don't know the system well enough to say what they should be but a simple comparision should give an indicate if anything is wrong. You could have either bad connections (eg corroded connectors) or a damaged cable.
2) Check the reluctance ring. Again, I don't know the FL1 but I assume there is a reluctance ring on the axle (either a toothed ring or a ring with slots cut in it). I have known these to either corrode away or corrosion under the ring will cause the ring to expand and crack. The crack is very difficult to see but will cause a bad reading on the sensor.

In the case of the cracked reluctance ring. I had this on a vauxhall and the symptoms were an occasional ABS light (generally at higher speeds) and, when it got worse, a grinding noise from the brakes on very gentle braking, just before stopping. I initially though this was just rust on the disc but it turned out it was the abs firing sporadically.

Click to expand...

It’s deffo an electrical problem, I’ll be having another look this week and post up results of tests, to give others with similar issues pointers, thanks for input A

archman said:

Ah, I did say I knew nothing about the FL1 abs system, didn't I?
I just managed to get RAVE working (it was not playing nicely with windows 10) and now know that post 2002 FL1s appear to have active sensors with the magnetic elements in the seals of the wheel bearings. I know nothing of that sort of setup so you might want to ignore what I posted previously....

Click to expand...

Any clues are good clues Archman, there are so many issues with the amigos and how interconnected the abs hdc and tc are.

Check fuse 13 ( under the bonnet) in fact check all fuses in the car too