Spiral Cable Replaced, Now Brake ! ABS and VSC Lights On!

I would not assume that it's part of the spiral cable. My guess would be it's farther down the column, near where the assist motor is. But you've got your manuals, not me. You could start with the steering section in the (2004, first year of series) New Car Features Manual, which is the best introduction to what all the pieces are and where they are and what they're for ... but also just looking up your U code in the diags volume and following the page number will probably take you where you need to go.

It would surprise me not at all if a connector in the angle sensor circuit is somewhere near where you were working and you could have jostled it without noticing. That's the sort of thing I was trying to explain to Dion ... sure, you can say "I'm going to undo everything I remember doing, and that will put everything back as it was, right?", but unless you somehow also undo the things you don't remember doing, it doesn't really.

-Chap

 

Hey, a happy ending is a happy ending.

The main takeaways that I would highlight are:

1. with a scan tool and your manuals handy, what would otherwise be mystifying puzzles can often be turned into solved problems really fast
2. usually, what the computer is trying to tell you really is something you need to know; don't just assume it's spouting senseless numbers for no reason.

Do be sure you check your manual for any calibration steps that might be required when reinstalling the angle sensor.

Cheers,
-Chap

 

or if you're just someone who wants to fix their own car and doesn't want to be a professional grease monkey, it is kinda hard to get back to point A sometimes.

but after years of doing it as a job, or perhaps if you're just gifted at it, you get to the point you don't make simple mistakes, or you notice them very quickly. I've only been doing it for 35 years, was an MB master tech for a decade, I never heard of iatn.

 

The steering angle sensor is clipped to the bottom of the original spiral cable housing with four plastic clips. It looks like one unit, but it does have a separate cable connector that you have to unplug in order to remove the spiral cable. If you missed this somehow, it would explain the VSC problems, but I'm not sure about the ABS and brake issues. I do hope that's it.

 

A followup on this thread concerning the few 'mystery' blink codes that can't be found in some editions of the Gen 2 manual (36 on ECB, 42 on ABS, 43 or 45 on VSC): more here.