Hello all, I've got a pretty messed up 05 G that's got the motor of an 04. Previous owner bought it with a blown engine and decided to put an 04 engine in there. As a result, there's all sorts of issues including the lack of traction control (VDC, SLIP, ABS lights all on 24/7) which we still haven't been able to pin down the exact cause of, and overheating issues which usually go away after we replace whatever needs to be replaced and then comes back a few months later.

Posting here because I'm tired of not being able to fix this thing for good and to get some ideas as to what could be the problems behind these. For the overheating, first time we "fixed" it, we replaced the thermostat (previous thermostat was failing to open). The next bout of overheating was "fixed" through burping the cooling system. A few months later, it was "fixed" through replacing the radiator, as the original's filler neck was deformed, unable to hold pressure. This "fix" lasted about a year before it started giving me trouble again a week ago. Coolant boiling in the reservoir, high temps (obviously), but the fans seem to kick on and the thermostat does seem to be opening. I burped the system again with a kit for about 30 minutes and it's still overheating. Mainly when the A/C is on, but haven't been able to bear driving it around in this heat without the A/C to test. My question is, what else could be the problem? The head gaskets seem to be fine, no liquid coming out of the exhaust, no coolant in the oil, no oil in the coolant, just plain ol' overheating. No codes either, at least engine-related ones.

Onto the traction control. So since getting the car in 2021, all the traction-control-related lights have been on and haven't turned off. I discovered a few weeks ago that the yaw sensor under the center console was disconnected, so I did what I thought would fix the issue and plugged it back in. It didn't magically start working again. Wheel speed sensors have been replaced, alignment is fine, brake fluid is fine, all the "easy" things that could have caused this are accounted for. I'm pretty sure I can hear the ABS pump starting up when I turn the car on but I could be mistaken. The only thing of note that I can think of is that for a bit, there was a high-pitched noise emminating from the engine area of the car, which seemed to be remedied by reseating a fuse or two.

An interesting (but probably unrelated) bit is that when I got some cliche eBay headlights, they didn't work as it was only for 05 models. My ECU is an 04's, so they just didn't work. Only now realizing this.

Last time I took this to a friend's shop who has whatever is able to pull nds2 codes, the codes read:
c1106
c1145
c1146
c1708
c1709
C1710
C1711
u1000
u1001

Sorry for the essay, but I love this car and I'd like for it to be drivable again but it's really testing me at this point. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

For overheating, I would test for gases in the coolant, as well as pressure test the cooling system for any leaks.
you could also bypass the heater core and throttle body just to eliminate a few things for troubleshooting. You may just have a weak hose clamp or small hose leak.

I don't know the codes, but that the U1xxx usually has to do with the ecu comms.

Also may be these are old codes that were never cleared...get an obd2 wifi forseal connector and load Torque Pro app on your phone so that you can read the basic P codes yourself.

 

The codes that I have listed don't show on the Torque app, you need an NDS-compatible software thing(?) in order to read it. Friend's shop has it, I don't. Cooling system doesn't seem to have any leaks as I've already done a pressure test.

 

Well Hell..coolant has to be going somewhere...maybe the oil cooler... keep us posted!

 

Turned out to be the fans not kicking on at the right time + there was a lot of air in the system that needed to be bled out. One $110 radiator fan and a $15 air bleed kit later the overheating has stopped, or at least seemed to have stopped. Now to figure out WTF is causing reaction control to just straight up not work (VDC, SLIP, ABS lights all on).

I tried using nds2 on my phone to pull codes but I guess either my adapter is scuffed and isn't able to pull consult codes or nds2 just doesn't work for that on mobile. Yaw sensor was disconnected (have now since plugged it back in) under the console but plugging it back in didn't seem to do anything. There's either a short somewhere in the harness or something's been cut.

 

Replying for the updates.

 

Need to get off my *** and get it scanned 😭

 

Likely a bad Orr unplugged speed sensor

 

checked and double checked, speed sensors are all good