ESP Light on, dangerous brakes randomly pull left or right

phaser

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 18, 2004
Location
Oregon
TDI
2004 Jetta PD - 490k
SOLVED - ESP Light on, dangerous brakes randomly pull left or right

Solved - see post 19

A friend just moved to Arkansas, and called with the following problem.

04 Jetta TDI, 155k miles

ESP light flashes, and the brakes will randomly, on their own, engage, and pull hard left or right with no braking input from the driver, and without warning.

Dangerous to say the least.

Any ideas? Bad sensor?
 
Last edited:

40X40

Experienced
Joined
Feb 12, 2006
Location
Kansas City area, MO
TDI
2013 Passat SEL Premium
Park the car and scan for codes.

Possible problems include (but are not limited to) YAW sensor and STEERING WHEEL position sensor.

Bill
 

40X40

Experienced
Joined
Feb 12, 2006
Location
Kansas City area, MO
TDI
2013 Passat SEL Premium
Could the ABS be related?

Absolutely!

The ABS is used by the ESP system to activate the brakes individually to help maintain control of the car.

The ABS light can be on because one or more of several parts of the system are acting up. A code scan will help narrow the list of suspects.

Bill
 

phaser

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 18, 2004
Location
Oregon
TDI
2004 Jetta PD - 490k
Absolutely!

The ABS is used by the ESP system to activate the brakes individually to help maintain control of the car.

The ABS light can be on because one or more of several parts of the system are acting up. A code scan will help narrow the list of suspects.

Bill

Got some additional info. When he has the car up on jacks, and spins the FRONT wheels fast, the esp light comes on, stays on, and goes off when the car is set back on the ground.

Thoughts?

I put him in touch with autenje (vag-com locator) in Little Rock to see if he can arrange a scan.

When the either the left or right brake kicks in, it's a sharp hard pull.

My friend has parked the car. He's scared to drive it anywhere.
 
Last edited:

Losha

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 8, 2005
Location
Sioux Falls, SD
TDI
06 Jetta TDI DSG, 2001 Golf TDI, Audi S6, A8, Toureg
Never seen such a odd ball issue, but most likely you have bad wheel speed sensor or faulty abs module that acts up and applies brakes to random wheels. As others suggested, get ABS module scanned.
 

Zak3

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 19, 2009
Location
Morocco
TDI
98' Audi A3 8L (from AGR to ARL)
it already happened on a friend audi a3, it was YAW sensor (under steering wheel) who was sending wrong information and make car act like that, to drive normally but without ESP, you can remove connector from YAW sensor, the ESP light will come on but no more random breaking.
 

phaser

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 18, 2004
Location
Oregon
TDI
2004 Jetta PD - 490k
its still drivable if you pull the ABS/ESP fuse right, or is there more to it?
This would be great. Can anyone confirm this?

What about turning off the ESP at the dash switch?

If either idea could make the car safely drivable to get to a TDI shop, this would help my friend out immensely.

I'm also loaning him my VCDS cable to scan.

.
 
Last edited:

phaser

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 18, 2004
Location
Oregon
TDI
2004 Jetta PD - 490k
its still drivable if you pull the ABS/ESP fuse right, or is there more to it?
This doesn't work. My friend pulled the fuse, and it just sets off all kinds of alarms.

Turning off the ESP at the switch didn't work either.

Still waiting for him to do a scan, and get any codes.
 

Hyde7278

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 11, 2012
Location
Central Mich
TDI
2001 Golf GL
Disconect the connector at the ABS control module/pump this will take ABS out of the loop and should be able to drive the car to get it looked at.

To disconnect you pull the slide on the side of the connector as you do this the connector will release.
 

phaser

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 18, 2004
Location
Oregon
TDI
2004 Jetta PD - 490k
Update on this issue: No fault codes found, yet this dangerous random braking issue can be repeated any time the car is driven in just a few hundred feet.
 

phaser

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 18, 2004
Location
Oregon
TDI
2004 Jetta PD - 490k
Solved

My friend found the horizontal a-arm bolt completely lose, the one that threads into captive nut inside the subframe.

Upon inspection the bolt itself was to short, and apparently had only been engaging two or three threads, which were stripped.

This was allowing movement of the a-arm and causing false readings of the speed sensor (I assume).

The nut was secure, and in good condition.

The proper bolt was purchased and installed, and problem solved.

oldpoopie's subframe repair guide here for those with a loose nut here.
 
Last edited:
Top