2015 Mustang Dash litup like a Christmas tree, car runs fine, signals stopped working, AdvanceTrac, ABS, and hill start assist turned off

[stephensatt]

Yeh I was exploring that the other night trying to find videos of changing out the clock spring. Its showing 2 codes for steering wheel faults and the steering wheel will not control the radio nor the dash , talking about the cursor control, does nothing. It was working just fine before this happened too because I had just reset the oil change meter using that 4 way control pad that says OK in the middle, not now, pressing OK does nothing. Blinkers don't work, half the controls on the wheels do nothing right now.

That clockspring is super cheap online, looks like a ton of aftermarket ones listed for less than $30 on Ebay. Does anyone know if you can put in the aftermarket or do I need to only buy Ford, either used or new and does that require programming, or just change it out?

So is the problem with this clockspring is that the wire inside it comes loose or burns out because if that is the actual problem, then that would cause many of these error codes, if not all of them because I guess it also needs to read the "clock" angle of the wheel to correctly proportion out the steering assist would be my guess, having electric steering control.

Ok, thanks, I am going to see if there is a Oscilloscope PLUGIN on Forscan to read in real time the angle of the steering wheel.

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[stephensatt]

Turned car on, tried to make phone calls, tried to control radio, control Mustang dash display like tire air pressure display, etc, nothing works, can't do anything with the control buttons on the steering wheel , nada, nothing. Nothing works except the horn. Forscan does not appear to have any types of diagnostics for the steering wheel, but it does have codes:

Code: U0212 - Lost Communication with Steering Column Control Module
Code: U0131 - Lost Communications with Power Steering Control Module 'A'

I would think the angle sensor for the Steering Assist is built into the clockspring.

 

[TRDFurgesson]

This is a real good one. After all this rain, and I want to say it may be connected, wife's car dash lit up like a tree, but the car runs fine.

ABS light, restraint control light , Parking brake light, both traction control little car symbols both sides of the shift indicator comes on, then the messages start to flahs in the center console, "Hill Start Assist not available", "Advancetrac Service", "See Manual", come on, keeps flashing them. Oh, and I cannot activate my high beams or the turn signals, but get this. If I turn the car to just ON, and don't start it, the high beams work, so its like it turning them off, maybe to force you to take it in for service.

Troubleshooting I have done so far is check all the fuses, both boxes, tested all the relays with my relay tester. Interestingly enough, when I turn the car off, I heard relay #82, thats the "power control modules relay" making a buzzing sound and was hot feeling. Thats on the big fuse/relay box under the hood, so I replaced it with a new one, and the new one doesn't make any noise but I still get all the same codes. Also relay #69, the Auxiliary power point relay, and the only relay that is colored blue does not pass my tester, however, if I put in a 5 pin relay in its place, I get 2 codes specifically for that relay showing a open ground or short, so I put the blue on back in and the code goes away. Geeze, car only has 80k miles, so I know the electric steering is fine, and it works fine. If I remove the relay #82 altogether, then the power steering is turned off, and you can't turn the wheel, so thats my test of the power steering electric rack n pinion.

Forscan gives me codes:

Code: P062C - Internal Control Module Vehicle Speed Performance
Code: U0151 - Lost Communication with Restraint Control Module
Code: U0212 - Lost Communication with Steering Column Control Module
Code: U0121 - Lost Communication with Anti-Lock Brake System
Code: U0131 - Lost Communications with Power Steering Control Module

Its as if maybe something got loose or got water in it, but like I said, car runs fine, but the signals don't work. Brake lights work fine.
Its not driveable because of the obsessive dinging.

So I just spent way too much money at Ford to figure out it was a single connector. The small connector to the power steering was causing this issue. We replaced gateway module… twice. We replaced the steering module until they realized that the code from the steering rack that didn’t correlate with all the other codes. The dealership had my car for two weeks trying to figure this out and finally traced it down to that little connector on the steering rack. I had very similar if not identical codes to what you have check the connectors to your steering rack make sure there’s no corrosion clean them and put plenty of dialectic grease on them. The Ford technician said that wicking oil may have started all of this because the oil filter is right above this harness.

 

[ORRadtech]

Turned car on, tried to make phone calls, tried to control radio, control Mustang dash display like tire air pressure display, etc, nothing works, can't do anything with the control buttons on the steering wheel , nada, nothing. Nothing works except the horn. Forscan does not appear to have any types of diagnostics for the steering wheel, but it does have codes:

Code: U0212 - Lost Communication with Steering Column Control Module
Code: U0131 - Lost Communications with Power Steering Control Module 'A'

I would think the angle sensor for the Steering Assist is built into the clockspring.

And I'd think the steering angle sensor would be on the steering rack.

 

[stephensatt]

Got the clock spring out, 10 min job, and I am going to replace it regardless now if its the issue or not as I have been playing with it too much and probably got it spun around wrong. I did mark the position on the wheel hub, but not the position on the clock spring. It feels smooth, but not tight, very loose, floppy, like the spindle kinda bounces around in there and would fall out if I banged it against a table. Car has 80k miles. Amazon has aftermarket for $40, Prime, so we see what happens. Rockauto is $100 for Dorman. Thanks for telling me about that connector on the steering column and I am going to check that too. Also I am worried that could be it, because the turn signals do not work and that is separate plug to that signal controller underneath the clock spring mechanism, separate piece altogether, on a collar, both the signal and the windshield wipers levers, so its another "layer" of cheap plastic parts that the clockspring mounts on top of. The only thing I see the clock spring does with the signal lever is it has a mechanical tab that goes into the spring, so the spring will operate the auto off signals when you turn the wheel but its purely mechanical.

