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Trac Ctrl kicked in, then ABS/Trac/Wrench light


briandye

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Bear with me here, gonna include any possible detail I can. Never had this issue before.

2009 Ford Edge Limited AWD (Just over 100k)

 

I was driving through our local state park after a good snow, so I naturally had to do a couple drifts in the huge parking lot. No issues here. It warmed up slightly with the sun, and the next morning going to work, some of the snow melted and sat on the wheel and formed into ice. Made a pretty bad vibration from throwing the wheel balance off. It was probably -20 with the windchill, along with being on a stretch of highway that was under construction, so there was really no shoulder on either side. Had about 8-10 miles like this, driving at 60-65.

 

Kicked the ice off before I left work, and all was well. I believe this was the next day, if not the day after that, driving home with the cruise control set at about 74, my traction control light started flashing, and I lost power (Traction control doing what it does when the wheels are spinning). I was on dry pavement. Finally after about 1/4 of a mile, engine power came back, but the traction control light, ABS and a wrench light was on. Everything was functioning to my knowledge normally though.

 

After a few miles, the traction and ABS light turned off. Wrench stayed on until I shut the car off and started it back up.

 

Fast forward a few days, traction control did the same thing, but just for a split second on the highway again. Didn't trigger the other lights. Driving home same day, all 3 lights came on (But the traction control didn't flash and kill the engine power).

 

This has happened 3 or 4 times now on the highway, the 3 lights come on. What could cause this? Could it be something as simple as uneven tire pressure? I do have aftermarket 20" rims, but havent had this issue. Pretty sure the previous owner put these rims and tires on early in the Edge's life.

 

*Edit* Also found out the hard way, when this wrench light is on, the Edge does NOT have AWD. Was coming around a corner in my neighborhood with ice under the snow, turned and kept going straight. Luckily it was just snow and an open lot, but could have been nasty!

Edited by briandye
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Could this cause complete havoc?

 

I of course have had no drive ability issues, but on my way back home from work just now, I lose power for a second, traction control light comes on, then regain power.

 

About 1/4 mile down the road, lose power again and it doesn't come back. Light is also on again. I had to basically coast to the nearest exit after almost causing an accident from the sudden loss of power, I get to the exit and hit the brake and the brake pedal felt like there was a brick behind it. Put it in park, revved it and all seemed to be well again. I take off, and keep loosing power. Could barely accelerate to 20 mph to pull in the nearest gas station. I'm currently stranded 30 miles from home.

 

This is wonderful. The area is heavily populated with a large amount of high speed traffic so I don't even want to attempt to limp it home.

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If the traction control light is blinking, yes - it will cut power to regain traction. The way it knows that you lost traction is when the wheels are not turning at the same speed. So if a bad sensor is telling the pcm that a wheel lost traction, you'll lose power.

 

Have you tried turning off traction control (is that possible - can't remember)

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No I have not yet. I got home and needed some time away from that damn car to just chill out.

 

I will go out in a minute and pull it up to my garage and see what I cant figure out. That "gear" looking thing though definitely could spin on its own though. I could see that causing an issue if thats how the Edge is checking if the wheel is slipping. Any dirt or anything seems like it could easily prevent it from spinning with the wheel. (Which would in-turn trigger the system to go haywire)

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Looking online it seems as if they are part of the half shaft? Can I just replace the ring? Where can I order them?

 

Also - is there anything I can do to make this drive-able? (Like disable the ABS/Trac Control?)

 

How about the AWD system? Seems to drive OK when the wrench is on.

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As far as disabling the AdvanceTrac, from the OM:

 

The AdvanceTrac with RSC button, located on the center stack of the instrument panel, allows the driver to control certain features of the AdvanceTrac with RSC system below 45 mph (70 km/h). If the vehicle is below 45 mph (70 km/h), pressing the AdvanceTrac with RSC button will disable RSC, ESC and Engine Traction Control and steadily illuminate the “sliding car” icon. The AdvanceTrac with RSC system will remain enabled when the vehicle speed is above 45 mph (70 km/h) even if the button has been pressed.
In R (Reverse), ABS and the Traction Control feature will continue to function, however ESC and RSC are disabled.
All these conditions are normal during AdvanceTrac with RSC operation.

Edited by WWWPerfA_ZN0W
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Found both ring gears for the wheel speed sensors are cracked and spin on their own; and it appears that they are built onto the CV axle. I saw a video where a guy replaced them on an Escape but the rings were $40 something a piece, and needed a torch and whatnot to put them on. The whole CV Axle/half shaft is about $50 on RockAuto, so im just gonna replace it.

 

My question though, is for the rears it shows "Rear Left AWD" "Rear Right AWD etc" but for the fronts my options are:

"Front Left"

"Front Right AWD"

"Front Right FWD"

 

Whats the dealio, does it matter if I select the AWD one or not since its on the front? Does anyone know what spline the male/female gears should be and how many teeth on the ring gear? Ill just order it that way since each one has a pic and description.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

One more question...

 

Has anybody ever heard of/used the Surtrack brand? Those are $45 a piece vs. the next brand up which are $64. Every dollar counts for me right now.

 

I put both in the cart to see, and the Surtrack brand is nearly $20 cheaper on shipping as well, and will be here (estimated) 3 days sooner. Gonna go with those, if all else fails, ill send them back and go for the more expensive one.

Edited by briandye
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To the OP, same thing happened a week ago on my 07 mkx. ABS kicked in then seemed to stop working and I started sliding, barely made it by a truck on a down hile narrow road in heavy snow. All lights on abs, trac control and wrench, everything felt off for rest of ride to work. After reading this and testing in parking lot sure enough I was now driving a front wheel drive no ABS/traction contol vehicle. Been snowing for 3 weeks and could not get it to shop or anywhere to work underneath it so back to 20 year old tech, no abs/traction control. Low and behold, took it car wash as I was taking a couple out to dinner and as I exited car wash all lights were off and everythign felt normal again. Been working since, got it in driveway in daylight and was able to spray down both front sensor splines with WD40 and make sure sensor was plugged in. So it seems snow/crud/ice clogged up either splines or froze sensor. Have driven in bad weather for last 5 years and nothing like this ever happened but am happy to wait for spring to get underneath and really check it out.

Edited by jcas
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