Heres the story... 2002 MCS...

Alternator was cracked and bearing was making noise. Decided to replace alternator with used Denso unit.

Put car into service mode, didn't see passenger wheel sensor wire at first and when going to remove from bumper I found it by putting a little pressure on it...

Replaced alternator, put car back together. Didn't tie up passenger wheel sensor and ended up rubbing through on the crank pulley.

Trifecta lights came on + check engine + brake light.

Attempted to splice wheel sensor wire, no avail... purchased a new beck arnley wheel sensor and attempted install.

The wheel sensor bolt was stuck and broke off. Drilled out and instead of re-tapping added a stud with JB weld. Works fine.

Installed new passenger wheel sensor, noticed there is a metal ring around inside of sensor. Does this go to ground? Or doesn't it matter?

Took car for a drive. Brake light and check engine light go off after restarting car. No dice for trifecta.

Clear all codes with OBD2 scanner after finding a "PO500" code - vehicle speed sensor

Trifecta lights still on.

Drive car for 200 miles. Trifecta lights still on.

Next step?

I guess it could be another wheel sensor or a faulty sensor, but it all happened when I replaced the alternator...

I have also noticed a clicking from the rear drivers side area. Haven't checked it out yet (has been like that for 5k miles at least)

My front tires are low on tread, but shouldn't affect trifecta.

Help.

 

Oh yes it could. Search under my ID for explanation.

 

Hmm... Ok, searching now.

Its coincidence that it would happen literally right after I roll my car out of the garage tho... seems unlikely.

 

There was someone with bad alignment causing the trio.

You had to roll out of the garage which involved the rolling the tires requiring rotation of those ABS rings and sensors to read their rotations.

Unlikely? If you say so. If they are low on tread get them replaced. You need them regardless.

 

Replacing tomorrow...

I did read somewhere about rotating rotors was a no no... To line them up when re-installing wheel the rotors moved a little bit...

Not sure if that would cause any problems.

 

Did you push the reset button by the emergency brake and go through the reset for the tpms?
First thing to do...you do not mention ever hacing done it..
The system must be re-initialized....so it can relearn the tire/rpms (it compares them wheel to whell to determine if the tire has a sudden change in size due to psi...good enoigh for runflats).

 

Ps you can run non treaded track tires, it will not affect the lights...
If you need tires, buy tires for safetys sake, but do not expext them to fix the issue...
My gut instinct is the jb weld is the issue...the sensor is pretty sensitive and you might be insulating it from the metal it screws into...

 

Well thats my question. It appears as the sensor just needs to be held down by that screw, not grounded.

If it needs to be grounded, then that may very well be the problem.

~mikeym

 

Mine was partly the sensor, the other was the hub. The inside ring of the hub that the sensor rides on was all rusted and not straight. Once I replace the hub/sensor lights went off. I only had to do the drivers side when i did mine though. I bought 2 sensors just in case since I found them for 60$ each.

 

Please report back after tires have been replaced and properly aired up.

I agree with resetting the pressure sensor may help but I don't know the exact MOA of the earlier units to make comments on it other than it gets its readings from the ABS tone ring.

If you have broken something, fix it the way it was and try the next option. All you may be doing is, throwing money at it hoping it will be fixed. That rarely works and when it does, it is usually more expensive. LOL

 

Tires replaced. Same lights.

Reset the sensor by means of turning car on and holding down button before driving. No dice.

"If you have broken something, fix it the way it was and try the next option. All you may be doing is, throwing money at it hoping it will be fixed. That rarely works and when it does, it is usually more expensive. LOL"

That comment is great, but I have no idea what you're talking about. The wire was cut = lights. I replaced the sensor. And va-la. Lights yet.

No idea to go from here, and I hope not to have to take it to the stealership.

Where is this ABS ring? do I have to replace the whole hub unit?

~mikeym

 

Please find someplace with a odb2 to plugin....
This will get a code, and info on WHICH wheel...we can assume the one you worked on is bad, but stranger things have happened. ........
You are dealing with some VERY sensetive electrical compotents that operate at very high tolerances...heck they count tire rpms at speed....so pretty minior adjustments can make a difference. Hate to oversimplify, but beyond checking what you did, only thing that can be assumed is you jb welded in a bad sensor.....but anything is possible, and without a way to plug into the computer, it is a shoot in the dark...educated, and most likly in the rightvdirection,but still a guess.....

 

I was speaking of the mount which was fixed with JB weld, yourself also have suspected.

Let's back track. There was no problem. Then the wire was cut. There were the lights but the trio still lingers after repairing the cut wire but the broken mount was half-fixed using JB weld. Only thing that changed before and after related to the trio is the half fixed mount that may be the potential ground for the sensor. ZippyNH was on that all this time.

 

The broken mount I suspect cannot be fixed properly. It is not possible to heli-coil it anymore. It will never be the same. I am going to run a ground wire from the mount to the frame and see what happens.

It is my understanding from the code we cannot tell which sensor it is.

~mikeym

 

If you are absolutely confident that the problem is with the sensor(s) not the ground, start moving around the functioning sensor around or replace all 4 and put a stop to this madness. I hate worrying about things for days and weeks.

 

Who's worrying? I'm just asking for advice.

Seeing if anyone has expert opinion. Seems as most users take their car to the stealer.

I used to be heavily involved in the MR2 world, mr2oc has a knowledge about their cars like no other car forum I've been on yet...

 

I guess you are implying that NAM doesn't have those experts.

I tend to agree.

 

 

Get your rain gear on, brotha. It is going to pour.

I come from Jeeps (and Rovers) I have seen some people crossing parts from Fords and all kinds of other makes and make things work. BUT Jeep has been around for 70 some odd years and not as much for the rovers but the rovers been around a while as well.

I think it is just that the new generation of Minis only has been around relatively short amount of time in US that people have not been tinkering around much.

They will catch up.

 

This is true....

I just replaced the drivers side rear hub assembly today because it was "clicking" that may be the problem in itself.

On top of that I grounded the front passenger side ABS sensor to the chassis. We'll see if that makes a difference.

Going to reset the ECU and drive the car for a bit.

 

Best of luck to you!

 

sooo...

After looking over the car for a second time, all of the problem areas I checked before... I decided to re-check the sensors.

My left front sensor was not all the way plugged in. VALA.



All this crap for nothing! I bet my splice job worked too...