Hey guys, new member here, just got my 05 Coupe Automatic Sports Tuned at 96k miles last month and cant even enjoy the drive yet, I've been plagued with repairs and mishaps.


First off, thanks in advance for any help and feedback. Apologies for the long text. Now, the main issue is: VDC and Slip light not on when car starts, but VDC and Slip light turn on and stay on after less than 1 minute of driving the car and stays on until I key cycle the ignition. This started 3 days ago and has been consistent.


Prior to 3 days ago, I had another issue: On right handed turns around 30-40mph (turnpike/ramp turns), VDC light flashes and kicks on, stuttering the ABS. VDC light goes off after I exit the turn. If I push through the turn and accelerate while VDC flashes, the slip light will sometimes turn on and both lights remain on until Ignition key cycle. This made the car hard to drive as even sudden swerves or slight turns at a certain mph will kick VDC on and stutter the ABS giving me quite a jump.


The work-around was to press the VDC-Off button on the left side of the Steering Wheel prior to driving. With Vdc button pressed, VDC was much less sensitive BUT STILL was kicking in on the 30-40 turnpike/ramp Right turns ONLY when pressing the brakes, never kicks in when accelerating. I've been driving with VDC-OFF and slowing down a lot on ramps so I don't have to press the Brakes through the turn causing vdc to kick in. Now, up until 3 days ago this was manageable. Currently: With VDC and Slip kicking in after 1 minute of driving, VDC is TRULY off and I can take a turn at 40, or 60, or whatever, and VDC will not stutter the brakes on a wheel. However I'm trying to find the root cause of this as when it's raining or snowing, I'd want to have a working VDC.


Here's what I've done so far:
-Put all new 225/40/19 tires in front as per 05 sports suspension spec
-Put all new 245/40/19 tires in back as per 05 sports suspension spec
-Topped off brake fluid.
-Brought to Nissan dealer to use diagnostic tool. Did test drive, computer read correct signals when turning left and right. Reset steering angle sensor. Said all speed sensors working. Tech could not identify root cause. Thinks it may be an ABS Actuator.
-Replaced both front struts. Replaced both rear shocks. VDC issues with both new and old.
-All suspension parts tight and bushings not worn.
-Brake pads and rotors at decent level checked by 2 techs. May swap for new set next week to try any possibility.


Here's what I HAVENT tried:
-Replace brake pads and rotors
-ECU Reset
-Replacing ABS Actuator
-Replacing YAW sensor
-Sell the damn G


I'm at my wits end trying to figure this out, and I've searched and read a lot of other posts related to VDC. Prior to VDC and Slip coming on after 1 minute of driving, I was going to wire a switch to the YAW sensor under the arm rest so I can keep VDC truly off as some folks here have done, but now because it's off without me doing so, it's both good and bad since I won't have it for bad weather conditions. Perhaps its the YAW sensor going bad? Have the car for a month and cant even enjoy driving the G, sigh. What to do?

 

This might help might not but did anyone touch your Power Steering Rack/Belts? My VDC/Slip lights were on awhile back because my mechanic didnt put the PS rack in right. While I was driving the steering was stiff as hell, I had to keep putting PS fluid in. It got to a point where I had no control of my wheels and I had to call AAA. This maybe be totally irrelevant but figured I give u a suggestion.

 

To my knowledge, the power steering was never touched, but I just got the car last month, there is a small possibility. The steering wheel is tighter than my old car (Nissan Sentra) but not hard to turn. I've checked power stering fluid and its topped off. I may drain the PS fluid or use a turkey baster and drain as much as i can and top it off and see how that plays out..

 

Check if your PS Rack is put in correctly, if your fluid good then you dont really have to add in new fluid. Mine was just leaking

 

Base or X model coupe?

Also, it sounds like you dealt with an incompetant technician, the troubleshooting steps are VERY CLEAR in the FSM, you are obviously able to reproduce the issue and he can read all values via Consult-II, the signal thats triggering the VDC/SLIP can be read at any time during the troubleshoot if the lights are ON. He literally just has to go through the different values for components that can trigger the VDC and see which one it is.

I would ask for a printout of what the values were that he recorded during the troubleshoot, if needed print the section of the FSM for them and take it to the service department lead and explain how they managed to NOT find the issue given the clear and precise steps.

http://www.nicoclub.com/service-manu...Coupe/2005/brc

 

cleric670, thanks for the feedback. Mines should be a base 05 sports suspension automatic (I say should since im still learning a lot about the car and differences in years).

It was actually a buddy of mine who works as a nissan tech and we tried to diagnose it together with me driving and him in passenger. He may have not read the fsm for this car as he hooked up his consul machine and monitored all the wheels and then when he tried to have his machine record the moments that the issue happens, it kicks on the vdc and slip, making it truly off and not able to stutter. After a key cycle, with car off, I can reproduce this if VDC-Off light is on or off (slip light not on). But if he tries to record that moment with his machine, it kicks the slip light on, not allowing it to stutter.

We tested this perhaps 10 times, each time he actively records, slip light comes on, no abs stutter occurs. Machine not recording: i can reproduce each time. Finally had to go to work and couldnt spend any more time on it but I can bring this up to him.

Now I ran into a different issue: Service Engline Light kicked on after starting car a day later, diagnosed thru odbii with P2135 (Throttle Position/Pedal Sensor). I drove the car home 20 miles at normal speeds, did a ecu reset, pedal relearn and idle learn and the SES light's been off for a day, but Im thinking of replacing the pedal sensor (approx $20-30bucks?) and maybe the throttle body or the throttle sensor.

I read a few posts saying that this Pedal sensor or the trottle sensor may also cause the Slip light to kick in if sensor's going bad. What would you guys recommend I do first? I suppose I could have a different buddy of mine test the voltage with a multimeter of the sensors before blinding swapping a pedal sensor or throttle body or a throttle sensor.

 

Well if the computer recorded a pedal switch failure then it probably happened, if it were MY vehicle I'd just replace the item if there were more than 100k miles on the vehicle just to ensure it didn't happen again but the test procedure in the FSM is pretty straight forward.

Series 3x AAA batteries to produce ~5vdc, hook up to the pedal switch, read the output values with a digital multimeter, voltage should fluctuate 0.5 - 4.5vdc nominal, slightly different actual readings due to varying battery voltage.

There is a somewhat longer process for troubleshooting the individual components to the VDC system in the FSM to find out exactly what is triggering the VDC to turn on, I would definitely have that done if the issue still persists after replacing the pedal.

 

Yeah, the pedal sensor was pretty cheap so it's already ordered and replacing it myself looks very straight forward. I can always test the old sensor and the new sensor just to make sure they're within spec but cars already at 98k so might as well replace it and keep the old sensor just incase.