Technical 2009 Ducato Speedo, Cruise, ABS, Traction control problem

[BMCampers]

Hi Guys,

I hope someone can help or at least shed some light at to what might be the underlying problem here...

I have a 2009 Ducato 3.0 litre motorhome with 62000 miles on the clock a while ago we where driving along the motorway with the cruise control on, when all of a sudden it turned itself off and the speedo stopped working and the ABS light the traction control light the power steering light and the engine light all came on, on the dash.
now after a short while everything went back to normal then a while later it happened again and it happened 3 or 4 times in total before finally stopping for good.
So I left into a garage with a lift big enough to lift it as it's a tag axel at 8.2 meters long he plugged it in and said it was showing a speed sensor on the gearbox fault but he couldn't fix it, so I then took it to another garage who told me there is no speed sensor on the gearbox on that model and it was probably a fault with the ABS module? By this time I was getting a bit frustrated and I wanted another opinion so I took it to yet another garage that fixes large trucks, he then said there was a faulty sensor on one of the wheels which he replaced and thought that that would have been it fixed but no it was still the same? So he then said it looked like it was the ABS module so he took it out and I sent it off to ECU Testing in England who said they had a three day turn around but to cut a long story short it took two weeks and much contact for them to say they had to send it to their R&D department and then finally to say they could find nothing wrong with it so I got it back and the mechanic put it back in and it was still the same, so he traced all wires and could not find a fault he said it keeps coming back to it being the ABS module but someone has since told me it could be something else.

I don't know if this could have anything to do with it but the cruise control didn't always work you had to keep trying to speed up with the stalk to get it to come on and work , this probably has nothing to do with it but I just thought I'd mention it.

I'm now at the end of my rope with this and I just don't know where to go from here. so Far it has cost me a grand and I'm no father on so If anyone has any idea what this might be I would very much appreciate your input. Cheers

 

[Communicator]

Hi Guys,

I hope someone can help or at least shed some light at to what might be the underlying problem here...

I have a 2009 Ducato 3.0 litre motorhome with 62000 miles on the clock a while ago we where driving along the motorway with the cruise control on, when all of a sudden it turned itself off and the speedo stopped working and the ABS light the traction control light the power steering light and the engine light all came on, on the dash.
now after a short while everything went back to normal then a while later it happened again and it happened 3 or 4 times in total before finally stopping for good.
So I left into a garage with a lift big enough to lift it as it's a tag axel at 8.2 meters long he plugged it in and said it was showing a speed sensor on the gearbox fault but he couldn't fix it, so I then took it to another garage who told me there is no speed sensor on the gearbox on that model and it was probably a fault with the ABS module? By this time I was getting a bit frustrated and I wanted another opinion so I took it to yet another garage that fixes large trucks, he then said there was a faulty sensor on one of the wheels which he replaced and thought that that would have been it fixed but no it was still the same? So he then said it looked like it was the ABS module so he took it out and I sent it off to ECU Testing in England who said they had a three day turn around but to cut a long story short it took two weeks and much contact for them to say they had to send it to their R&D department and then finally to say they could find nothing wrong with it so I got it back and the mechanic put it back in and it was still the same, so he traced all wires and could not find a fault he said it keeps coming back to it being the ABS module but someone has since told me it could be something else.

I don't know if this could have anything to do with it but the cruise control didn't always work you had to keep trying to speed up with the stalk to get it to come on and work , this probably has nothing to do with it but I just thought I'd mention it.

I'm now at the end of my rope with this and I just don't know where to go from here. so Far it has cost me a grand and I'm no father on so If anyone has any idea what this might be I would very much appreciate your input. Cheers

It is my understanding that the speed signal on x250 and later models was derived from the ABS wheel sensor signals. So my initial thoughts cmpare with those of the third garage mentioned above.
The ABS will obviously require signals from all wheels. The traction control is performed by the ABS system. The engine management uses the speed signal, and uses it for cruise control. I am not an expert on the x250 model, but it does hang together, and may suggest an intermittant canbus error, as this is the route via which the various computer modules, which includes the dashboard communicate with each other.
Have you any record of fault codes found when tests were made.

I do have a coupe of suggestions, but I can only suggest the first with hesitation, as I seem to be mentioning it too often. I may have the proerbial bee in my bonnet.

1. The X250 can suffer from the so called "rusty junction syndrome. This occurs at a location under the LHS headlight when a cable form rubs against a tubular frame member. See photo supplied by Reg65
2 In a recent post concerning key code failure, a member reported problems with connector pins at the engine control unit.
See post #24.

 

[BMCampers]

Thanks for that, I will have to ask about the fault codes and get back to you thanks

 

[BMCampers]

I was also told it could be the magnet on one of the hubs but I don't understand any of this as I'm not a electrician or a mechanic.

 

[Eternal Optimist]

I may be wrong here, but I had this problem with a Vauxhall Meriva. My understanding is that there should be a magnetic 'reluctor ring' somewhere within the wheel bearing, As this spins with the wheel, the abs sensor sends its magnetic pulses to the abs module to calculate the wheel speed.

If there's a problem with the reluctor ring, it's actually far quicker and easier to have a new/2 new hubs fitted as they each contain a reluctor ring.

The mechanic should be able to hook up his reader and get live data displayed to confirm this.

 

[Kahcorp]

@BMCampers
On the Comfortmatic there is a clutch speed sensor that sends info & does cause some issues. This is the speed of the drive shaft when clutch engaged.
I have worked on a 2009 3.0l that had the Cruise Control not working. During testing & a lot of head scratching I disconnected the MAF sensor & sprayed plug with contact cleaner as I always do. This fixed the problem & I don't understand how this is connected but Fiat have some funny things going on
It turned out that the problem started after he had a service so maybe the MAF was cleaned and this plug disconnected.
Note: the Cruise light would come on dash but would not set speed so maybe not your problem.
The vehicle has done over 3000km since & all good.