[howayasham041]

Hi

Iv just had a warning come up on the dash today saying ''warning motor system control failure'' iv also now got an engine light come up on the dash too

Can anyone shone some light on the subject?

thanks
Aaron

 

[CJO]

This could be one of a thousand different things - all it means is that the ECU is not happy about something.

You need to get the fault read by one of the software packages to know what it is.

 

[Alexie]

If the car drives OK you could wait a couple of days to see if it resets by itself.

 

[howayasham041]

ok iv checked on ao and it says it could be the battery this could be true because iv had it off the road for 3 months. It had a good drive yesterday so it should be ok now. I just have to get the engine light turned off.

 

[FoxtrotOscar]

If the car seems to drive OK, check the temperature; if its running cold due to a faulty thermostat, this would trigger the warning light.

 

[howayasham041]

no shes running fine i have driven it again since and everything seems to be normal except the beep and warning coming up on the screen when i start up and then the engine light when all the other lights go out. its had a couple of drives this weekend an if it was the battery wouldnt it be charged by now?

 

[Mr Baggy]

even if battery is charged the ecu will need to be reset to clear the fault.
as previously posted the warning light/alarm could be for anything really although from what you've said the battery does seem most likely.

 

[156Chris]

If the car seems to drive OK, check the temperature; if its running cold due to a faulty thermostat, this would trigger the warning light.

Nope, running cold will not log a fault in the ECU.

even if battery is charged the ecu will need to be reset to clear the fault.
as previously posted the warning light/alarm could be for anything really although from what you've said the battery does seem most likely.

Not true, if the fault is no longer present the light will reset after a number of starts (the number seems to be random, but is usually between 3-5)

 

[Mr Baggy]

learn something every day:thumbs:

 

[FoxtrotOscar]

Just to clarify; if the engine is running too cold due to a defective thermostat, this WILL trigger the warning light. After the engine has been running for a certain length of time, the ECU expects the temperature to be above a certain level. As the ECUs' diagnostics can only detect electronic failures, not mechanical ones, it interprets this problem (incorrectly) as a faulty temperature sender, and illuminates the fault light.

 

[156Chris]

Just to clarify; if the engine is running too cold due to a defective thermostat, this WILL trigger the warning light. After the engine has been running for a certain length of time, the ECU expects the temperature to be above a certain level. As the ECUs' diagnostics can only detect electronic failures, not mechanical ones, it interprets this problem (incorrectly) as a faulty temperature sender, and illuminates the fault light.

Not on a 156 (or 147 or GT)it won't ... there are no checks made by the ECU ... have you not seen just how many threads there are on here called "my cars running cold is that normal" ... yet none of them talk about an engine warning light (or any error codes)

 

[156Chris]

you will get an error if there is no signal from the sender, this will be accompanied by the high speed fan being turned on (because the ECU doesn't know what temp the car is running at)

 

[ALFA TUNER]

Just to clarify; if the engine is running too cold due to a defective thermostat, this WILL trigger the warning light. After the engine has been running for a certain length of time, the ECU expects the temperature to be above a certain level. As the ECUs' diagnostics can only detect electronic failures, not mechanical ones, it interprets this problem (incorrectly) as a faulty temperature sender, and illuminates the fault light.

Sorry but you are wrong.No fault will be triggered even if you are running at less than 50* for hours.The ecu(in this case anyway) has no time counting facilities.

 

[mark williams]

i am also having the same problem running at 50* and motor control failure no heat in car when fan is on is it a hard job to change thermostat ? if any one can surggest any thing else all help welcome

 

[seymour beaver]

I used my 147 to jump start another vehicle a week or two ago and had the motor control warning show for a few hours then it reset.There is a lot to keep up with CAN bus. Dissconnect your headlamps and the mileage will flash!! You may ask why disconnect the headlamps but if you replace an engine then fire it up to check it runs ok before replacing the headlamps and bumper =flashing mileometer.

 

[156Chris]

i am also having the same problem running at 50* and motor control failure no heat in car when fan is on is it a hard job to change thermostat ? if any one can surggest any thing else all help welcome

5min job on a TS (well not quite), it's bolted onto the side of the engine (between the engine and the battery) it's easily accessible and is only held on with a couple of bolts, also the stat for a TS is pretty cheap to (well in comparison with the 2.4 JTD)

I used my 147 to jump start another vehicle a week or two ago and had the motor control warning show for a few hours then it reset.There is a lot to keep up with CAN bus. Dissconnect your headlamps and the mileage will flash!! You may ask why disconnect the headlamps but if you replace an engine then fire it up to check it runs ok before replacing the headlamps and bumper =flashing mileometer.

Top tip ... try to avoid jump starting modern cars, they can fry the ECU ... if someone asks for you help, instead of jump starting them drive them down to Halford and buy (or get them to buy) Halfords Power Pack 100 with Compressor from Halfords Was £104.99 Save £35.00 Price £69.99 1/3 Off Halfords Power Packs

 

[mark williams]

thanks chris going to get a stat. can you think of any thing else i could try

 

[156Chris]

thanks chris going to get a stat. can you think of any thing else i could try

I must admit first thing I'd always do is get your car plugged into some diagnostics to read out the actual temperature reported by the ECU ... also whilst your at it check the condition of you rad (don't ask me why but rads seem to go at about the same time as stat's), if you replace both at the same time you'll only need to lose 1 lot of coolant.

 

[snoon]

i had this error show up every day for a week, then it hasn't been on since??

 

[howayasham041]

Hi i got the car hooked up to the diagnostics machine and it said that it was the cruise control having a problem. the only thing is, is that i dont have cruise control but the cables are apparently there?? this means that i will be adding cruise control as iv read on here that its plug and play.atatch the stawk and there you go.

thanks for the help buys