Yesterday, I did several trips without incident and then a strange thing happened at the end of the day.
I did a round trip of about 35 miles in the morning and then a 12 mile round trip taking my good wife out for lunch. Later in the afternoon, I drove the 3 miles or so to collect the kids from school. I re started it about ten minutes later and I immediately noticed the engine was idling high - about 1000 - 1500 RPM - and it was running very rough, almost as though it was only running on 4 or 5 pots.
I had the amber light on and 'Trac Not Avail' 'Asc Not Avail' and 'Engine Fail Safe Mode'. I shut it down and re started it about 30 secs later and all was fine - running perfectly and no warning indications. It drove home fine and I re started it later that evening, again with nothing wrong.
I haven't had a chance to get any codes read yet but does anyone have any thoughts, as it seems to be a different scenario to the other Fail Safe Mode threads that are running.

As an aside, does any one in the UK have any experience of the Sealey VS8802 code scanner and if so would it be good or bad?

Thanks,

Andy.

 

We really need those codes.
What state is your battery in ?
A tired battery can give all sorts of odd faults.
The Sealey doesn't seem to appear in the long OBD thread.
Many of us are now using a cheapo ELM OBD adapter from EBay and an Android app called 'Torque'

 

It sounds as if there was a TB issue (/code), which could have been from a bad battery as Steve suggests, or something else. Once the ECU detects there is an issue with the TB, it will cut the power to the stepper motor of the TB, so that goes into relaxed mode which is more open than normal idle. Then the ECU will control the engine RPM via fuel control, so that’s causing then the high idle and rough running.

 

Thanks to you both. I have measured the battery voltage this evening and I'm getting 12.30v at the battery and 12.28v at the terminals under the bonnet.

The car hasn't been run for 24 hours and I'm surprised the voltage is as low as that, especially as it had been running for about an hour and a half the day before. I believe the battery is only about 12 months old. I started the engine this evening with no problems and measured 14.25 v at the battery, so it would appear the alternator is doing it's job Ok.

I have put it on charge tonight and I'll see how the voltage holds up over the next few days.

Steve, re the Sealey scanner, I have copied the spec from the manufacturers website and in particular I'm interested in the fact it reads generic as well as manufacturer specific codes, but I'm unsure if it will read transmission or chassis faults?

Model No: VS8802
Applications: 96on EOBD Compliant Vehicles

EOBD Code Reader Features
Function Application Function Description
Yes Works with all 1996 and later OBDII / EOBD compliant vehicles
Yes Scans for Diagnostic Trouble Codes (DTC) - The cause of the 'Engine Malfunction Indicator Light' (MIL)
Yes Scans for pending DTCs
Yes Retrieves generic (P0, P2, P3 & U10) and manufacturer specific (P1, P3 & U1) DTCs
Yes Turns off MIL light, clears DTCs and resets monitors
Yes Displays DTC definitions on screen
Yes View freeze frame data
Yes Displays monitor and I/M readiness status (emissions)
Yes Patented One-Click I/M Readiness button (emissions)
Yes Retrieves vehicle information (VIN, CID & CVN)
Yes Supports CAN and other current EOBD Protocols
Yes Supports the new extended sensor list (SAE J1979 - 2007)
Yes Reads live ECU/PCM data stream
Yes Displays live O2 sensor data
Yes Graphing function for live data (96on)
Yes Read, store and playback live sensor data
Yes Performs 'modules present' test
Yes Print out data via PC
Yes Update software via the internet
Yes Built-in EOBD library lookup
Yes Diagnostic trouble tips and repair information guide
Yes Large, easy-to-read LCD display
Yes Backlit screen
Yes Easy-to-use

Any thoughts on this would be appreciated, although I can see the appeal of the Elm system, I have an i phone which seems more restrictive and the PC based system v1.5 doesn't support Windows 7 which is my laptop OS.

Andy

 

Andy,
There's no mention of anything but Pxxxx codes in that list so, presumably, like all the 'generic' OBD readers out there P codes are all you get.
The live data is similar to that you get with 'Torque' .
I'm using my daughter's cast-off Samsung without a SIM card for that and listening to the wireless and it works fine.
It would be worth getting your battery load tested by a battery shop.
Sounds like the alternator is fine but these cars do eat electricity and that's a low voltage, likely to cause ECM errors.
You can do a crude test by measuring the volts when someone cranks the starter.