Stability Control Fault VE Calais

[BLACK 346]

After much searching I thought I might throw this on the forum just in case someone has come across it and may offer some ideas. Coming back from Melbourne earlier in the week my Calais threw a Stability Control Fault and went into what is called Safety mode (nothing fkn safe about it, but that is another story). Managed to limp it to Ultra tune and after a few days being diagnosed they have made zero progress. Codes say that the Throttle body is out of range, but a replacement TB did nothing. They even changed the throttle pedal to see if that was the issue, no go. Only issue we had on the way to Melbourne which may or may not be related was the cruise control randomly shutting off and refusing to reactivate, and when I restarted the car after checking into our hotel in Melbourne it kept stalling for about 3 starts. After that ran great leaving Melbourne after being parked for 3 days and then bang Stab control fault, check engine light and safety mode. Have reached out to Brad who has done all the mods and am waiting to see what he says. Any thoughts or experiences appreciated.

[amckiwi]

The only time I had stab issue was when I was running a battery just past the time it should have been replaced

[BLACK 346]

The only time I had stab issue was when I was running a battery just past the time it should have been replaced

Hey mate, funny you should mention that. I was having a last search on here and found a thread that mentioned how much trouble batteries can cause in these cars. The Optima Red top that is in the car is probably getting on for 8 years old. The car sits a idle quite a bit but usually on a CTECH trickle charger, there have been times where I have left it idle without the charger though, and as I said the battery is getting a pretty old. I rang Ultra tune about an hour ago and told him, he is going to throw a new battery in prior to me collecting it later this arvo. Fingers crossed that is the issue Thanks for letting me know.

[amckiwi]

Fingers crossed here for you

[BLACK 346]

Fingers crossed here for you

Thanks mate. Unfortunately it was not the magic fix.

They put a new battery in and no difference. My battery came up perfect on their test machine also. So far car has brand new throttle body, brand new throttle pedal and brand new harness extension to the throttle body. So nearly $1200 in parts. I got about 2 km from Ultra tune and the stability control fault alarm went off and into safety mode. At least I had a nice safe drive home from there dodging buses with 4 cylinders and about what feels like 30hp. Below are the codes that UT are getting from their scan. Car is mafless tuned so not sure why that code comes up?

[whitels1ss]

Might be a bit of faulty wiring or bad earth?

In many tunes when the car is scanned the MAF will show up as not connected but that will not set off the engine light.

[Smitty]

.. one from left field

have seen this occur when a wheel speed sensor dies or gets cranky not telling the computer stuff

[BLACK 346]

One thing I forgot to mention. When I picked the car up the battery was dead flat when I went to start it. Geoff came straight over with a jump pack and got me going, but a little confused as to why it was dead flat. Have since had it on the CTEK and all seems fine now, but tempted to just put a battery in anyway considering how old it is. I am also wondering how reliable the testers are that they use? Would they show a dead/faulty cell?

[whitels1ss]

One thing I forgot to mention. When I picked the car up the battery was dead flat when I went to start it. Geoff came straight over with a jump pack and got me going, but a little confused as to why it was dead flat. Have since had it on the CTEK and all seems fine now, but tempted to just put a battery in anyway considering how old it is. I am also wondering how reliable the testers are that they use? Would they show a dead/faulty cell?

I would certainly ask Geoff why it was dead flat? Might be something that gives you an extra clue about the faults?

[BLACK 346]

I would certainly ask Geoff why it was dead flat? Might be something that gives you an extra clue about the faults?

Just spoke with him, only thing he can think of is that he left the ignition in accessory. Other than that the car turns everything off after a certain period. He was unsure though as quite busy and doing a million things at once.

[BLACK 346]

Battery has been on CTEK all night. Just started it in the shed and let it run for 10 minutes. No dash alarms at all, not even check engine light. Not convinced enough to drive it anywhere though. Will look to purchase a new Optima over the next day or so. Was reading the thread where Gary (Wonky) recommends the D27F so might give that a go.

[Peter B - CV8]

.. one from left field

have seen this occur when a wheel speed sensor dies or gets cranky not telling the computer stuff

Yep - early VE's also suffer from internal wire breakage in the rear electrical loom that connects wheel speed sensor/abs etc.

[BLACK 346]

Yep - early VE's also suffer from internal wire breakage in the rear electrical loom that connects wheel speed sensor/abs etc.

Cheers. I did mention this to Geoff at UT, he was pretty sure that this would trigger an ABS fault as well. I am on my second rear connector loom, replaced it about 4 years ago. They are less than $100 so might just throw a new one in anyway.

[BLACK 346]

Spoke with the LS Guru Brad, he also said 100 percent put a new battery in it. So Optima D27F is on it's way. Got it for $400 online, cheapest I could find in Adelaide was over $600. Once installed will take it in for Brad to diagnose. Thanks for all the great advice in this thread people, the old forum still has a pulse

[Wonky]

One thing I forgot to mention. When I picked the car up the battery was dead flat when I went to start it. Geoff came straight over with a jump pack and got me going, but a little confused as to why it was dead flat. Have since had it on the CTEK and all seems fine now, but tempted to just put a battery in anyway considering how old it is. I am also wondering how reliable the testers are that they use? Would they show a dead/faulty cell?

The only way to test your battery with certainty is using a conductance battery tester as the usual, older methods are unreliable at best. Watch https://youtu.be/Oi8sUE9XCgA to see why.

Over the years I've had batteries which test fine using the "old" methods but weren't really good. I bought one of those conductance testers a few years ago from USA before they were readily available here. Love it! So easy to check voltage as my battery won't start the car after about a week but that's a big improvement on the two Optima Yellow Tops I've had!