Did you try restarting the engine and see if the warnings go away?

The loose wire was probably the pad wear indicator.

If the warnings continue then its likely that you have disturbed or damaged one of the ABS sensors.

 

Yeah I tried restarting it I think it was the pad wear indicator aswell. I reckon your right with the ABS sensors so I'll try that first, where are they though ?

If it's kicked off all of a sudden it could be that one or more of the wheel speed sensors or sensor wires has been 'tweaked' accidentally when you've been busy helicoiling - although I can't imagine how that would have happened?!
There's one sensor at each wheel, check the wires carefully.
It seems common to find the brake pad wear sensor disconnected (on the three 147s I've seen on a ramp, each had it disconnected) and it sounds like that's what you found on the n/s front but without pics of what you saw it's hard to tell

I'll have a good look over the wires tomorrow then although I'm pretty sure I didn't break or move anything out of place. Must be something simple as it was fine before I started working on it the other day.

i got the same message with out doing anything to the car error comes up when u brake the first time
i cleaned the switches under the pedals and it was gone

Yeah that sounds similar.. I'll have a look tomorrow. When you say switches under the pedal are they in an obvious place?

 

If it's kicked off all of a sudden it could be that one or more of the wheel speed sensors or sensor wires has been 'tweaked' accidentally when you've been busy helicoiling - although I can't imagine how that would have happened?!
There's one sensor at each wheel, check the wires carefully.
It seems common to find the brake pad wear sensor disconnected (on the three 147s I've seen on a ramp, each had it disconnected) and it sounds like that's what you found on the n/s front but without pics of what you saw it's hard to tell

 

i got the same message with out doing anything to the car error comes up when u brake the first time
i cleaned the switches under the pedals and it was gone

 

brake pedal switch it works your brake lights and other things £11 for a new one off EBay

 

If you can get diagnostics on it it should narrow down which corner is the issue. I had similar warning light when the abs ring ( the item that the sensor reads ) was corroded and lost a few teeth . New wheel bearing sorted it as abs ring is included on there afaik.

 

your abs sensor is at the rear of the hub and held in with a 10mm bolt

 

Righto, taken the wheels back off and checked all the abs sensors and whatnot and they're all fine as I thought. Something I forgot to mention which I only thought of today is the fact that after changing the wishbones I took it for a drive to see if there was any more squeaking and no warning lights came up on that journey... when i got it back I then changed the gearbox oil. To get to the dipstick I took off the brake fluid reservour so I could get better access, the reservour may have been on abit of an angle to get to the filler plug so I'm wondering maybe if the fluid has been on one side away from the fluid sensor and now the ECU is thinking I'm low on brake fluid? That's all I can think of really as I definatly didn't catch any thing when helicoiling or taking the undertray off. I guess the only way to know is to put a diagnostics on it.

I've read a little on fiat ecu scan, anybody know much about that?

 

Is your battery good? Low batteries can trigger all kinds of strange warning lights on the 147.

 

The battery hasn't given me any trouble before no, it just seems ironic how it's thrown out these warning lights at me when I've decided to change the gearbox oil, wishbones and tyres.

 

Maybe you had the doors open and the radio on while you were working which has been enough to kill the battery, especially in this cold weather. It's happened before you see!

 

Well it randomly went out again just after I had given the car a wash. So I'll see if it comes back again tomorrow. MUsn't be anything big as it has gone out twice now but comes back...:rant:

 

I recently did a full engine transplant and had this problem I bled the clutch and braking system problem went away.

 

Probably easiest to just check the fault codes, then you will pretty well know exactly what to look for. Sounds like a bad connection in the front somewhere. If it was the back sensors, or the control unit you would have an EBD failure also, which you don't, so appears it's the front.

 

Thanks Alexie that's interesting., the lights came back on tonight so there is definatly an issue there. Alexie... What code readers do you recommend? Fiatecuscan is the only one I know of but can that read abs aswell?

 

yep FES is the ******, get an lead off ebay and download the free demo of FES

check brake switch as above and check wire connections near to where youve been working even if seemingly unrelated

 

Hi chaps, just had the VDC system failure message come on in my GT yesterday too.
Funny enough, it happened at around the same time last year.

Last time round, I just unplugged the connectors to the front abs sensors at the top of the strut mounts and cleaned them with some isopropyl alcohol spray. Therefore I did the same last nite.

Switched on this morning and got the VDC message again as I reversed off the drive. I then switched off the car, back on and didn't get the message again on my 70 mile commute. Fingers crossed!

Thinking of jacking up the front and taking off the sensors from the hub to give them a clean tho. Is the 10mm bolt the only thing holding it on? Will I likely break them by taking them out of the hub? Anything I should be watching out for?

