I had oil changed a couple days ago. Car has been running fine up to that point. Not saying this created issue - just that there were folks digging around under the hood.

Today started car. The engine balked, like a battery issue, but then started - but every conceivable light and error message that could be displayed, did. Main thing - brake and ABS errors - car locked in park and brake could not be disengaged.

I called a few places and was told it was a battery or alternator issue. How could it be the battery if the cat started? Had a buddy check battery and it was pulling 14.7 volts.

So - we discounted the positive battery cable, let it sit for 5 mins, and reconnected. All lights and error messages gone! Perf.

Went back out to car a couple hours later and had same problem. This time I knew how to reboot myself so I did, and it worked again. I remembered that when a friend did a brake job for me a couple years ago, he had some kind of similar problem. Dug thru my owners manual to find his notes on his fix:

"Press foot break 5 times. While depressed, pull parking break. Release parking break, take foot off foot break. Pump foot break 5 times."

This worked. All lights and brake error messages gone. Took care for short drive. All good.

Just went out to check again - have a short road trip I must do tomorrow - and BAM! All error messages and brake lock there again.

Any idea why I have to keep resetting?

 

Certainly sounds like a duff battery. Reading of 14.7V was taken while engine running, alternator charging? Meaningless, but worse . . . breeds false confidence. Only sensible reading is "morning after" . . . and less than 12.6V (without engine running) is a no-go!

In welcoming you to JF, you really should take opportunity to go to New Members area and post an introduction. Also, take time to include your model, year, engine variant etc in your signature so help offered is accurate for your car, Doing so is more than a courtesy - you would have been pointed to the hundreds of resources here that deal directly with your problem.

Hundreds? No . . . probably not! More like thousands of cases just like you are reporting. Learn how to search. Go to the "Stickys" at top of this section and under "HOW TO . . . " search for "Battery 101".

There is a long list of well known and well documented failures that start with a duff battery voltage. So, IMHO, to answer your final question "Any idea why I have to keep resetting" . . . you don't . . . you need to start fixing the problem rather than fiddling with the symptoms

Cheers

Ken

 

Sound like you need a new battery. From first hand experience, if the battery voltage drops below 12V when cranking, the car becomes possessed. You can try an exorcism first, but a new battery is probably better.