Lude Generation

Prior to its two year sleep in the garage, my 4WS used to work and only throw the odd wobbly which was always reset by pulling the clock radio fuse.

Since it's resurrection the 4WS light is on all the time. I've tried the usual resets and today attempted the control unit soldering task which was great fun. Two of the soldered joints behind the relays looked suspect so I redid them and put it all back together but the light hasn't gone out even after a subsequent fuse pull. That said, I haven't driven it yet but was expecting the light to go out.

I've read a lot online about diagnosing it with the paperclip method but I've tried this a few times and the light just stays solid. The SRS light flashes but that hasn't got a problem to my knowledge as I reset it separately.

Any ideas? Does the paperclip thing definitely work - maybe I'm not getting it right.

Paperclip definitely works, but you need to get the correct side of the pins in the plug and get a good connection. It's entirely possible with a poor connection to get one of the ECU's going into fault read mode and not the others (or to get none at all). Try a different paperclip, or a short length of wire and try the other side of the pins.

Also, have you checked that the 4WS ECU is getting power and has a good earth? If it isn't, you'd still get the 4WS fault light on I think, but obviously it wouldn't work and you wouldn't be able to get it to read any codes.

Out of interest, did you only resolder the two joints that you thought looked dodgy, or some of the others as well? When I've done mine, I couldn't see anything definitely wrong but resoldered anyway and all was well thereafter. nb: that was after reading the codes and diagnosing it as definitely a faulty ECU.

As wurly says, keep trying to get the code, took me a while before i got it.

When you start the engine, do you hear a series of clicks coming from the 4ws ecu?

I'll have to check re the clicks and source a new paperclip then. I'm sure you'll all agree that the access in the footwell isn't fantastic!

Wurly - what procedure did you use to get the codes as I've read a few different variants. Is it the 45 deg wheel thing?

I re soldered all five for each relay. The unit was a bit of a pig to get out and there were do many screws so I thought I'd make sure I didn't need to go back

I'll check the power tomorrow...not sure I can face another dodgy earth though!!!!

You have a 4g right?

The 4ws reset doesn't work on a 4g only the 5g

To get the codes, all you have to do is short the blue service connector and turn the ignition on, there's no steering wheel antics involved

wurlycorner wrote:To get the codes, all you have to do is short the blue service connector and turn the ignition on, there's no steering wheel antics involved

It doesn't work

Tried a bit of wire and three different paper clips and no luck.

The SRS light blinks but the 4WS light stays solid. So annoying!

What do the ABS and CEL do? Have you checked for power/earth at the 4WS ECU yet?


And you are checking the blue connector rather than the grey on next to it, right?

wurlycorner wrote:What do the ABS and CEL do? Have you checked for power/earth at the 4WS ECU yet?


And you are checking the blue connector rather than the grey on next to it, right?

Yep definitely the blue connector with two contacts in it.

The ABS doesn't light up and I have no idea where the CEL is because it's never lit up previously and it isn't one of the lit ones.
Nope not checked the 4WS yet. Couldn't face kneeling in the back of the car again today

sarah_h wrote:Yep definitely the blue connector with two contacts in it.

The ABS doesn't light up and I have no idea where the CEL is because it's never lit up previously and it isn't one of the lit ones.
Nope not checked the 4WS yet. Couldn't face kneeling in the back of the car again today

Haha yep, not the most comfortable of places to work in.

The CEL is the orange light with the engine symbol, it's what flashes any codes stored in the engine ECU.