Just a quick one:

Not long ago I drove to the rego check and discovered that I had a message on the display: "Stability control failure". Not good! Failed rego for that reason. But when I left the garage (which did the rego check), the failure message was not there anymore - well, I drove on to town anyway, and then back to the garage, and still no message and I got a pass on my rego. Back then I figured that the harsh brake-test of the mechanic solved the issue somehow...

So far, I don't drive the X308 much. If I park it for longer times, I disconnect the battery. Next time I drove it again, I had that same silly message again - a few days later it was gone again. Then I worked on the X308 - and for safety reasons I disconnected the battery. When all was fixed and I drove it again, I had that lovely message again - for a few days. But this time I was kind of sure that it would just disappear again, if it decided to have been sufficiently annoying. And indeed: Since today: No more "Stability control failure" message. So, all good to go for the next rego check...

Thus, I am now fairly confident that this message will pop up every time after disconnection the battery. And if the X308 then decides that I drove it sufficiently long after that battery disconnect, it will play ball again...

 

I'm guessing "rego" is the annual safety and soundness inspection ni Australia?

I suspect this has to do with your ABS controller, which is a common enough failure point on the X308, the message is usually accompanied by the brake and ABS warning lights being lit on the dash as well, are you seeing those as well? The power and/or ground solder joints tend to crack and go to intermittent contact and when its not contacting the system thinks you have an ABD module failure, which is how the car also controls not just anti lock braking, but also stability, skid and traction control.

Mine did this for a period of time, off and on for a few weeks and then it stopped doing it and I haven't seen it since early October. It'll be back I'm sure and when it does is when I'll do the repair.

As I understand it, the X308 does not like sitting unused for long periods of time. I wonder if you used it more if it would misbehave less.

 

Yes, rego check is the same as MOT in GB or TUEV in Germany - a yearly mandatory safety check.

OK, I will keep the "ABS controller" in mind, in case that message returns WITHOUT me disconnecting the battery.

Yes, they came in tandem, the message and the ABS warning light.
(Some time ago I read a post where someone recommended a cheap fix for the ABS light: Just put a sticker over it! - But with the message being displayed as well, that gets a bit more difficult... - not that I would consider this...)

Btw.: "Normally" the solution to solve a real ABS failure is to check and find the failure on the speed sensors or the cable leading to those. But I checked all those on the X308 - all good. All sensor have approx. 1.55k Ohm (I think it was 1.55, anyway, all measured the same).

And also interesting: Only a few weeks ago I suddenly and an ABS light on on my Ford Fairlane NL '97 4L: I found the issue fairly quickly, considering the difficulty to find it: An intermittent cable issue: One cable to one sensor had a punctual damage of the insulation and the coper inside corroded thru over some years...

Yes, I hope to drive the X308 more now - I had it registered since 2 years, since I bought it, but did not want to drive it too much with all that rattling at startup, which I figured are the old timing tensioners. With all timing chains and guides and tensioners replaced I don't have to worry about that now anymore (don't have to worry about a chain jumping over a tooth on a sprocket), but as it is, I still have a riddle to solve: Why is it still rattling 5-10 seconds after cold startup (cold engine, not cold ambient temp).

 

An intermittent SCF fault coupled with an ABS warning that comes and goes like the wind,
is usually pointing to the solder connection on the circuit board where the brake lines enter.
The circuit board flexes and causes the connection to be break temporarily then re=engages
as it flexes back and the light turns off. The only real way to permanently fix the issue is to
solder a small gage wire between the two points such that if the solder breaks due to flex,
the wire will continue to conduct the signal.

 

As I wrote before: I still believe in my fault-message-after-battery-disconnect-theory. I will not disconnect the battery now, and if I ever get that message again, I will know, it's a cold weld solder connection in the module...

 

You can read the codes and, if you get C1095, it is most likely the solder joints.

 

Thanks. I read the codes. I do not have that code.

 

I get this at random too, normally after the car has been parked for a few days in heavy rain.

In my case it's always the connector to the OSR ABS sensor getting water in it as the waterproof connector isn't. Since I've smeared a bit of silicon grease in there it's not come back.

 

Water would not be the problem in my case. The X308 is under cover and I do not drive in the rain.

Currently I am back to "stability control failure" in the display - old issue: I installed DTRL, and for that reason I removed the ignition relay (and accidentally turned on the ignition, while the relay was disconnected). This - apparently - has the same effect as disconnecting the battery...