I did manange to clean the rear sensors when I was changing brake discs last year, didn't do the fronts as they were in an enclosed part of the hub.

 

Interesting reading.
My daughter came home yesterday to say that her 147 flashed up the same messages for a while.

 

VDC error does seem to randomly come up once in a blue moon for some reason. Usually shortly after a start when you first brake. Switching off an back on cures it. One of these Alfa things perhaps.

 

If it's happening when you brake the most likely cause is a faulty brake light switch, a common problem. Replacing the switch (around £15 if I remember correctly) will cure it.

For information do a search, which will bring up several threads on the subject.

 

Hmm, I haven't had time to look into it yet but I have done fair few miles in it and it's been find apart from ABS not working. Something I have noticed is this, I start the car (wether first thing in the morning or when I've come out of the shops) and the lights come straight on ( ABS and VDC) after pulling away about 50 yards down the road and they will go out... then 2 minutes later will come on again! :rant:

I think this must be something to do with the brake light switch as mentioned, even though it all worked fine before I did the wishbones and stuff :rant:

 

I think this must be something to do with the brake light switch as mentioned, even though it all worked fine before I did the wishbones and stuff :rant:

Doesn't sound like the normal symptoms of brake light switch failure. When it happened to me the failure warning would come on when I braked & could only be cleared by switching the ignition off & back on again.

 

Sounds like a poorly ABS sensor. Probably fails on start because the resistance of the sensor is out of limits, so it fails the power on test. However, when you drive off the ECU probably initially receives a good enough signal to cause the ECU to reset the ABS error, it then fails again because the marginal signal weakens causing the ECU to flag an error.

You can test the resistance of the front sensors at the connection in the engine bay. Can't remember the value, it's on here somewhere if you search.

 

Those sypmtoms would signify a faulty solenoid in the ABS unit itself, I am wondering if the OP has checked the battery terminals, the power feed for the ABS and that the fuse isn't damaged, best thing to do is plug it in and read the ABS fault codes.

 

I have been having similar problem with VDC system failure coming on, the bigger problem is that it occasionally kicks in the ABS whilst driving, as if it thinks I am skidding!! I have spoke to numerous people, had it on diagnostic machine which indicated Yaw sensor, I thought just replace this an I'll be sorted but after taking it to Gus at Alfa tune he is not convinced it is the Yaw sensor and doesn't want me wasting money. Any ideas as the random braking is a concern!!

 

I used to get all of these errors on my old 147 jtd. They usually happened when it was a very damp and cold day, once the car got warm they usually cleared. Can you switch off the driver aids on your car ESR etc?

 

If you are responding to me pal, I have turned the ESR off but it still happens, warning light and random braking!

 

My ESR goes off when the abs and vdc faults come up and I can't turn it back on

 

Righto, I already took of the wheels and checked the ABS sensors over and they looked fine, taken brake light switch off today and cleaned the terminals and they looked fine anyway. I am fed up of the beeping and lights flashing on my display now and so have decided to just buy a diagnostics kit, I've read into Fiat multi scan which seems the one to go for.

I know the leads I need to buy-http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ALFA-FIAT-DIAGNOSTIC-CABLES-KKL-VAG-AIRBAG-ABS-ECU-FIATECUSCAN-MULTIECUSCAN-/261347717704?pt=UK_Diagnostic_Tools_Equipment&hash=item3cd989b248

Now for the ecu scan, is it this Multiecuscan - Diagnostics software for Italian cars


And also, with the paid version can you remove the service indicator light? Mine is only a couple hundred miles from flashing up!

 

I think you need an ELM lead for Service Reset, the VAG KKL doesn't work for body computer functions. Functions and required interfaces are listed here:

Multiecuscan - Diagnostics software for Italian cars

 

Thanks Alexie, I'll look into it!

I have had lots of VDC/ABS errors and they have all been down to the connectors to the wheel sensors in the engine bay and boot. I ended up cutting them off and soldering the wires together - problem solved! The connectors were not corroded so just don't seem to be particularly reliable. You should be able to tell from the fault codes as it will throw up an open circuit to the relevant wheel.

Keith

Thanks Keith, where are the wheel sensors in the engine bay? Near the fuse box? If I got the fiat multi scan it would definatly come up with what wheel was at fault or wether it's the brake light switch or something else?

Just another thought, is there no way that the brake fluid reservouir sensor could be the issue? Reason being when I changed the gearbox oil I had to undo the reservouir and just push it too one side-maybe the fluid all drained away from the sensor? Long shot I know