Steering Assist Error, ESP Error, G85, Fixed

Wilkins

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 19, 2005
Location
British Columbia
TDI
05 Jetta Wagon 5sp, 10 Sportwagen 6MT
A few weeks ago I started getting warning lights at start-up for yellow steering assist (K161 steering wheel) and ESP (K115 skidding car). I think I have corrected the issue, fingers crossed, and thought I would document what turned out to be a very straightforward and easy fix. In the process I also sorted out a minor alignment related issue and the car is now driving beautifully.

I pulled codes with VCDS: 01309, 00778, 01316, 01312. Seemed to be a data communication problem

Code:
01-Engine -- Status: OK 0000
03-ABS Brakes -- Status: Malfunction 0010
04-Steering Angle -- Status: OK 0000
08-Auto HVAC -- Status: OK 0000
09-Cent. Elect. -- Status: Malfunction 0010
15-Airbags -- Status: OK 0000
16-Steering wheel -- Status: OK 0000
17-Instruments -- Status: OK 0000
19-CAN Gateway -- Status: Malfunction 0010
1C-Position Sensing -- Status: OK 0000
25-Immobilizer -- Status: OK 0000
2E-Media Player 3 -- Status: Cannot be reached 1100
42-Door Elect, Driver -- Status: OK 0000
44-Steering Assist -- Status: Malfunction 0010
46-Central Conv. -- Status: OK 0000
4F-Centr. Electr. II -- Status: OK 0000
52-Door Elect, Pass. -- Status: OK 0000
55-Headlight Range -- Status: OK 0000
56-Radio -- Status: Malfunction 0010
62-Door, Rear Left -- Status: OK 0000
72-Door, Rear Right -- Status: OK 0000
77-Telephone -- Status: Cannot be reached 1100

Address 03: ABS Brakes (J104) Labels:. 1K0-907-379-60EC1F.clb
Part No SW: 1K0 907 379 AH HW: 1K0 907 379 AH
Component: ESP MK60EC1 H30 0107
Revision: 00H30001
Coding: 114B600C49270000880E06E9921D0042300000
Shop #: WSC 00066 000 00000
VCID: 78AAE177F2DAE5ABB73-802C

2 Faults Found:

01309 - Power Steering Control Module (J500)
004 - No Signal/Communication - Intermittent
Freeze Frame:
Fault Status: 00100100
Fault Priority: 3
Fault Frequency: 2
Reset counter: 93

00778 - Steering Angle Sensor (G85)
004 - No Signal/Communication - Intermittent
Freeze Frame:
Fault Status: 00100100
Fault Priority: 2
Fault Frequency: 1
Reset counter: 93

Address 44: Steering Assist Labels: 1K0-909-14x-GEN3.clb
Part No: 1K0 909 144 J
Component: EPS_ZFLS Kl. 70 3001
Revision: 00H17000
Shop #: WSC 02069 000 90108
VCID: 313C1C535D20F4E330D-8064

2 Faults Found:
01312 - Powertrain Data Bus
014 - Defective - Intermittent
Freeze Frame:
Fault Status: 00101110
Fault Priority: 4
Fault Frequency: 44
Reset counter: 93

01316 - ABS Control Module
004 - No Signal/Communication - Intermittent
Freeze Frame:
Fault Status: 00100100
Fault Priority: 3
Fault Frequency: 1
Reset counter: 92
The errors in 19 and 56 have to do with trying to scan the car without turning the POLAR off first, you can ignore them. The 09 Cent Electric doesn’t show up in the actual scan, don’t know what that is.

The warning lights would show up intermittently when the car was first started. Usually they would go out within the first 500 m, often by the bottom of the driveway. Once the car was warm they didn’t come back until the car had sat for a couple of hours. They were weather dependent, if it was cold and dry they were less likely, if warm and wet they would show up and the slushier the weather the longer they took to disappear. When lit the steering was occasionally a bit weird, erratically pulling left or right. Almost felt like real steering feedback.

I was pretty sure it was a bad connection somewhere and since it was cold in my garage I was trying to put off any repair, but when the steering wheel started turning red with power assist cutting in and out, I decided to do something. A number of previous posters had mentioned a ground issue but didn’t leave much detail.

Searching through Ross-Tech’s very helpful wiki’s (https://forums.ross-tech.com/index.php?threads/11654/#post-106223) I found the G85 steering angle sensor in my 2010 and I think all 2009-2014 mk 6 golfs or Sportwagens*, is located in the steering rack along with the G269 steering column torque sensor and the J500 power steering control module. The steering rack is a generation 3 and the ABS system is MK60EC1. The G85 and J500 talk to the ABS system via the Can-Bus and calibration of the G85 is carried out through the ABS module. Some references I was seeing indicated the G85 might be losing calibration due to low voltage. Since I had errors in both the steering assist and ABS I was also wondering if there might be a problem in the Can-Bus connection.

*Tiguan’s, Passat’s and Jetta’s are different depending on the year, some models have the G85 in the steering column.

In the 700 pages or so of current flow diagrams in Erwin I found section 24 (Steering) https://forums.tdiclub.com/index.php?resources/mk-6-golf-and-sportwagen-power-steering-wiring.24/ which seemed to apply, but wasn’t super helpful until I started digging in. Since there were several references to ground connections on the left side of the engine bay I decided to look there and see if everything was ok. I disconnected the battery, removed it along with the battery tray and the airbox. Turned out I only needed to disconnect the negative terminal and remove the airbox, but removing the battery tray gave me a good view of the harness to the steering rack so I knew what I was looking at. The steering rack harness consists of 10 ga power from the fuse box to the rack,10 ga ground back to a ground connection and a group of three smaller wires which run into a small connector mounted behind the left headlight.

The small connector is identified as T6z on the current flow diagram and the wires running through it are the Can-Bus + and - and (I think) the power to the J500 electronics. I took the connector apart, sprayed it with De-Oxit and replaced it.

The ground from the steering rack runs to the same ground connection as the starter motor. I took it off and although it looked in perfect shape brushed it nicely with my brass toothbrush and reassembled.

Two other grounds were visible under the airbox, I don’t know what they are but I also took them apart and cleaned them up. One looked good but the other, tucked away close to the fender, had a bit of corrosion.



I put the airbox, battery tray and battery back in, started up and got the usual warning lights for steering assist and ESP. I then carried out the steering calibration procedure, followed by the steering limit stop adaptation, all as described by Ross-Tech. http://wiki.ross-tech.com/wiki/index.phpVW_Golf_(1K)_Brake_Electronics_(MK60EC1) After the second try all the lights were out, it has been a week now and they have not returned. I’m not sure if the problem lay with one of the grounds or was a bad connection in the T6z connector.

The car had been aligned several times including after major component changes and I am fairly sure has never had a steering calibration carried out since new. Erwin suggests the calibration should be done after any wheel alignment and maybe I’m dreaming but I think it made a difference. The car seems to do a better job of going straight and the steering wheel which I swear was very slightly off to the right is now slightly off to the left. Reading the SSP 317 suggests the car might steer straight by itself based on individual wheel abs sensor inputs when the steering wheel is in its free play zone Whatever, the calibration is very simple to carry out, only two or three minutes once VCDS is up and running. Well worth trying in my opinion.
 
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