hello, i am new to this forum and i don't really have a question, but i would like to share my problem and my solution with everyone else who may be experiencing similar problems. my wife's 2008 town and country van began acting up about a week ago, and she also had some lights come on, on the instrument panel. when this happened, she also said that she was accellerating from a stop while turning slightly. she said that the van made an awful grinding noise, also. the lights that came on were the ESP/BAS light, along with the traction control light. the van did not have any pcm codes to be extracted. i am a certified mechanic, but i had never experienced any problems similar to this. i knew that this was definaitely a traction control problem and that the grinding was probably the traction control system cutting power to the wheels. after doing some reading, i concluded that the problem with the van was more than likely a faulty "steering angle sensor". the steering angle sensor is located inside of the clock spring, which is in the steering column. the clock spring is also what supplies power to the air bag and allows the steering wheel to turn back and forth, while maintaining a steady power supply to the air bag, horn, and steering wheel radio controls ( if equipped ) after replacing the clock spring/steering angle sensor, the van was back to operating properly. all of the dash lights are off again and no more grinding noise. even though i am a certified mechanic, this job was pretty simple and could be done by a do it yourselfer, without too much difficulty. just be careful and take your time! also, the air bag is not held onto the steering wheel with screws, it has 3 spring type clips, that need to be pryed over. i used a mirror to see them and it made it very easy to see what was going on. i hope this helps somebody that is experiencing the problems that i had with my wife's van. i decided to post this, because i couldn't find much of anything relating to this!

 

Does this certified mechanic have a good scanner that can get into his ABS module?
And you should well know that the PCM would not have any codes dealing with an ABS issue tow separate systems all together.

 

vernd,

Welcome to the forum!
Thanks for sharing your feedback, may point someone else in the community in the right direction.

 

thanks for your response! the answer to your question is no, I do NOT have a scanner that will communicate with the abs module or the body control module. I did know that using a pcm/ecm scanner would NOT extract the codes either, I was only using this as a reference to let others with less knowledge (than myself ) know that using a normal pcm scanner would do them no good. I work on medium to heavy duty trucks, so i have very little use for keeping up to date scanning equipment for passenger vehicles at my disposal, it's just not cost effective. ( but that doesn't mean that i'm going to run right out and pay someone else to do it either, knowing full well that i'm capable ) i was just letting the person that had a similar problem and wanted to attempt to fix it themselves, where and how to start looking for their problem. ( especially if they don't have the proper scan tools ) generally speaking, if they are on this forum reading, they may have some interest in fixing the problem themselves, or at least it may give educate them a little, in the event they take it to a shop that tries to rake them over the coals.

 

Just curios. Can you test a steering angle sensor with a typical multimeter or do you have to have a typical advanced scanner?

 

i'm not sure how you'd go about properly testing the function of the clock spring/ steering angle sensor. i don't know if the steering angle sensor part of the clock spring has an individual "plug/pin" or if it is just integrated into the clock spring, then the position of the steering wheel is calculated through the body control module somehow. your guess is as good as mine on that one. i don't work on many passenger vehicles anymore, so i don't stay really familiar with their ever changing technology. if you are able to find any info on the testing of the steering angle sensor, please post it, it'd be nice to know.

 

Is it possible to shut the traction control system off completely?

 

Hi Hoodie109,
Even if the Traction Control Switch is flipped off, the system will still remain partially operational for safety purposes.

 

I understand that that's why I asked if it can be turned off completely.

 

I am experiencing the same problem and took it into the dealership but they werent able to diagnose the problem. But now im going to take it in to them again and reccomend the steering angle sensor. Hopefully that will fix the problem