jk idiot lights

mark sr

Member
I have a 2010 JK with 41k. I was driving to the next town today and heard a slight pop or crack and the ESC and ESP/BAS idiot lights came on. I tried the ESC switch and even stopped to shut the engine off/on but the light remained. About 20 minutes later [15-20 miles] I stopped and turned at a red light and both idiot lights went out. Any ideas as to what was going on?
 

Have you changed anything lately? Steering wheel Centered? Check the connections and wires of the wheel speed sensors.
 
Nothing's been changed, still running the factory tires. It's been about 5k since the last time I rotated them. The jeep runs/drives great and didn't notice any difference while the 2 lights were on. Can you tell me more about the wheel speed sensor? I need to get a haynes manual for this jeep.
 
I could only speculate a slip of some sort on one of the wheels. That's when a trac light and esp light would turn on when it detects a skip on one of the tone rings which, in this case makes sense since it turned off after you have made a 90 degree turn. In a slip event, the esp and trac light will make the necessary compensation for traction and will correct the calibration when the vehicle reaches up to 15mph or better going straight then followed by a 90 degree turn , then the light should extinguish after. If it doesn't , the module likely detects an active fault code that needs to be looked into further. As previously mentioned, your steering center is important for the proper function of the traction control system. In this case, I wouldn't worry much about it since it extinguished.

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Nothing's been changed, still running the factory tires. It's been about 5k since the last time I rotated them. The jeep runs/drives great and didn't notice any difference while the 2 lights were on. Can you tell me more about the wheel speed sensor? I need to get a haynes manual for this jeep.

Get a factory service manual and you will never look back. Haynes and others are full of mistakes. Sure it's pricy but worth every penny.
 
In a slip event, the esp and trac light will make the necessary compensation for traction and will correct the calibration when the vehicle reaches up to 15mph or better going straight then followed by a 90 degree turn , then the light should extinguish after

That's the confusing part, while the turn that caused the lights to go out was the sharpest and slowest, there were multiple turns at highway speeds and a road change similar to an off ramp in the 15-20 miles between the light activating and going out. I've had the ESC light/icon come on momentarily before when driving on snow/ice but this was continuous on dry paved roads.

Thanks for helping me better understand how the system works!
 
If it keeps up, you might want to get it checked to see if there's a sensor failing or has a loose connection as mentioned by JPNinPA.

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Hopefully it was just a one time event but at least I know where to start looking if it happens again.

many thanks!
 
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