Tcs/dsc
 

Hey guys for some reason my tsc and dsc lights wont turn off. Ive tried the "turn steering wheel all the way to the left and right" procedure and still nothing. It had turned on about a month ago but i thought it would go off by itself so i just parked it in the garage and today when i pulled it out it was still on. Does anyone know what the problem can be? I would really appreciate it thanks.

Do you have brake lights? Don't ponder the question. Just check.

yes i do have brake lights

Did you put an LED in the third brake light position?
Here's my thread(shameless plug) that contains info on both ABS and TCS/DCS staying on, but it might give you some things to check.
https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-trouble-shooting-95/have-abs-dcs-tcs-issues-lights-staying-202843/

nope havent changed anything but i think it might be burnt out. ill have to check later on. do you think a burnt 3rd light bulb would be the problem

Yeah, it's happened before, so it's possible.
One way to find out!

`BUMP`

04GT, 6-speed, 99.5kmiles

So today on my way to work, my dsc/ts came on. :(

Left my house it was cold and raining, out of habit I turned the dsc off. When I reached my exit (sharp right turn) I turned it back on and took my exit (no sliding, or driving dangerously, just being safe). After exiting I noticed the dsc light flashing and the tcs light on solid.

When I left work I immediately tried the "reset" trick in the book for when you disconnect your battery. No luck. After I got back on the interstate I did a quick kill/restart and the lights went off for about a min before coming back. Since then I have been unsuccessful.
I've been searching all day and have tried the following with no luck,
-Tail lights (obviously)
-Tested Battery
-Tested Alt
-Terminals new (less than 6 months old), clean and tight
-Reset
-Haven't check my alignment yet, but the car does not pull, and power steering feels fine.
-No codes other than p420

The only things I know I have left to check are the hubs (tomorrow most likely) and test the dsc button....

Another thing I noticed is after about 15-20secs with the engine "off", key "on" the check engine light flashes 7 times (on the 8th flash it remains on again).

Also, not sure if its related, but I was driving the other day with the radio blaring and some one pulled out in front of me and I had to brake hard suddenly, when I braked it felt like the brake pedal assembly was grinding, hard to tell though with the music. Didn't feel like abs, I know that feeling. Tried to replicate it with no success.

Anyone?

-Bump again-

I inspected the plug on each hub now, everything looks good. All wires and plugs in good shape.

Anyone? :(

Check the plug that goes to the electronic rack & pinnion... the coolant overflow hose is routed to dump any exess ritht over that plug, so it tends to corrode/ gunk up if your car has ever spit some coolant out the overflow.

Once that happens, your DSC, TCS or Power steering lights may come on/ act up.

The wierd grinding you felt was the DSC cycling the brakes (more than likely)
I had my DSC act up when I got brand new tires for the rear without replacing the fronts for a little while.

oh, & check the wiring that goes to your trunk lid... pn some cars it has gone bad, & caused the same issues as if the 3d brakelight was burned out (causing, wierdly enough, TCS/DSC issues)

The hose you mentioned, has been rerouted to the bottom of the engine bay for almost a year now. I have already had that problem. And replaced all the connections for the power steering with new ones. (maybe 6 months ago)

I know about the brake "test" thing or whatever it's called (where it checks the brakes) when you start moving, although I though that had more to do with abs...

All tires and brakes are new with less than 8,000 miles on them.

No work/repairs/messingaround has been done recently.

The only thing that keeps popping in my head are bad connections on the hubs. I keep thinking this because it was cold and raining. I got a funny feeling after it sits a few days in the sun with no rain everything is gonna fix itself... at least till it rains again...

I will check all the powersteering connections again tomorrow though.

Thanks,
-Shawn

More items checked off the list with no solution.

-Powersteering connections cleaned
-All fuses checked
-Reset pcm (disconnected battery)
-Brake pedal switch

Other things Checked

-Tail lights
-Tested Battery
-Tested Alt
-Terminals new (less than 6 months old), clean and tight
-Haven't check my alignment yet, but the car does not pull, and power steering feels fine.
-No codes other than p420
-Inspected the plug on each hub
-Wires in good shape
-All tires and brakes are new, 32psi on all 4, even wear on all 4
-ABS seems to be working (No light)



I managed to get the dsc button unplugged, but couldn't remove the button itself to test it. Tried to reset with it unplugged, nothing.

After doing probably 40+ dsc rest attempts, I noticed something. I can turm my steering wheel about 3 inches more to the left than right.

Wouldn't this also give me powersteering issues??

:dunno:

^..........Do you have the Electric Steering part of the shop manual?
Might have some info in there on the steering question as I'm not a mechanic.................but my answer to your last question would be maybe not.

PM me your home E-mail and I send that portion if you want to take a look at it.

All I have is the "Mazda Rx-8 2004 Wiring Diagram" Book. Which I understand, but only up to a certain point, some things leave me confused, but it has helped me out in the past.

I do have 2 types of FSM, but neither have dsc info in them for some reason... (Found links for them on this site)

My gut is still saying somethings wrong with a hub or wire. Since it was raining when all this happened. But it does not make sense, because if it was a hub or hub wire how is my abs still working? And if its something related to the powersteering, how is it still working?

After looking at the wiring diagram book more I don't think it's the switch, It appears all the switch does is ground out when you press it. So if it was bad, my dsc should have rested with it unplugged.

What is concerning me a lot now is the wheel turning more to the left than right. That doesn't seem normal at all. The car drives straight when the wheel is straight, no pulling at all.

There is a "clunk" sound in the driver front suspension when turning into driveways, but thats just a bad swaybar end link. I don't think that could be related its been like that since I got the car.


I'll pm you my e-mail, I'll take any info you can give me, Thank You.

-Shawn

hi I actually had the problem when my engine was replaced.... my DSC light didn't go away and dealer had my steering wheel f-ed up to the point where i had to turn it to the right like 20 degrees to go straight. So I went back and dealer wanted to "jump a teeth" or whatever but they couldn't for some reason and told me I had to replace the whole freakin steering rack or whatever... I was so pissed that I went to another car shop and just had wheel alignment and DSC light went off. I hope this helps.

Take a look at your suspension. There are sensors on your suspension by the swaybar end links. One of mine popped off and cause issues. Reconnected with no problem since then.

I'll attempt this today, and rotate my tires while I'm at it.

If that doesn't work I'll see if I can get my friend to hook me up and throw my car on an alignment rack Tuesday.

Thanks Guys
-Shawn

I got the tires rotated, turns out all my sway-bar end-links are bad. The general condition of all the suspension looks on the poor side. Ball joints look like there ready to go too. The shocks look like they are the originals, so there probably shot as well. Brake pads look good and seem to be wearing evenly. Seems almost pointless to go get an alignment without replacing all these parts first. :mad:

It also looks like the "headlight auto aiming" system is tied into the dsc cpu. Which is just great cause all those little arms on the sensors look just like my end-links. Shot. :mad:


Guess I better start saving more money. :(