 

[stephensatt]

So I just spent way too much money at Ford to figure out it was a single connector. The small connector to the power steering was causing this issue. We replaced gateway module… twice. We replaced the steering module until they realized that the code from the steering rack that didn’t correlate with all the other codes. The dealership had my car for two weeks trying to figure this out and finally traced it down to that little connector on the steering rack. I had very similar if not identical codes to what you have check the connectors to your steering rack make sure there’s no corrosion clean them and put plenty of dialectic grease on them. The Ford technician said that wicking oil may have started all of this because the oil filter is right above this harness.

Oh wow! You are correct. I looked at that steering rack control board and its mounted right under the oil filter with no shielding over it at all and its got some black dirt and oil caked up on the outside, not too bad on the 2 big fat connectors which I am sure are waterproof connectors, but woh, what a total stupid design that was. Its dry for the most part, no oil leaking from the filter.

I have had plastic parts just fall apart over time because they got "petroleum chemicals" soaking on them over time, and that makes the plastic break down. The parts are ordered from Amazon, we will know in about 3 days, parts coming Friday, gonna also do oil change, brake job front n rear, tranny service, might as well cuz I got it on the lift in the garage and its time anyways.

 

[SHOdaddy68]

If your horn is still working, the clockspring is fine.

 

[TRDFurgesson]

Oh wow! You are correct. I looked at that steering rack control board and its mounted right under the oil filter with no shielding over it at all and its got some black dirt and oil caked up on the outside, not too bad on the 2 big fat connectors which I am sure are waterproof connectors, but woh, what a total stupid design that was. Its dry for the most part, no oil leaking from the filter.

I have had plastic parts just fall apart over time because they got "petroleum chemicals" soaking on them over time, and that makes the plastic break down. The parts are ordered from Amazon, we will know in about 3 days, parts coming Friday, gonna also do oil change, brake job front n rear, tranny service, might as well cuz I got it on the lift in the garage and its time anyways.

The Ford tech told me that it does not matter if their waterproof connectors they can still wick oil and moisture. It’s a known issue. Whether he was full of it or not, I don’t know but I’m keeping a very close eye on those connectors. I have a 22 Mach 1 with 9000 miles on it.

 

[stephensatt]

If your horn is still working, the clockspring is fine.

The horn is the only thing working on my steering wheel. All other buttons don't work. Signals don't work. I forgot to check the wipers but the clock spring is ordered. When I pulled out the old one, I spun it around a couple times to see how it feeled and forgot to mark it, so its probably off now.

 

[stephensatt]

Guess I will be chasing this rabbit for awhile. I bench tested the clock spring, and 100% of all pins give me continuity through the unit to the other side on my meter. Hopefully the aftermarket one I ordered is in fact a good replacement and that itself doesn't cause new issues, and I will start pulling those wires apart at the rack below the oil filter and start cleaning and checking that.

 

[SheepDog]

Bring up all 4 wheel speed sensors on Forscan and go for a drive. Verify that all of them are reporting the same speed and are consistant. Also, check all of your fuses

 

[MrMike]

At the risk of suggesting something that could be too obvious, is there any chance the ABS control module is toast?

 

[5doorsoffury]

So a lot of that stuff is can communication. When I used to do steering wheel controls they're usually can based but the horn is not it's an actual wire which makes sense since your horn works but your controls don't . Low speed medium speed or high-speed can is a loop Network so if the wires were physically broken nothing on the network could talk so unless you physically broke the can wires there's no power to your module. I've seen it a lot of other threads lost communication is from a blown fuse I would check power and ground at the harness just to make sure. Unplug your harnesses and physically check the pins spray some maf cleaner in there. it's pretty easy to do. I've done thousands of remote starts in my life and can communication codes came up whenever power was lost to module whether it was a Coroded connector that was unplugged then replugged or a blown fuse from me working on the car without disconnecting the battery. when you work on stuff a lot you do dumb things like not disconnect the battery when stripping live wires. I think most Electrical/auto Workers are like that when they're careless from complacency.

 

[stephensatt]

One thing that is missing for me on Forscan is the ABS. I cannot bring up any ABS modules. It does show an error for ABS but you cannot click on it even though its highlighted blue like a link. Anyone have a link to instructions on how to activate the ABS part of Forscan? I did however pull the plug to each sensor on the wheels and tested the ohms and I got 450-452k ohms per wheel. I think they are good. So far, I have tested all the fuses, all the relays, and now checked the clock spring, and cannot find a single issue wrong electrically, but the clock spring will be here Friday, so we will see. Getting ready to do an oil change and at the same time I will check all those plugs right at the rack n pinion going into the rack n pinion controller board.

 

[stephensatt]

At the risk of suggesting something that could be too obvious, is there any chance the ABS control module is toast?

If the ABS controller is toast , would that cause all the steering wheel buttons to stop working? Only the horn works on the steering wheel, no buttons, and the turn signals also do not function.

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