I've got a continuous EPB warning, I've reset it several times and now even that doesn't work. I want to check for worn/broken/chafed wires but am not sure where to look. Does anyone have a diagram or better yet, a pic of the chafed wires and their location. I'd like to have some idea where to look when I crawl under there... I've looked in the workshop manual but didn't find any definitive drawings. Any pointers are appreciated.

 

The most common fault is a LOW BATTERY voltage from a failing battery. The EPB needs to be reset if the voltage drops below a threshold. Sometimes the EPB will not set if the battery is near dead.

What message is in the display??
The two most common are...
'EPB CANNOT BE SET'
or
'NOT CALIBRATED’ or ‘APPLY FOOT AND PARK BRAKE’

Faulty EPB travel limit sensors can also fail in the unit.

If the battery is KNOWN GOOD then I would read the DTCs and diagnose from there. If you can clear the DTCs and the fault is gone then there is no HARD FAULT.

If the DTC recurs in a relatively short time there might be intermittant sensor or harness issues.

You are NOT going to resolve this by 'throwing-parts' at the car.
You are going to have to read the C (chassis) codes for the EXACT fault.

bob

 

Thanks for the advice bob, I'm hoping to avoid throwing parts at it, that's why I was hoping to find some faulty wires. I'll check out the battery next. I do know its a jag battery, but I don't see any numbers on it so I don't know how old it is. I'll check the voltage at rest and while starting and report back here for further input. I have a Foxwell NT 510 that is supposed to read the chassis codes, I'll attempt to read and reset those also and see what pops up.

The fault message I get is "Park brake fault" along with the amber warning light. When I follow the reset procedure now the fault light comes on the moment the park brake is applied. The park brake appears to operate properly, other than the fault light.

Again, thanks for the help.

 

Read the codes today at lunch... returned a "C1799 HALL EFFECT CIRCUIT FAILURE".
Where do I go from here? Can this code be caused by a weak battery? I haven't had a chance to check the voltage yet. Thanks in advance. I cleared the code but it came back as soon as I started the car.

 

A failing battery can throw just about any code. Stop looking at codes, stop doing resets and instead load test the battery. You can go mad chasing false codes and the like.

 

Finally got a chance to do a simple test on the battery with my DMM. At rest, with the car off, 12.38-12.4 volts at the terminals. When cranking it dropped to 10.9, maybe lower as it starts pretty quick. I guess the first order of business is a new battery?

 

It is, yes. That's roughly dead.

But you may also want a ctek-style maintainer if you don't do decent length drives.

Charge the new battery! They often say they're fully charged but they aren't...

 

Thanks JagV8. I've thought of a maintainer but I drive about 85 miles a day, I hope that's enough to keep it charged!

I assume I'll need to do the reset on the EPB after installing the new Battery. I plan to get one of the Exide Global Extremes today. It is roughly a 40 mile drive home from the BJ's where I'll get it, so that would charge it I'm guessing. I have a good charger if you think that would be necessary. I can charge it at 2, 10 or 15 amps.

 

Plenty far enough except eventually they die anyway.

 

Got the new battery home and charged up to 100%, put it in the car, started it up, reset the EPB and the light went out! Until I started it again 20 minutes later... EPB fault is back on. I needed the battery anyway so no problem there, just now I have to continue trouble shooting the EPB. What should I do next? I have not yet gotten under the car to look for chafed wires, I have gotten the DTC ("C1799 HALL EFFECT CIRCUIT FAILURE") and cleared it. It hasn't rained here recently, I know some members have noted a correlation between rain/car washes etc. and the EPB light. I am open to suggestions...

 

So I began thinking, maybe the new battery hadn't been fully charged yet as it hadn't been driven any real distance. So I drove the car about a hundred miles and reset it again, this time the fault stayed away for almost a full day, through several starts and stops. But unfortunately, it's back. I'll try resetting it with the code reader and see if that helps.