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2005 Acura MDX Touring VTM4, ABS and VSA lights on

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1.4K views 8 replies 2 participants last post by  habbyguy  
#1 · (Edited)
I have a 2005 Acura MDX Touring with 160,000 miles. Recently, I replaced the rear shocks. A few days later, I encountered an issue where the car would not start in a parking lot after I picked up some groceries. I called AAA, and they tried to jump-start the car, but it was unsuccessful. They attempted to hit the starter a couple of times while asking me to keep trying to start it, but it still didn't work. I smelled a bit of burning. I had to tow the car to the mechanic's shop. The mechanic diagnosed the issue and mentioned that the starter was broken and needed to be replaced. I got the starter replaced, but when I picked up the car, I noticed the VTM-4 sensor light was on. The mechanic diagnosed the problem again and said it could be related to the ground cable and recommended replacing them. We replaced the ground cables a few days later as suggested. However, now when driving, the ABS suddenly started braking on its own, and the ABS, VSA, and VTM-4 lights all turned on. The mechanic said there are multiple error codes under vsa/abs, including:
  • Left rear wheel sensor open or short
  • Left rear speed sensor failure
  • Left rear pulsar failure
  • Yaw rate sensor failure
  • Left rear wheel lock
  • Battery voltage failure
  • Brake switch failure
  • ECM/PCM relation failure
  • Internal power source failure
The mechanic said he could not fix this and advised me to take it to a dealer. Since the car is old and I did not want to spend a lot more, I took it to another nearby mechanic. He diagnosed the problem and said that the ABS control module needed to be replaced, which he thinks will fix the ABS issue and possibly the VTM-4 as well. He quoted $900 for this work. I'm uncertain if this is the right solution and whether I should spend this much more money on an old car. Please help share your thoughts and any direction on this. Thank you.
 
H
#7 ·
There are procedures for clearing VSA / ABS errors - I'm guessing there should be some mention of it on this forum (or on similar forums). I don't have access to my factory service manual, but search on that and you should be able to find a free and easy download... the FSM is your best friend when you're chasing an issue like this one. I'd try that - hopefully the process for the 1G MDX doesn't require a laptop running HDS (Honda Diagnostic System) but only shorting pins in the OBD connector (daunting for some, but not that difficult).
 
H
#5 ·
That's a lot of very specific / seemingly somewhat unrelated systems to be showing codes. I do see that there is a voltage-related failure, which would make me wonder if some (if not all) the other codes could have been triggered by a low-voltage event (like a low battery / bad alternator, etc.). When I have a lot of seemingly random failure codes, I will usually record them, then reset them all and see which ones (if any) come back.
 
#6 ·
My first mechanic did rest codes and they came back , he said there is power failure to the one of the rear wheel sensor and should be opened to look wiring what’s causing which he cannot do , the second one said the abs controller needs to be replaced which costs $900 for pre owned part ..I am not sure now on what is right and if I should be even spending that much money as it’s not stopping from drawing more. Please suggest
 
#3 ·
Thank you for the response , the codes given by prior mechanic as per his reader screen shot are as below.
Hope this could help in identifying the issue.
  • 17-1 Left rear wheel sensor open or short
  • 18-1 Left rear speed sensor failure
  • 24-1 Left rear pulsar failure
  • 25-1 Yaw rate sensor failure
  • 44-1 Left rear wheel lock
  • 61-1 Battery voltage failure
  • 68-1 Brake switch failure
  • 83-1 ECM/PCM relation failure
  • 86-1 CAN relation failure
  • 112-1 Internal power source failure
 
H
#2 ·
There are a host of things that can cause the symptom you describe (the only thing we have to go on at this point). Your mechanic might be giving you good info, or maybe not - there's no way to tell from what you typed above.

The prudent thing to do would be to hook up a scanner and see what codes the car are present, which should narrow down the issue dramatically. Ideally, if you could find a Honda-specific bidirectional scan tool, you'd get more specific information, but barring that even a generic reader will move you light years ahead of where you are now.

Give us the info on the codes, and we may (or may not) be able to help.
 
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